‘My Great Irish Bake Off Black Forest Gâteau’

For the duration of his time on TV baking show The Great Irish Bake Off, Neil Reid, who works in myhome.ie, part of The Irish Times, will share his recipes from the show every Monday morning.

"After a solid third for my Swiss Roll and good feedback for my chocolate selection box it was on to International Week this week. Our task was to bake a cake from a country of our choice. Having spent a good bit of time in Germany, and it being my birthday cake of choice, it was a no-brainer for me to go with a Black Forest Gâteau.

"This is Bake Off, though, so a traditional Black Forest wasn't going to cut it. I designed what I thought would be a great modern twist on this 1970s classic. A rich, heavy chocolate sponge, white chocolate and Kirsch mouse and a dark chocolate and Kirsch ganache would give the flavours and contrasting textures I wanted. This was all fine in practice, as my myhome.ie and Irish Times colleagues will attest to, as it disappeared quite quickly.

"I tried to push the boat out on the show but wasted a little time cleaning when I should have been working on that chocolate collar so it was a touch messy in the end. Over all I was happy with what I presented, even if it wasn't perfect. And despite what Lilly said, that sponge was not dry Ms Higgins! It was exactly as it was supposed to be.

“The correct way to get the wooden effect on the chocolate is to use a special wood graining tool which I now own (little bit late now eh?).

“It’s tough seeing your cake pulled apart by the judges but there was very little of it left once the rest of us got to it. Between my Black Forest and my attempt at a Pineapple Upside Down cake it was enough to get me through to week six and one step away from a semi final place.

"It was sad to see another big personality go from the tent this week. I'm sure we'll bump into Sandra again at her market stall in Sylvesters in Malahide. And to Cathy, our overdue Star Baker, well done.

The Great Irish Bake Off airs on TV3 every Sunday at 9pm.

Here’s my recipe for Black Forest Gâteau

Sponge

340g unsalted butter

340g castor sugar

50g cocoa powder

285g self raising flour

3 tsp baking powder

6 eggs

4 tbsp whole milk

2 450g tins of dark pitted cherries in syrup

White chocolate and Kirsch mousse

10g leaf gelatine

300g white chocolate

500g cream

3 egg yokes (40g)

60g kirsch liqueur

10g castor sugar

125ml whole milk

Kirsch ganache

50g unsalted butter

500g dark chocolate (60-70% is fine)

450g cream

110g kirsch

3g salt

50g liquid glucose

Chocolate bark

200g dark chocolate

100g milk chocolate

To decorate

1 vanilla pod

250ml whipped cream

Method:

To make the Kirsch mousse: Soak gelatine in cold water. Melt white chocolate in bain marie. Whip cream with kirsch to soft peaks. Whisk yokes and sugar together. Heat milk in saucepan to 60 degrees, then slowly pour (while whisking) into the yoke mix. Return to pan and heat to 70 degrees. Do not leave alone at this point. Pour the mixture into the chocolate and combine. Fold in the cream and pour into two 8-inch round tins as evenly as possible.

To make the sponge: Pre-head the oven to 180 degrees.

Mix all ingredients apart from milk together in a mixer. Add this at the end.

Grease and line four 8-inch round cake tins. Bake for 20-25 mins

Once completely cooled, cut and level cakes for assembly

To make the Kirsch ganache: Melt butter and chocolate in bain marie. Heat cream, glucose and Kirsch to 85 degrees. Add the heated cream mix to the melted chocolate and leave to cool for 30-45 minutes.

To make the chocolate bark: Pour melted white chocolate onto acetate and scrape into bark. Leave to set for 15 minutes. Pour melted dark chocolate over it and spread with palette knife

To assemble:

1. Start with sponge layer - brush Kirsch over it.

2. Place white chocolate mousse onto it

3. Place second sponge layer on next, and brush Kirsch onto it

4. Place set ganache on top

5. Place third sponge layer on next, and brush Kirsch onto it

6. Pipe cream on top layer (Make sure cream is well whipped to hold shape)

7. Place dark cherries on top and place used vanilla pods into each to look like stems

8. Place chocolate collar around cake and leave to set, then carefully remove acetate.