Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Elmo was raiding the White House, which was rather empty as Indian Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un had mysteriously “disappeared” (thank you Shadow Milk Cookie) and Elmo was the new president. So that was why he was raiding his own house, to make it the Red House.
Elmo also decided to make race equality and LGBTQ rights. Everyone that was misogynistic, racist, homo/transphobic, abusive in any way, and especially rapists, etcetera were executed publicly, via guillotine or stoning, depending on how bad they were. So now the entire world (Elmo ruled the world, his base was just in America) was at peace. Also people that harmed the environment (like cutting down trees and stuff) were executed. So, the people and animals lived together in harmony with Nature.

Anyways.

So, after Elmo had raided the White House (now called the Red House btw), Shadow Milk Cookie was invited to hold a speech for liberating Trump and Kim Jong-un and a couple other mean people from Earth (we love you Shadow Milk Cookie). So, Shadow Milk Cookie invited his two best friends, Madoka and Aubrey, who wasn’t there when they originally went into the White House, but she was there in spirit trust trust. BUT. What he didn’t expect was that Pure Vanilla Cookie would be there with them. But Shadow Milk Cookie did his speech wonderfully, and he may or may not have lied about what he did to Trump and Kim Jong-un, but that’s normal, because he’s the Beast of Deceit.

Anyways, moving on...

Elmo then decided to go to the Solomon Islands for a holiday. He was rather stressed because he knew that Shadow Milk had lied about sending Indian Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un and a couple other horrible presidents/vice presidents to the void to be eaten by the wolf (Shadow Milk Cookie had said they were in some random submarine in the ocean because they were going on a spiritual mission or something), and he thought that maybe Shadow Milk Cookie could've NOT named the submarine "Ënnerwaasser" which was just Underwater put into Google Translate for Luxemborgish, but Shadow Milk Cookie did it anyway because he does what he wants, and doesn't listen to anyone (what a rebel).

Now. There was another person that they needed to execute, and it was Chairman Rose, because I fucking hate him. So, obviously Bede attended the execution because that was literally the ONE person he had as a father figure (a shit father figure yeah) (GOD BEDE IS SO ME IM GOING INSANE) (anyways), and Rui Kamishiro was the executioner because uhuhhuhuhuhuh idk. So, Bede watched as Chairman Rose was brought up to the stage where the guillotine was.

Bede wanted a souvenir, so he stole Chairman Rose's uhhmm left shoe. And he sold it at an auction for 2,500,000 dollars, because some rich guy wanted Chairman Rose's left shoe specifically. So now Bede had a lot of money, so that was nice. He got 16 strawberry flavoured Basil seed drinks. Well, 16 and a half. Don't ask where the other half went.

Chapter Text

Elmo was STILL on his insteresting holiday in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Shadow Milk Cookie was also there but Elmo didn't know that because he lowk shapeshifted into a turtle after sending Indian Trump & Co. to the void (Remember they are NAWT in a random ahh submarine like he told the citizens). He was enjoying a pina colada when certain blue ass gatorade blue turtle starting crawling up the beach and on to his sunlounger and starting dancing to Gnarly by Katseye because why tf not.

Elmo was in fact quite shocked by this peculiar turtle and lwk picked it up with two fingers and flung it to the other side of the ocean. This was NOT a good idea because Shadow Milk ended up being pissed tf off. Shadow Milk Cookie ended up going to the Antartic and transforming into a Gatorade blue polar bear/penguin i forgot which one is where just please decide bc i lwk can NAWT remember. After a while, Shadow Milk found out where Elmo was going next, which was Vanuatu (Elmo was going island hopping okay he deserves a holiday from being the best ruler of the world in the entire history of the universe), and he went there and became a snake, specifically, a sea snake, which, in Vanuatu, are very toxic and venomous. And, he decided, he would be a FERAL. Sea snake, so he didn't have to pretend to be nice and friendly.

