Black Forest Gâteu / Tea Time Treats Challenge

For the month of November Tea Time Treat Challenge hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked and Karen from Lavender and Lovage the theme is celebration cake to celebrate their one year Tea Time Treat birthday. One of my favourite celebration cakes are birthday cakes. I mean any cake's my favourite, but the joy I get growing up as a child and to this day of being presented with a cake and friends and family gather to sing and celebrate your birthday is one of my happiest moments.

Now that I'm learning (but rather slowly) to bake cakes, I now have kiddies to bake for and just love seeing their eyes light up on their birthdays with joy and excitement over a birthday cake that mummy had baked for them brings so much warmth and joy to my heart. Right, enough of that.

My entry this month is something I am very proud of and that I've baked for the very first time. It's a Black Forest Gâteu / Cake that I made for my daughter upon request for her 12th birthday earlier this year. She wanted her cake to look just like the cake based on a video game that her and her friends play where at the end of the game the character receives a cake. Black Forest is her favourite so I've combined the two together. Black forest cake inside and the video game design on the outside. Here's the link to this previous post Portal Black Forest Cake.

I'm entering this Cake for this months Challenge..

 

this is the video game cake...

Ingredients

1 (18.25-ounce) box super moist chocolate fudge cake mix, Betty Crocker

1 2/3 cups chocolate milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (will need to divide 3tbs and 2tbs)
3/4 cup cherry pie filling
1 (12-ounce) container frozen nondairy whipped topping, thawed

Garnish: 2 bars of your favourite bittersweet dark chocolate (one of mine is Ghirardelli )
Maraschino cherries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 2 (9-inch) cake pans with nonstick baking spray with flour.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix, chocolate milk, oil, eggs, and 3 tablespoon of cocoa until smooth. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
3. Spread cherry pie filling between layers.
4. Add 2 tablespoon of cocoa powder to whipped cream to add a bit of brown then spread topping over top and sides of cake.
5. Blitz 2 bars of bittersweet dark chocolate in the food processor.
6. Gently press chocolate crumble onto sides of cake and top of cake. (I slapped mine on...lol) Top cake with small whipped cream circle using cake decorator tip # and cherries. Store in refrigerator.
Makes 1 (9-inch) cake