PizzAvengers Assemble!

This is one of those posts that you only get because of the unique way my brain works.

It started out simply enough. I was looking up Iron Man cupcakes on Pinterest (for completely non-blog related reasons. Sometimes you just wanna look at superhero cupcakes, y'know?) and I stumbled across an Iron Man pizza. I thought that was a really cute idea. And then I thought, I wonder why I've never seen a Black Widow pizza. That would be super easy. And then my brain thought about doing a Captain America fruit pizza, and it just kind of snowballed from there.

Plus, with Avengers: Age of Ultron coming out in LESS THAN A WEEK OMG I AM SO EXCITE, it seemed like the perfect time to let Mr. Brain go wild and create the PizzAvengers: Earth's Mightiest Pizzas. (Those of you that live places with an earlier Avengers release, no spoilers, please!)

I stuck with the core 6 Avengers from the first movie because it just worked out better that way. 6 pizzas is already more than enough for just me, and I wouldn't have the slightest idea of what to put on a Scarlet Witch or Quicksilver pizza.

All of the pizzas (except Cap. He's special) start off the same way. I used pre-baked crusts to save some time (you can usually find them in the refrigerated section of the grocery store near the cheese), a simple tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella. You can go with any sauce/cheese combo you like-- the Thor pizza would be really good as a barbecue pizza-- just make sure the cheese is white or lightly colored to give you a plain backdrop.

Because I'm cooking for just me, I decided to make three of the pizzas mini. You can totally make them full size, this is not a comment on their importance as Avengers, they just had the easiest designs to scale down and gave me less to fit in the fridge.

I started out with the Black Widow pizza because she really did have one of the easiest designs to put on a pizza. Take some pepperoni and cut it in half. Outline an hourglass shape using the cut side of the pepperoni to give you straight lines. Fill in. You're done.

Simple and elegant. Just like Natasha. But the pizza is far less lethal.

Hawkeye's pizza may look simple, but it took me forever to figure out. Hawkeye's costume is purple, which means that purple is usually used to represent him, and I couldn't figure out anything purple to put on a pizza. I briefly thought about skipping him, when I remembered about Pizza Dog, and when a character has a Pizza Dog, you can't not make him a pizza. (Lucky, aka Pizza Dog is from the comics, but I'm totally hoping he shows up in the MCU soon)(Lucky is called Pizza Dog because Clint gave him pizza and called him Pizza Dog. It's that simple)

Finally, I remembered that red cabbage is purpley. I chopped it and gave it a quick saute in a hot skillet-- not long enough to make it soft, I just wanted to jumpstart the cooking process since it didn't get very long in the oven-- and used it to make a bullseye pattern.

I feel like Clint would be very torn about whether to shoot at it or eat it.

The Hulk pizza is the one I'm least happy about because he kind of just ended up looking like generic green monster. But I didn't know of anything else that seemed appropriately Hulk-y, so that's what I went with. Plus he's kind of cute.

So what you need are some chopped green peppers and olives, and some extra mozzarella for eyes and teeth. I found it easiest to start by outlining his mouth with the chopped olives. Fill it in with more olives, then add some little pieces of mozz for his teeth. Fill out the shape of his face with green peppers and cut out some eyes out of more mozz. Make the eyes kind of slanty and angry looking, but don't worry if the shape's not perfect since it will melt in the oven. Add tiny pieces of olives for the pupils.

Once you're satisfied with the size and shape of the head, outline it with more chopped olives. Use larger olive pieces for his hair and nose.

I totally meant to add some angry slanty eyebrows and some red onion (cause the Hulk is always wearing purple pants), but since it was one of the mini pizzas, I didn't have room.

HULK LIKE PIZZA

For Iron Man, you need pepperoni, cheddar cheese, and some more chopped olives, plus some mozzarella to make the eye slits. Start with outlining the Iron Man helmet shape with pepperoni. Tony has a big head, so don't be afraid to use most of the pizza. Then you need to shape the face plate. I found it easiest to create the shape with the cheddar, then I used the halved pepperoni I had left over from the Black Widow pizza to give it a more defined outline. Place vaguely rectangular pieces of mozz for the eye slits (again, don't worry about getting the shape perfect), then use the olive to add some of the ridges and details in the mask.

