Gordon Ramsay’s Black Forest gateau is a dark chocolate and espresso sponge soaked in kirsch, layered with fresh cherries and whipped cream. It takes about an hour plus cooling. The sponge soaks up the cherry syrup, which is the step that keeps it moist.
This is Gordon Ramsay’s recipe from his Ultimate Cookery Course, and his whole point is the moisture. He says the chocolate sponge “has just the right texture for absorbing a drizzle of kirsch, which keeps it delectably moist.” Most Black Forest cakes fail by going dry, so this is the fix built in.
The one technique that makes it is simmering fresh cherries in sugar and kirsch, then drizzling that syrup into the sponge. You’re not just flavouring the cake, you’re feeding moisture back into a sponge that would otherwise dry out, which the FAQ below explains.
Gordon Ramsay Black Forest Gateau
Course: DessertCuisine: GermanDifficulty: Medium8
servings35
minutes45
minutes520
kcal1 hr 40 min
A dark chocolate and espresso sponge soaked with kirsch-cherry syrup, layered with fresh cherries, whipped cream and cherry preserves, from Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course. A proper showstopper for eight.
Ingredients
- For the chocolate sponge:
125g (1 cup) cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of fine sea salt
3 tbsp cocoa powder
5 large eggs, separated
175g (¾ cup) unsalted butter, softened
150g (¾ cup) caster sugar
2 tbsp cooled espresso or strong black coffee
110g (4 oz) dark chocolate (min 65%), melted
- For the filling and topping:
450g (1 lb) ripe cherries
5 tbsp caster sugar
5 tbsp kirsch or cherry brandy
500ml (2¼ cups) double cream
1-2 tbsp icing sugar, to taste
4-5 tbsp good cherry preserves
Grated dark chocolate, to finish
Directions
- Make the sponge: Preheat the oven to 150C (300F/Gas 2). Butter a 23cm cake tin and line the base. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa together. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to firm peaks.
- Build the batter: Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then fold in the espresso and melted chocolate. Fold in the flour mixture and the egg whites alternately, in batches, keeping the air in.
- Bake: Spread into the tin, level it, and bake 40 to 50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper.
- Cook the cherries: Stone three-quarters of the cherries. Put all of them in a pan with the sugar and kirsch, bring to a simmer and cook until just soft. Tip into a bowl and cool. Whip the cream with the icing sugar to soft peaks.
- Soak and layer: Cut the cooled cake horizontally into two. Drizzle the kirsch-cherry syrup over both layers to moisten. Spread half the cream on the bottom layer, add the stoned cherries, then a layer of cherry preserves.
- Assemble: Set the top layer in place, spread the rest of the cream over it, scatter with grated chocolate and finish with the whole stemmed cherries. Best served the day it’s made.
FAQs
Why does Black Forest gateau go dry, and how does Gordon fix it?
Dry sponge is the most common failure with this cake, and it’s built into how the sponge works. A chocolate sponge raised mostly by whipped eggs bakes light but loses moisture fast. That’s why so many Black Forest cakes taste dry and dull a few hours after baking.
Gordon’s fix is the kirsch-cherry syrup. He drizzles the syrup from the simmered cherries into both cut layers before filling, so the sponge drinks it back up. It’s the same soaking trick behind his tiramisu, which leans on coffee and Marsala. Don’t skimp on this soak, it’s the whole point.
Why simmer fresh cherries instead of using a jar?
Most recipes reach for jarred or canned cherries, but Gordon simmers fresh ones in sugar and kirsch. This does two jobs at once: it softens the cherries for the filling, and it makes the kirsch-cherry syrup you soak the sponge with. Jarred cherries give you neither, just sweetness with no syrup to feed the cake.
Use ripe fresh cherries when they’re in season, June to August in the UK. Out of season, a large jar of cherries marinated in kirsch is his stated backup, so you still get the syrup. Avoid the bright maraschino kind, which are too sweet and artificial for this.
Why is there espresso and dark chocolate in the sponge?
This is what separates Gordon’s sponge from a plain chocolate one. He folds in both melted dark chocolate, minimum 65 percent, and two tablespoons of cooled espresso, the same dark chocolate he leans on for his chocolate fondant. The coffee doesn’t make it taste of coffee, it deepens the chocolate so the sponge tastes properly rich.
The dark chocolate also gives the crumb its colour and density, which is why this holds up to soaking without falling apart. If you like his layered chocolate bakes, his chocolate cake from the same book runs on the same idea. A cocoa-only sponge is lighter and goes soggy faster when the syrup hits it.
What is the difference between Black Forest cake and gateau?
It comes down to layers. A cake usually has two layers, while a gateau has three or four. Gordon’s version is built as two generous layers from one sponge cut in half, so it sits on the cake side of the line, though people search both names for the same dessert.
The flavours are identical either way: chocolate sponge, kirsch, cherries and cream. So don’t worry about the name. If you want a taller gateau, bake one and a half times the sponge and cut it into three, soaking each layer the same way.
Can you make it ahead, and how does it keep?
Here’s the honest answer: this is best eaten the day it’s made, and Gordon says so. The cream is freshly whipped and the soaked sponge is at its best within hours, so it’s a make-and-serve cake, not a make-ahead one. Assemble it the day you need it.
You can prep parts in advance, though. Bake the sponge a day ahead and keep it wrapped, and simmer the cherries and their syrup ahead too. Then soak, fill and assemble on the day. Leftovers keep a day in the fridge, but the sponge softens and the cream loses its lift.
