Black Forest Coffee

Why this works

Black Forest gateau, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, is built on three things: dark chocolate sponge, sour cherries, and plenty of cream, usually with kirsch. The balance depends on the sourness of the cherries. Sour cherries, morellos, have a sharp acidity that cuts through chocolate and cream. Sweet cherries in the same combination taste flat and confected. That is why this recipe uses morello jam rather than cherry syrup.

Coffee plays the part of the sponge. Its roasted bitterness supports the dark chocolate and stops the drink tasting like a dessert sauce. Melting real chocolate into the hot coffee adds cocoa butter, which gives a richer, silkier body than a syrup would, and its bitterness pairs with the cherry's acidity in the same way it does in the cake.

Cherry and chocolate work together partly because of shared aroma compounds. Cherries carry benzaldehyde, the almond-like note also found in their stones and in marzipan, and it sits naturally beside the roasted notes of cocoa and coffee.

The cream on top is the third element, as it is in the gateau. Cold and lightly sweet, it softens the bitterness and acidity, and the chocolate shavings and cherry are a nod to the cake's decoration. Kirsch is traditional in the cake and an easy addition here for an evening version.

Variations

• With kirsch: 20 ml stirred in with the coffee, as in the gateau.
• Iced: melt the chocolate and jam into a little hot coffee, cool, then pour over ice with cold milk.
• As a latte: half coffee, half steamed milk.
• With cherry syrup: 15 ml of sour cherry syrup in place of the jam.