Black Forest Gateau

Today’s cake is a go-big-or-go-home kind of a cake from Butter and Brioche’s Thailia Ho, who we just can’t get enough of her gorgeous creations. For this German dessert, she soaks cherries in a kirsh liqueur until they’re plump with booze. She then nestles them between layers of of dark chocolate cake and billowy mascarpone frosting.

“This Black Forest Gateau is simple to create, yet an undertaking at the same time — each component is easy but undivided care and attention to each element is needed,” she writes. “The process will leave your kitchen dusted in a sheet of cocoa powder, flour, and icing sugar, and stained with enough cherry juice to look like a (delicious) crime scene.“

The cherry kirsh liqueur is key to making this an official Black Forest Cake — Germans claim you can’t make one without it. Ho simmers dark pitted cherries with the liqueur in a sauce pan until they’re full of flavor. She strains and uses the leftover syrup to brush over the dark chocolate cakes. The cakes are then layered with fluffy mascarpone frosting and macerated cherries to make a beautiful chocolatey tower. She finishes the cake with fresh berries and a drizzling of dark chocolate ganache. Ho declares, “This cake demands an audience and is filled with decadence, nostalgia and ease — best served and devoured amongst friends and family.”