Elmo was on his flight to Vanuatu when Shadow Milk Cookie hatched a plan... to make Elmo stay in Vanuatu for as long as possible. So, he would bite Elmo. And it worked, just so you know, so Elmo had to stay in Vanuatu for several more months, while simultaneously planning his engagement party to Cookie Run Monster.

Meanwhile at the butcher's shop, Student A was getting ready to be executed because we DID say major character death and that we would execute multiple people so uhh yeah. The butcher was lwk blind and Bluey, Ena and Mizuki lowk wanted to get rid of Student A so instead of going to the executioner, they went to the butcher because we need some variety of location in this story ok. Student A then got his head chopped off and the trio stole his head, but it was empty because Student A doesn't have a brain. They tried to sell it at an auction (like Bede did with Chairman Rose's left shoe), but they didn't have the same luck because they got arrested, but it was okay because Bluey is rich from all those seasons, and Mizuki said that it was homophobia (because she's transfem and dating Ena) so they lowkey got the police officers that arrested them executed.

So, at the execution, the three of them all stole the police officer's right shoes. And the same rich guy that bought Rose's left shoe got the right shoes, because he really liked shoes or something. So, he left the auction with several right shoes. Mizuki, Ena, and Bluey saw Bede. And then Mizuki becames friends with Bede, because transmasc transfem solidarity (well, Mizuki has she/her/they/them pronouns but it's fine because she's still transfem). So, yeahh, Bede and Mizuki are friends now. Yyayayayayayayy!!!!

Chapter Text

Shadow Milk and Madoka were hanging out in their personal lounge at the Red House and starting talking about plans for the engagement party. NOW Shadow Milk doesnt really know a lot of stuff and Madoka knows a lot, so they decided to make a dragonfruit smoothie, but the recipe called for avocados for some reason, and Shadow Milk doesn't know what an avocado is, so Madoka got one for him and he decided to eat it.

It was fucking disgusting. And green. So Shadow Milk Cookie threw it out the window, and they had to make the smoothie without avocado.

How disappointing. Not following the instructions... what a rebel.

Anyways, so yeah, they had the smoothie without avocado. Shadow Milk said that it tasted better this way, and I think it did actually because why the fuck would a recipe for a DRAGONFRUIT smoothie need AVOCADO. This was one of the few times he was telling the truth since becoming the Beast of Deceit, by the way. Congratulations, Shadow Milk Cookie, on your redemption arc /j

Madoka and Shadow Milk Cookie finished their weird-ass dragonfruit smoothie (without avocado because ew), and Shadow Milk suddenly remembered something VERY IMPORTANT.

“Elmo’s engagement party,” he whispered dramatically, like he was revealing the secret to immortality, which Madoka lwk needed in those alternative timelines (im so sorry). “We must sabotage it with vibes.”

Madoka blinked. “What the fuck does ‘sabotage with vibes’ mean?”

“It means…” Shadow Milk leaned close. “I will shapeshift into something Elmo cannot resist. Something irresistible. Something iconic. Something that screams ✨chaos✨.”

Madoka, who at this point had seen Shadow Milk shapeshift into literally everything from a turtle to a sea snake to a maybe-penguin, just shrugged. “Fine. Do whatever. I’ll bring glitter bombs.”

So Shadow Milk decided that he would shapeshift into a GIANT walking strawberry-flavoured basil seed drink, because Bede bought too many of them anyway, and it was the perfect disguise. No one would suspect that inside the cursed beverage costume lurked the Beast of Deceit.

Meanwhile, Elmo was on FaceTime with Cookie Monster, planning their engagement outfits. Cookie Monster wanted matching tuxedos but Elmo insisted on wearing a full-length sequined gown that sparkled like the blood of his enemies under the guillotine spotlight. They compromised: Cookie Monster wore a tuxedo with sequins. True love.

Bede overheard this whole conversation because he had been secretly hacking Elmo’s phone for no reason (don’t ask). He immediately texted Mizuki: “girl we NEED to crash this party”. Mizuki responded: “bet. ena and bluey r in too. we r stealing more shoes.”

