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Fruity Black Forest Gâteau

For this showstopper challenge, Jo used icing pens to create the face of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, but you can decorate it how you like.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Cocoa powder and chocolate match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,587 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 8-10
Prep30 min
Cook2 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease and line two 8-inch (20 cm) round cake tins. Beat 225g unsalted butter, 200g golden caster sugar and the golden syrup until pale and fluffy.

  2. Beat in the 4 free-range eggs one at a time. Sift in the self-raising flour, baking powder and cocoa powder, then fold in the milk until smooth. Divide the batter between the tins.

  3. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the sponges spring back when pressed and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

  4. For the buttercream, beat 125g butter with the icing sugar until creamy. Beat in the 100g melted chocolate until smooth and set aside.

  5. Warm the 500g fresh cherries, pitted, with the black cherry jam in a pan over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring. Cool completely.

  6. Whip the double cream until it holds soft peaks. Melt the 225g dark chocolate with the 50g unsalted butter over a pan of barely simmering water, stir smooth, and let cool slightly.

  7. Spread buttercream over one sponge, layer on the cherries and a little of the whipped cream, then top with the second sponge. Spread the remaining cream over the top and sides.

  8. Pour or spoon the dark chocolate ganache over the top, letting it drip down. Chill until set, then decorate with the cherries and a few blueberries. Optional: add extra grated chocolate.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Cocoa powder + chocolatetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,587 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  2. Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + syruptop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Milk + chocolatetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together9,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together15,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs