Discover how to make this dazzling dessert. Returning to the show is the author of Indulge: One Hundred Perfect Desserts. Claire Clark is the head pastry chef at the world famous French Laundry restaurant in Yountville.
Black Forest Trifle Recipe
(serves 8)
Trifle
For the chocolate sponge
200g/7oz plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
25g/1oz dark cocoa powder
200g/7oz caster sugar
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
250ml/9fl oz water
250ml/9fl oz cold black coffee
40ml/11/2fl oz vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the cherries
2 x 425g/15oz cans of black cherries
juice of 1 orange 2 tablespoons kirsch
1/2 cinnamon stick
70g/21/2oz caster sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
For the kirsch syrup
100g/31/2oz caster sugar
100ml/31/2fl oz water
25ml/1fl oz kirsch
For the cream
2 gelatine leaves
600ml/20fl oz whipping cream
25g/1oz icing sugar
To decorate
a few chocolate curls, a few fresh cherries, a little icing sugar
serves 8
Method/Claire's Notes
Once you have made the basic products for the trifle, you can assemble it very quickly. The sponge can be frozen for up to three weeks and the thickened cherries and kirsch syrup will keep in the fridge for three days.
This is a fun twist on a classic dessert. Typically a Black Forest gâteau consists of several layers of chocolate cake soaked in Kirschwasser, a cherry-based spirit, plus whipped cream, cherries and chocolate shavings. This brilliant recipe allows you to make a stunning-looking dessert quite simply.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Lightly grease a 15cm/6 inch square cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the caster sugar and mix well to combine, then make a well in the centre. Combine the white wine vinegar, water, coffee, oil and vanilla in a small bowl and pour into the well in the dry ingredients. Mix well with a wooden or plastic spoon to give a smooth batter. You can do this in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment but take care not to over mix the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the surface springs back to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.
Drain the juice from the cherries and pour two-thirds of it into a small saucepan. Add the orange juice, kirsch and cinnamon stick and bring slowly to the boil. Mix the sugar and corn flour together in a bowl. Gradually add enough of the remaining cherry juice to make a smooth, loose paste. Pour the boiled cherry juice on to the paste and whisk until smooth. Return the mixture to the pan and bring back to the boil over a low heat, whisking continuously. Lower the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes, until thickened. Pour the thickened sauce over the cherries in a bowl and leave to cool completely. Once the cherries have cooled a little, cover the bowl with cling film to stop a skin forming.
To make the kirsch syrup, put the sugar and water in a small pan, stir well to dissolve the sugar, then bring to the boil. Remove from the heat immediately, add the kirsch and leave to cool.
For the cream, soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water for about 5 minutes, until completely softened. Remove them from the water, squeeze out excess liquid and keep to one side. Bring 50ml/2fl oz of the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat, add the softened gelatine and stir until the gelatine has dissolved. Leave until the cream is just warm, then add it to the remaining double cream with the icing sugar and whisk to firm peaks.
To assemble the trifles, cut the chocolate sponge into 2.5cm/1 inch cubes. Place a couple of pieces of sponge in each of 8 serving glasses or dishes and, using a pastry brush, soak them well with the kirsch syrup. Place a large spoonful of the thickened cherries on top of the sponge. Using a piping bag fitted with a 1cm/1/2 inch plain nozzle, pipe the whipped cream into the glasses: keep the piping tip next to the side of the glass and pipe several vertical lines up to the edge of the glass. As you pipe, press the tip into the cherries so some of the thickened juice moves up the sides of the glass.
Place more thickened cherries into the glass, especially between the lines of piped cream. Place another cube or two of sponge into the centre of the glass. Finish by piping cream over the top of the cherries and sponge and smoothing it flat with a palette knife. Decorate with chocolate curls, a few fresh cherries and a little of the thickened cherry juice. Dust with icing sugar.
About Claire Clark:
Claire Clark has loved to bake since she was a child growing up in the suburbs of London. The kitchen, she says, was the hub of her home, where you would often find her and her brother helping their mother bake. Years later, Claire is an internationally acclaimed pastry chef and boasts a stellar resume - she learned her craft under legendary Swiss patissiers Ernest Bachmann and John Huber and now serves as pastry chef at The French Laundry in California.
Claire began her professional cooking career as a grill chef at the age of seventeen. The overly masculine environment of the kitchen was quite a shock for the daughter of a country parson straight out of college; however, she was determined to succeed.
Claire's remarkable career has run its course through such stellar British restaurants as The Ritz Hotel, The Intercontinental at Hyde Park Corner, and Sir Terence Conran's Bluebird Restaurant on Kings Road. She has also taught at Le Cordon Bleu, helped plan and set up the pastry department at The House of Commons, and headed the pastry kitchen at the Claridge's Hotel in London, where she became the only female recipient of the "Meilleur Ouvrier de la Grande-Bretagne" (MOGB) or Best Crafts Worker of Great Britain - the highest award to be given on the grounds of professional excellence.
Claire helped open the Wolseley, a famous Piccadilly restaurant and considered one of the top 50 restaurants in the world by Restaurant Magazine. Claire was later chosen as "Best Pastry Chef" for 2005 by the same publication.
It was at the Wolseley that Claire first met Thomas Keller, restaurateur and author of the award-winning The French Laundry Cookbook. After sampling her desserts, he immediately invited her to join him at The French Laundry in Northern California, where her extraordinary pastry creations now complement his menus.
Claire's desserts have paraded across the lawns of Buckingham Palace and appeared on the plates of the most discerning food critics, winning international acclaim from industry leaders. Indulge, her first book, is a compilation of her most treasured dessert recipes.
She lives in Yountville, in the Napa Valley of Northern California.
Buy the Book:
Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts By Claire Clark
www.greenapplebooks.com
