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Kirschtorte

Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cherry Cake)

Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte

Schwarzwälder kirschtorte, also known outside the German-speaking countries as "Black Forest Cherry Cake" or "Black Forest Gateau", is possibly one of the most famous of German desserts... which is interesting when one considers that it (or the inspiration for it) may actually have come from Switzerland. Certainly the kirschwasser or cherry firewater on which the modern cake is based came originally from the land around the central Swiss lakes, a region still famous for it and home to great kirsch brands such as Etter and Dettling. In any case, both spirit and cake traveled northward, and it would now be hard to find any German baker that didn't feature the kirschtorte at least occasionally.

This is a cake that's often very badly made by people who've never seen or tasted the original, but only versions of it changed out of all recognition by many cooks' tweakings. It's worth trying to hunt down a recipe -- like this one -- that hasn't been altered, in order to find out what all the excitement's about. (A side note here: in Europe the cake almost always contains alcohol, and would probably not be considered authentic without it.)

The recipe...

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