About National Black Forest Cake Day
Black Forest Cake (Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte) has three layers of chocolate cake, drenched with Kirschwasser, which is a cherry schnapps.
In between the cake layers, there is a layer of cherries and a layer of whipping cream. The entire cake is covered in whipping cream and decorated with chocolate and with red cherries on top.
The Black Forest cake is not named after the Black Forest mountain range in southwestern Germany. It is named after the specialty liquor of that region, which is known as Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser. This ingredient is one of the most important ones for the preparation of a Black Forest cake as it has a distinctive cherry pit flavor and some alcoholic content that provides the dessert with its typical flavor.
Initially, cherries, cream, and kirschwasser were combined in order to prepare a dessert. The cooked cherries were served with cream and kirschwasser. But, a cake that consisted of cherries, cookies/biscuits and cream was probably originated in Germany.
There are a number of people that claim that the black forest cake was invented by them.
A German confectioner named Josef Keller claimed to have invented the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte in the year 1915 at a Café called Agner in Bad Godesberg, which is now a suburb of Bonn, about 500 kilometer north of the Black Forest. This claim, however, has never been substantiated.
Some other sources claim that the name of the cake is inspired by the traditional costumes worn by women of the Black Forest area. The costume consists of a characteristic hat with big and red pom-poms on top. This hat is called the Bollenhut. Apart from the claims, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte was first mentioned in writing in the year 1934. At that time, it was typically associated to Berlin. But, it was also available from high-class confectioners in various German, Austrian, and Swiss cities.
The record for the world's largest authentic Black Forest cake was set at Europa Park, Germany on 16 July 2006, by K&U Bakery. (Measuring nearly 80 m² (900 sq ft) and weighing about 3,000 kilograms)
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