Tony probably thinks ALL pizza should have his face on it.

Thor's pizza I almost forgot about because I was so worried about what to do for Hawkeye's pizza, but it actually ended up being one of my favorites. What you're going to need is shredded cheddar cheese, chopped olives, plain shredded chicken, and cooked, crumbled sausage.

Start by using the cheddar to draw a lightning bolt on the pizza, slightly off center, and then learn from my mistake and outline it with more chopped olives (the lightning bolt got a little lost after baking). Use the chopped olives to outline Mjolnir (rectangular head, long handle). Fill the head with shredded chicken and the handle with the sausage crumbles.

This last step is purely optional, but I put pepperoni around the outer edge of the pizza. I had so much pepperoni left since I bought a 16 oz. bag, and it's the color of his cloak, so I could get away with it. Plus it tickled me to make Thor's pizza a kind of meat lover's pizza. I can just imagine him being all YES MORTAL, I TOO AM A LOVER OF MEAT. LET US FEAST ON THIS STRANGE, FLAT PIE YOU CALL 'PIZZA.'

One last look before they go into the oven. Bake according to the directions for whatever crust recipe you're using. The pre-baked ones I used suggested baking at 450 (F) about 8 minutes for the mini pies and 10 minutes for the large.

While your pies are baking, you can work on Cap's fruit pizza. Since this is a dessert pizza, the crust is a giant cookie. I used sugar cookie dough. Any roll out recipe would probably be best (I can recommend these from LilaLoa). I actually just bought a thing of slice and bake dough from the store since roll out dough and I aren't friends. Spread your dough into a pizza pan (I used a foil one) and bake at 350 (F) until it's a light golden brown. I baked mine about 16 minutes, but keep your eye on it. Let it cool completely. I actually baked mine before I started assembling the pizzas, so it could cool while I was working on them.

Most fruit pizzas I've seen use cream cheese frosting as a base, to which I say ick. We've been over my feelings about sweetened cream cheese before, but honestly, when you're putting all of this fresh fruit on a dessert, why would you use anything except fresh whipped cream? Seriously.

So for this fruit pizza, we're using whipped cream (about 1 1/2 cups after whipping), halved strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, sliced bananas (2 were more than enough for me), and mini marshmallows. Start by spreading your whipped cream evenly on your cookie base. Then work from the outside in on the design: start with a ring of strawberries around the outer edge of the cookie, then do a ring of sliced bananas. My bananas were small, so I doubled them up. If you're worried about browning, you can skip them or use large marshmallows in their place. I made a quick glaze out of apricot jelly, and they only looked slightly brown the next day

Inside the bananas, do a ring of raspberries (I meant to do a double ring, but I made the banana layer too wide, so there wasn't room). In the middle, use the mini marshmallows to make a star, then fill in the rest with blueberries. Use more raspberries to fill in any spaces between the strawberries.

It won't stop bullets, but it's perfect for any 4th of July barbecues

I kind of totally love how they all turned out. Especially when they're all together, you can totally tell who they're supposed to represent.

Black Widow's is my favorite. It's just so simple and clean and immediately recognizable. Plus it was the easiest to make. Bonus.

If the lightning had come out better, though, I think Thor's would beat Black Widow. I love the design of it (is that narcissistic to say when you designed it? Maybe I shouldn't have had Iron Man pizza for lunch), and I love thinking about how much he would enjoy it, that great big Norse labradoodle that he is.

I put the most thought into Hawkeye's, but unfortunately, I don't think most people would get it presented on its own. It fits right in with the other PizzAvengers, though.

In my head, the Avengers have 4th of July picnics together and Tony always makes sure they have a dessert like this. Steve stopped being embarrassed when he tasted it.

Billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Pizza.

Hulk was my one disappointment, since he looks too generic, but like Hawkeye, when he's around the other PizzAvengers, you know immediately know who he is.

My Age of Ultron excitement level is officially 6 pizzas high. How about you?

Orphan Black Forest Cupcakes

Who's excited for the season premiere of Orphan Black tonight?

Memememememememe!