So now, not only were Madoka and Shadow Milk planning a sabotage, but Mizuki, Ena, Bluey, and Bede were also pulling up to the engagement with shoe theft on the agenda.

Chaos was inevitable.

Chapter Text

The day of Elmo’s engagement party arrived. The Red House was decorated with 7 million biodegradable balloons (because if anyone popped a plastic one, they would’ve been executed on the spot for environmental crimes). Elmo walked down the staircase in his glittery blood-red gown while Cookie Run Monster struck a dramatic pose in his sequined tux.

Everyone clapped. Except Shadow Milk Cookie (currently disguised as a strawberry basil seed drink), who rolled his way into the venue. People thought he was part of the catering. “Omg free drinks??” shouted Ena, trying to take a sip out of his head. Shadow Milk slapped her away.

Madoka, meanwhile, was throwing glitter bombs onto the dance floor, shouting “✨FOR THE GAYS✨” (including the emojis, don't ask how Madoka can do that with her mouth, it's just because she can okay) every time one exploded. Bluey got glitter in her eyeballs and screamed. Bede just sulked in the corner with his 2.5 million dollars, waiting for the perfect moment to steal Elmo’s wedding shoes.

Suddenly, Mizuki made a speech:
“Shoes are the currency of rebellion. We shall take the shoes of the corrupt and auction them to rich idiots. It is what we all want, and what Student A would have despised. So we will obviously do it.”

Everyone clapped.

BUT THEN. The rich guy who had been buying all the shoes showed up. He was revealed to be none other than… Indian Donald Trump in disguise. (He had escaped the void. Or maybe the void burped him out. Idk. Don’t ask questions.)

Elmo froze. Shadow Milk Cookie also froze, because he was the one who put Trump in the void in the first place. Cookie Monster screamed. Madoka chucked a glitter bomb at Trump’s head.

“Round two, bitch,” Elmo hissed, pulling out the ceremonial guillotine from behind the Red House buffet table.

The engagement party turned into a battlefield: Shadow Milk (still in drink form) was rolling across the floor trying to trip Trump, Bluey bit Trump’s ankle, Mizuki stole his shoe mid-fight, and Bede started auctioning it LIVE on Instagram.

In the chaos, Cookie Monster grabbed Elmo’s hand. “Darling, this is the most romantic thing you’ve ever done.”

And they kissed while Trump screamed in the background.

Lovely.

So. Shadow Milk Cookie had to send Trump back into the void, but couldn't do that without giving away his cover. But he had to. BUT. BUT. BUT. There was also Hanako-Kun. And Nene Yashiro. They had gone together as a couple. They're dating. I love Hananene.

And Hanako-kun (plus Nene) knew EXACTLY. How to send Trump into the void (or just kill him in general). They summoned Kou Minamoto (don't ask how) (they lured him there with Mitsuba, yes, they're both gay), and this was basically the conversation -

"Hey, Kou. We kind of need you to exorcise Indian Trump."

Yes. Indian Trump is considered a supernatural because he died but came back to life. Supernatural things.

"What??????? I have to exorcise fucking Trump? Yeah, sure, I don't want to be killed cause I'm gay, (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER AHEAD) I already died lmao I don't want to die again, plus, this would be the 985892789573298573th time Mitsuba would die as well. Gay ass pink boy keeps dying bruh"

"Thank you Kou. Happy gay month (it's not June)."

So Kou stabbed Trump 15th times with his brother's katana or whatever it is. And he fucking perished. The end. Yay!!

Or is it.

Chapter Text

uhh hey guys.
WERE BACK!
after like a 10 year long hiatus.
why is my classmate behind me.
OMFG leave my frame bruv
BRO GET OUT.
OMG LEAVE BRUH.
oh finally she left.
YAYAYAYAYY

okay chat this is me now, aka YOUR FAVOURITE, ME, AKA MARS. Well, CHEESECAKE, ACTUALLY V BUT WHATEVERRRRRR CAUSE IM CHEESECAKE NOW.
those uhmmm 9 lines before ts was lwk Strawberry (aka Isli in case you read the first book)
we sort of had a 8324238432987 eons long break cause of school and shi and also my ankle sort of not really getting broken but whateverrrrrr.

