POSITIVE CONTROL WEEK - Black Forest cake to start

What is positive control week aka demonstration week.  Well, with student cake month coming up we decided to have a cake time week that would be full of really good cakes either purchased or homemade.  Today we featured the Vienna Bakery Black Forest Cake.  As you can read in previous postings the Black Forest cake or Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte is the cake of all cakes in at least one humble opinion and is the featured dessert in the lovely placed of Freiburg, Germany. The problem is that what you get in the United States usually bears little resemblance to the German recipe.  The best exception was Ursula's European Pastries whose demise we still bemoan.

Loving the inscription!

A respectable American version...

....of the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte or Black Forest Cake

This version from the Vienna Bakery, however, is a respectable alternative. It is a little sweeter than the real thing and did not taste like it had the Kirschwasser or Cherry Brandy - a critical ingredient! The maraschino cherries are also off the mark as sour cherries are supposed to be used. However, it has the mandatory whipped cream frosting and the cake and the filling were not overly sweet.  It is indeed very good and is nothing like the hyper-frosted super sweet versions that commercial bakeries usually put out.  The inscription on the cake was also a nice touch as the named person is a Black Forest Cake aficionado to say the least.

Layers of chocolate cake with whipped cream and cherries..if only it had the cherry brandy!

This was definitely a good start to demo week and set a good example for the students who have to step up during the month of July. Unfortunately for them a scheduling indiscretion resulted in them getting a lesson on how to watch a lab robotic machine do its job - actually it was a lesson on how to set up and run the robot. So while they watched the machine pipet samples the rest of us got to indulge and finish off the cake. Too bad for them but they are all prepared for that robot should they ever get to use it!