Forêt Noire Dessert Pots
Or what to do when you your yule log cake gets ruined.
This recipe came about out of a mistake. I set out to make a Black Forest inspired Yule Log for a family dinner and, sadly, failed my first genoise. I was a little careless with it coming out of the oven and it ended up in pieces. Needless to say, no more bûche de Noël for me (I did remake it, I had 8 hungry mouths to feed).
However, it got me thinking that black forest swiss rolls are finicky cakes that sometimes may break and ruin your day. And I wanted a solution to such a situation which would somehow salvage it.
I therefore set off to make verrines, or layered dessert pots, which turned out looking great and tasting amazing.
It wouldn’t be fair to not share this with you, especially since they are so easy to make and you can take a few shortcuts here and there to make this even easier to put together. The genoise cake can be store bought, you can make a vanilla whipped cream instead of the white chocolate one here. Find the best quality cherry jam you can find as it will lend the delicious black forest gateau flavour.
What’s more, these are perfect made the day before, leaving the decorations for the last minute before serving. It will look fantastic and impress your guests.
Ingredients (makes 6-8 pots, depending on size)
For the genoise
4 eggs
125g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g flour, sifted
25g cocoa, sifted
15 ml brewed strong coffee or 1 tsp instant coffee
pinch of salt
For the kirsch syrup
100ml (1/2 cup) water
100g sugar
1-2 Tbsp kirsch (depending on how strong you like it, you can leave it out altogether)
For the kirsch spiked cherry jam
160g (half a pot) good quality cherry jam
1-2 Tbsp kirsch (depending on how strong you like it, you can leave it out altogether)
For the white chocolate vanilla whipped cream
200g white chocolate, chopped
100ml heavy cream, to be heated
190ml heavy cream, cold
1 tbsp vanilla extract or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod + 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the dark chocolate ganache
60ml heavy cream
140g dark chocolate (I like to use 55% cocoa content), finely chopped
tiny pinch of salt
Mint, maraschino cherries, gold sprinkles for decoration
Start by preparing your white chocolate whipped cream, as this needs to cool for 3 hours in the fridge.
Bring 100ml heavy cream to an almost boil. When steaming, pour it over the 200g chopped white chocolate and stir well until melted. Add the vanilla seeds and/or extract. When smooth and well combined add the 190ml remaining heavy cream (I like to leave in the empty vanilla pod while it cools).
Chill overnight or for a minimum of 3 hours in the fridge.
Make the chocolate genoise.
Line a baking sheet with oiled parchment paper (you want this to be as non stick as possible).
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C, fan.
Sift the flour and cocoa together in a bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or with a handheld one even though I strongly recommend a stand mixer here) add there eggs and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, be patient, this will take about 10 minutes. They should become very pale and double in volume.
Add the vanilla extract, salt and coffee, beat for another minute or so.
Gently sprinkle the flour/cocoa mix over the eggs and fold in with a spatula, taking care to not knock the air out.
Pour onto prepared baking sheet and let spread out into a rectangle.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, keeping an eye on it. As it is very thin, it will cook quickly.
Take the genoise out of the oven and let cool.
In the meantime, make your other elements.
For the kirsch syrup combine water and sugar on a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and let cook for a couple of minutes. Take off the heat, let cool and add the kirsch. Set aside.
For the kirsch spiked jam, combined the jam and kirsch until smooth.
For the chocolate ganache, heat the heavy cream until it is steaming. Pour over the chopped dark chocolate and stir until smooth and shiny. Add the salt. Let cool to a thick consistency (about 15 minutes).
Whip the white chocolate vanilla cream. Place the mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer(remove the vanilla bean, if you’ve left it in). Start whipping on a slow speed to combine well, then faster until it doubles in volume and becomes light and fluffy.
When ready to assemble, set out 6 identical pots or tumbler glasses.
Cut the cooled genoise in squares that will fit the pots (mine had ripped upon exiting the oven so I had to make my pieces a little wonky - it doesn’t really matter).
Start with a layer of genoise at the bottom of the pots/glasses.
Drizzle a bit of kirsch syrup to moisten.
Spread about a teaspoonful of kirsch jam on top.
Follow by a dollop of white chocolate cream
Drizzle dark chocolate ganache.
Repeat until the pots/glasses are filled (mine had two layers of everything).
Finish with a layer of ganache. Smooth it out beautifully.
At this point you can store them in the fridge until ready to serve.
When serving, take the pits/glasses out of the fridge about 10 minutes before. Garnish with mint leaves, golden sprinkles and maraschino cherries.
Serve immediately and enjoy! xx