"the ao3 author curse cant hit me bc my fathers already dead!" i says, joyfully
"no" said the evil Mr. Evil Tree. my ankle then decides to break 💔💔

Chapter Text

Ok. So now Indian Donald Trump was gone. For ever.

And Rui Kamishiro wanted to celebrate. How would he celebrate this joyous day?

By blowing up a school !!!!!!!!!!!! yayayayyaayayy.

So, yeah, Bede noticed this. They had a little conversation

"Rui."

"Yeah"

"Can I blow up the school with you"

"Ok."

That was all that was said between the two while they had the meeting. They parted ways, and a couple days later, met up to blow up the school. Which school was it? UhHhHhhh.... (I had to go to Google for this ok) ...Strawberry Mansion High School?

So, yeah. They stocked up on atomic bombs and went to go blow up the school. Rui had to build the bombs in less than a week, but it was okay because he did. He successfully made 50 atomic bombs, but had tested one or two or five on the Emperor's Coven in the Demon Realm. Don't ask how he got there, he just decided that it would be funny to go to the Demon Realm and blow up the Emperor's Coven.

They invited some singer called Jazmine Sullivan, who went to Strawberry Mansion. I had to do research for ts bruh 😭😭🙏🙏🙏🙏

Anywaysysyyssss.................................

So, they all went to Strawberry Mansion Highschool, and decided to lay out their plan. They, obviously, would have to be far away from the grounds unless they wanted to be killed by the atomic bomb explosion. So they pretended to be Jazmine's entourage, because she was there for a "visit to see how the school was going". Gnarly.

The plan was ----- ....They would, first, plant the atomic bomb (it was a rather small one, one that they could smuggle in using a large cupboard with wheels you know?? like the uhhh idfk???????) so, yeah, they smuggled the atomic bomb into the empty kitchen, because it was a Saturday.

Yeah, so they shoved the bomb into the kitchen. And, then, Rui, Jazmine, and Bede ran out of the school building and then Rui just..... pressed the large red button on the detonator thingymabob and the school fucking exploded.

Chapter Text

ITS THE NEXT DAY. WoW.
And

uhuuuhhuhhhuhhhhhhhh .....

isli just said that i should make this chapter about eating each others ass but like what im not doing that ???

Anyways.
So a recap (for me, not you guys okay im sorry i havent written in a while)

chairman rose got executed via guillotine, Bede sold his right? shoe and got rich off of it, skip to elmos and cookie monsters wedding and Indiant Donald Trump turned out to be the one buying the shoes not some rich guy so Kou had to exorcise his ahh so that he and Mitsuba dont get deported by ICE?? idk what they do to gays im not in the US and yeah Rui, Bede, and Jazmine with a Z blow up that one school?? so yeah

now its about Satoo. kewl 1!!!!!!111!!!!!!

so uh since we already had one gay wedding we have another one. Satou and Yokoos or whatever their names were. obviously not a real wedding chat, because theyre in middle school. owowowowowowowoow my stomach
sorry chat
so Kou was the officiant, obviously. and uhh Elmo was best man and uh the maid of honour was Nene uh and the flower girl was Jazmine with a Z but like Jazmine wanted to be the maid of honour so she threw hands with Nene but chat if we read the pilot then we know full well Nene would just fucking demolish Jazmine.

sosoososoooooooooooooooooooooooooo..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

They got married. WOwowowowoow!!!!!!

And Indian Donald Trump was too exorcised to do anything lol.
uh recipe time

(Please see next chapter, sorry guys...)

