Black Forest Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 Cups of Flour
• 1/2 Cup of Unsweetend Cocoa Powder
• 1 Cup of Sugar
• 1 tsp of Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp of Salt
• 1 Cup of Milk (Soya, Almond, etc)
• 2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
• 80ml of Vegetable Oil
• 1 tbsp of Vinegar
• 1 Flax Egg
• 1 Pot Lacto-Free Double Cream
• 1 Pot Oatly Creme Freche
• Food Haven Lacto-Free Whipped Cream
• Opies Black Cherry Kirsch
• 1 Cup of Frozen Pitted Cherries
• 3 tbsp of Caster Sugar
• 2 tsp of Cornstarch
• 2 tbsp of Icing Sugar
• Glazed Cherries

Method:

1. Preheat your oven and spray two 7 inch cake pans with non-stick spray and then line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.
2. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl.
3. Add the sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. Prepare your flax egg by mixing one tablespoon of flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of hot water and leave to sit for a minute or so to become gloopy.
5. Add your soy milk (or other non-dairy milk), vanilla extract, oil, vinegar and flax egg to the mixing bowl.
6. Whisk with a hand whisk until well combined, but be careful not to overmix, just mix until large lumps are gone, small lumps are fine.
7. Seperate the batter in half and pour half of the batter into one cake pan and the rest into the second one.
8. Place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
9. Make sure that the cake is fully cool before decorating it.
10. Take the frozen cherries and put them in a pot on the stove and let them simmer until they are soft and have released a lot of juices.
11. Add 2 tbsp of kirsch cherries into the pot and some of the juice as well and let them all simmer together for 4 minutes.
12. Take out all of the cherries from the pot but leave the jiuces inside it.
13. Add the sugar to the juices and let it simmer until it fully dissolves.
14. Then add the cornstarch and also let it simmer for 3-4 minutes.
15. Once it it done, pour it back onto the cherries and let it all cool together fully.
16. Spread 2 tbsp of kirsch juice onto the bootom half of the cake.
17. Whip the creme freche in one bowl.
18. In another bowl whip the double cream and add the icing sugar and whip until soft peaks form.
19. Fold in 2 tbsp of the whipped double cream into creme freche and gently mix it in.
20. Spread the cream from the previous step onto the bottom layer of the cake.
21. Lay out the cooled cherries on top of the cream on the bottom halfo of the cake.
22. Put the second half of the cake on the bottom one, covering the filling.
23. Spread the rest of the cream on the top part of the cake.
24. Decorate the cake with the food haven whipped cream.
25. Then decorate with the glazed cherries as well.
26. For the finishing touch, shred some chocolate onto the cake.
27. Put the cake into the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.