Guys idk why it's just one large text block

Chapter Text

Uh so hey
This is Cheesecake
We have another author
Yep
Uhhhhhhhh ........
They can edit this chapter and introduce themself idfk !!
Dear said author, give a nickname and stuff and uh your pronouns IDFK GIVE ME A BREAK thanks !! :3

Wait I was looking at the tags isn't there a tag for implied ships
I'm gonna fix that real quick @300_raccoons_in_a_petticoat introduce your ahh

Uhhhh, HIII??? I'm Raccoon I suppose, HUZZAH.
I would've introduced myself earlier but I was too busy having an existential crisis, and staring my cat down because his bitchass ate some of my Salami. >:[[[
Also pronouns are below me, I couldn't care less what people use for me.
I don't know what else to add so like, yeah good luck with whatever you're doing I suppose 𒐫𒈓𒈓𒈓𒇫𒈓𒆙𒀱𒆙𒈓𒆙×͜×𒁂𒆙𒁂𒇫𒈓𒇫×͜×

Recipe time again chat.

Yassa from Senegal, where im (Isli, not Cheesecake) from! YAY!

Ingredients
For Marinating the Chicken:

2 pounds (900g) bone-in, skin-on chicken legs
½ cup (120ml) fresh lemon juice, from about 2 large lemons
½ small (6-ounce; 170g) yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoon (15ml) fresh lime juice, from about 1 lime
1 tablespoon (15ml) neutral oil, such as vegetable or peanut oil
1 Scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, stemmed and finely chopped
1 teaspoon (4g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt use half as much by volume or the same weight
For the Yassa:

1 tablespoon (15ml) neutral oil, such as vegetable or peanut oil
3 medium (8-ounce; 225g) yellow onions, thinly sliced
3 medium cloves garlic (15g), minced
1 teaspoon (5ml) Dijon mustard (optional)
3 cups (710ml) homemade chicken stock or store-bought low-sodium broth
1 whole Scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, pierced with a fork
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cooked long- or medium-grain rice, couscous, or fonio, for serving
Lime or lemon wedges, for serving
Directions
For the marinated chicken: In a large bowl or zipper-lock bag, toss together chicken, lemon juice, diced onion, lime juice, oil, Scotch bonnet pepper, and salt until well combined. Cover bowl or seal bag, then marinate in the refrigerator for at least 8 and up to 12 hours.

For the Yassa: Remove chicken from the marinade, scraping off any onions and pepper; discard the marinade. Using paper towels, blot chicken dry. In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken, skin-side down, and cook until well browned, about 6 minutes. Using a thin metal spatula, turn chicken and cook on second side until browned, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat and transfer chicken to a platter.

Lower heat to medium, add sliced onions, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are softened, about 7 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring and scraping frequently, until onions are dark brown and caramelized, about 15 minutes. Stir in garlic and mustard and cook until fragrant and slightly softened, about 1 minute.

Add chicken stock, Scotch bonnet pepper, bay leaf, and chicken along with any accumulated juices, nestling chicken pieces into the onions; season lightly with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, gently stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and beginning to fall from the bone, about 1 hour. Season with salt, if needed. Serve with rice, couscous, or fonio, and lemon or lime wedges.

Did you guys like that uh cause now theres going to be more uhhhh dessert but idk

Chocolate cake layers
Black Forest Cake relies on eggs to make the cake layers rise instead of the usual baking powder or baking soda. So you need many more eggs than classic chocolate cakes!

Black Forest Cake ingredients
Nothing groundbreaking here! Just a note on a couple of things:

Eggs – Make sure they are what’s sold as “large eggs”, which are 55 – 60g / 2oz each. These are industry-standard sizes in Australia and the US. If your eggs are significantly larger or smaller in size, just weigh different eggs and use 330 – 360g / 12 oz in total (including shell) or 300 – 325g / 11 oz in total excluding shell (this is useful if you need to use a partial egg to make up the total required weight. Crack eggs, beat whites and yolks together, THEN pour into a bowl to measure out what you need).

Use at room temperature – Eggs need to be at room temperature and not fridge-cold, because they aerate better when beaten. This is particularly important for Black Forest Cake because the sponge layers rely solely on the eggs to make them rise; they do not use baking powder or baking soda like other cakes do. A quick way to warm up fridge-cold eggs: Place eggs in a large bowl, cover with warm tap water (just warm, not hot) and leave for 5 minutes. Wipe dry (to avoid residual water dripping into bowl), then use per recipe; and

Cocoa – Use Dutch process cocoa powder if you can because the colour and flavour is more intense than regular cocoa powder. Regular, unsweetened cocoa powder can however be used here instead – there’s plenty of other flavours going on so it won’t compromise the outcome!

2. Cherry layer and syrup
Black Forest Cake is sandwiched with cherries, and the cake layers are also soaked with cherry syrup which imparts flavour and moisture to the sponge layers which are often (sadly!) too dry otherwise. Here’s what you need:

Black Forest Cake ingredients
Just a note on a couple of items:

Morello / sour cherries in a can or jar, in syrup or juice – Yes, jarred not fresh cherries! I’ve tried this cake with fresh cherries and although lovely when summer cherries are in their prime, the cake just isn’t the same. Canned fruits are softer and juicier, and just make more sense here. Even when fresh cherries are cooked down to make a sauce (like I do with blueberries) the texture just wasn’t as good. So, canned cherries it is!

Also, we use the flavoured syrup from the jar as the base for the cherry syrup used to brush the cake layers.

Can’t find canned cherries? Use frozen pitted cherries + cherry juice instead. Thaw completely (reserve liquid). Top up using cherry juice to make up the cherry liquid called for in the recipe;

Kirsch or cherry liqueur – This is a German-origin, cherry-flavoured brandy. Authentic Black Forest Cake uses it in the cherry syrup. If you prefer not to use alcohol, just substitute with more reserved cherry juice.

Why we need cherry syrup for the sponge
The Black Forest Cake’s chocolate sponge layers are made without a leavening agent (eg. baking powder, baking soda) and rely solely on whipped eggs to make them rise in the oven. This makes the cake beautifully light, but does have a tendency to be a bit on the dry side (it’s just a fact of life with egg-aerated cakes because eggs dry baked goods out).

This is why the soaking the sponge with cherry syrup is such an important step. It’s not just for flavour, but also to moisten the sponge cake layers!

Syrup soaked cherries for Black Forest Cake
3. Decorations!
Black Forest Cake ingredients
Cream – We need a hefty amount of cream for this recipe! It’s only lightly sweetened with icing sugar so isn’t overly heavy or rich.

This recipe does not call for stabilised cream (ie. where the aeration of cream is stabilised using gelatine or cornflour; there’s a few methods). I prefer the pure, unadulterated flavour of plain whipped cream. It does however lose aeration after a few days. Using heavy / thickened cream rather than pure cream helps the cream to maintain its form.

Having said that, the cake is still perfectly scoff-able even on Day 4! I just wouldn’t take it to an event to impress. 🙂

If you want to use stabilised cream which will hold its form near perfectly for 3 to 4 days, here is the recipe I use (it’s a PDF document, I will publish it properly one day!);

Cherries for decorating – Use any cherries you want here. I’ve opted for maraschino cherries both for their merry, vivid red colour (love it!) and also because cherries are out of season right now here. I’d definitely use fresh cherries if I could get my hands on them!

Chocolate – For making curls or shavings to use in decorating!

Cutting Black Forest Cake
How to make Black Forest Cake
1. Chocolate sponge cake layers
How to make a German Black Forest Cake
Sift flour and cocoa: Sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl to remove any pesky lumps. This is important for this cake batter so you can minimise the amount of mixing required when you fold the flour into the aerated eggs. I hate sifting too, so I promise I only do it when essential!!

Beat eggs: Beat eggs briefly to combine, then slowly add the sugar in over 45 seconds while beating. Now beat the eggs for a whole 7 minutes on speed 8 until it’s pale in colour and tripled in volume. Don’t shortcut this step – this is what makes the cake rise (remember, there’s no baking powder used);

Fold in flour: Gently fold in the flour and cocoa powder until most of it is incorporated (see video for folding technique). A few flour streaks are fine, we will mix them through in the next step. Use a rubber spatula or a large metal spoon to make short work of this. The less you mix, the better your cake will rise!

Fold in butter: Add butter and gently fold that through as well, until you have a smooth batter;

Bake: Divide the batter between 3 x 20cm (8”)cake pans. The batter should be thin enough to be pourable into the cake pans, rather than having to scoop and dollop. You will still need to scrape the bowl out though.

Bake for 25 minutes at 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan).

If your oven is not large enough to fit 3 cake pans on one shelf, do as I do: Put 2 pans in the middle shelf, and one on a lower shelf right underneath. Take the top 2 pans out at 25 min, and leave the bottom cake pan in for an extra 2 minutes;

Cool: Check to ensure the cakes are cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre and ensuring it comes out clean. If there is batter on the skewers, it means the cake needs to be cooked more so just return it to the oven.

Then turn the cake out onto cooling racks, and allow to cool fully before assembling!

2. Cherry syrup and cherries
While the cake is baking / cooling, prepare the cherries and syrup for sandwiching.

How to make a German Black Forest Cake
Drain cherries: Drain jar of cherries, reserving the liquid;

Measure out 1/4 cup (60ml) of the reserved cherry juice to make a cornflour slurry;

Cherry cornflour slurry: Mix the reserved 1/4 cup of juice with cornflour to make the slurry;

Make cherry syrup: Place a medium pot over medium low heat, add the sugar and another 1/3 cup of remaining reserved juice. Bring to a gentle simmer to dissolve the sugar.

Then add the cornflour slurry and bring to a simmer. Cook for 1 minute or until it thickens into a thin syrup. We want the syrup to be quite thin so it soaks the cake layers all the way through rather than settling on top;

Add kirsch (cherry liquor): Remove from the heat and stir in the kirsch;

Soak cherries, cool: Now pour the syrup over the drained cherries and allow to cool completely before using. In this step, the cherries get soaked with the extra flavour from the kirsch.

3. Chocolate curls (optional)
This step is entirely optional because it does take a bit of practice. If you’re having trouble making curls, don’t fret. Even if they don’t work out, you’ll at the very least be left with chocolate shavings which still look GREAT on Black Forest Cakes. In fact, most Black Forest Cakes are decorated with chocolate shavings rather than fancier curls!

How to make a German Black Forest Cake
Spread over back of baking tray: Break up the block of chocolate and place in a microwave-safe bowl. Gently melt in a microwave by heating over three 20-second bursts, stirring in between.

Pour the melted chocolate over the back of a baking pan and spread out with a spatula as thinly as possible;

Refrigerate for 3 – 4 minutes until the centre is just set.

Scrape curls: Using something with a sharp straight edge (I use a bench scraper, spatula or the back of a knife also works), hold it at a 45 degree angle and scrape along the tray away from you to create curls. Do a small test patch first. If the chocolate is too hard, the curls may break or flake. Leave to soften slightly and try again. If the chocolate is too soft, the curls sag and won’t roll. Refrigerate more to harden; and

Whip cream: Just prior to assembling the cake, beat the cream until stiff. Refrigerate until required.

4. Assembling the cake
We’re on the home stretch here! Plus this is the really fun part!

How to make a German Black Forest Cake
Brush with cherry syrup: Brush a cake layer with 1/4 cup of the cherry syrup that the cherries are soaking in.

Add cream layer: Spread with 1 cup of whipped cream, leaving a 1cm (1/2″) border (the weight of cake when placed on top and gently pressed will push the cream to edge).

Layer cherries: Top the cream layer with half the cherries (in a single layer), using a slotted spoon to drain well. Don’t pat them dry though, want the cherries juicy!;