If you guys haven't heard of Orphan Black before-- do you live under a rock or something? It's the sci fi thriller about the clones, starring the absolutely redonk acting talent of Tatiana Maslany. Seriously, every time I see that woman, I always have this brief moment of wondering which one she is, and then I remember she's not actually cloned. There's only one of her. Or so they tell me. I'm not completely sure I believe it.

Clone dance party!

And there are boy clones now, which means double the clone-y goodness.

I've had the idea of doing Black Forest cupcakes for Orphan Black for a while now, because the name just works (Orphan Black, Black Forest, Orphan Black Forest), and because cupcakes are kind of like clones of each other.

I totally just blew your mind, right?

Cosima and Delphine think it's a scientific breakthrough.

Just making Black Forest cupcakes wasn't enough, though. I needed to decorate the cupcakes somehow, but I couldn't think of any sort of recognizable symbol from the show, except for Tatiana's face and that's not something I felt I could put on a cupcake.

So I went a bit... deeper.

Cloned DNA. Obvi. (I've decided the pink ones are the Leda clones and the orange ones are the Castor clones)

Putting DNA on the cupcakes was really simple. (Excuse me while I giggle to myself) (Shut up, that was totally funny) You just take two strands from Pull 'n Peel Twizzlers (I used fruit punch flavored, which is why they're different colors, but any kind works), and weave them into a double helix shape. Then take a tube of decorating icing from the grocery store and use it to draw the base pairs.

I was originally going to create base pairs out of Mike 'n Ikes, but they were too fat, so I raided my supplies to find a tube of writing icing. I only had purple, but it worked. Helena's probably disappointed there's not more candy though.

She's a fan of sugar.

The cupcakes themselves are super simple, just chocolate cupcakes filled with cherry pie filling and topped with whipped cream. I decorated a few a little more traditionally with a maraschino cherry and the crumbled up cake middles mostly because I ran out of writing icing.

Don't forget to share with your sestras

Black Forest Cupcakes

Yield: 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

8 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped

1 cup usalted butter

3 eggs

1½ cups sugar

¾ cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1½ cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda
Cherry pie filling (I used about half of a 20 oz. can)
1½ cups whipping cream
3 tbsp. powdered sugar
Maraschino cherries, to decorate
Optional decorations: Pull 'n Peel Twizzlers, writing icing

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate and the butter. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until the sugar is completely dissolved. Mix in the sour cream and vanilla extract. Add the cooled chocolate and mix until completely combined. Fold in the dry ingredients

Line a cupcake tin with paper liners, and fill about 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake about 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks.

Use a cupcake corer or a sharp paring knife to core the cupcakes and fill them with cherry pie filling.

In a large bowl with electric beaters, beat the cream and the powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Use to frost the cooled cupcake. Top with a maraschino cherries and crumbs from the discarded middles, if desired.

Recipe by Kim

Things you may need (affiliate links):

The (cheese)cake is a lie: Cheesecake Stuffed Portal Cake

My brother always complains that I turned him into a cake snob. He can't help but compare any cake he eats to cake that I make, and usually finds it lacking. (Thankfully, that was not the case with his wedding cake) And heaven forbid you give that man box cake. He's so used to eating my cakes that he can immediately spot the too-sweet and artificial taste.

For his birthday I always ask him what kind of cake he wants, and he always answers chocolate. Every year. That boy loves his chocolate cake.

Chocolate cake is a simple enough request, so I kind of had to go and complicate it. See, my entire family loves cheesecake, but I never make it because I don't like it. (I have a complicated relationship with cream cheese. Cream cheese plus savory equals awesome. Cream cheese plus sweet equals gag) I thought I'd do something special this year and make him a cheesecake. I even hunted up a recipe from Junior's in Brooklyn (his fave) for a devil's food cheesecake that had a layer of cheesecake in the middle of layers of devil's food cake and chocolate fudge frosting.

I didn't use Junior's recipe for the cake or frosting, though. I used my favorite devil's food recipe instead (of course, I realized after I took the cake out of the oven that I accidentally used baking powder instead of baking soda, so the layers were pretty thin and dense). I also, umm, I sort of took a shortcut with the frosting, because I'm a terrible person and cheesecake is hard and I didn't want to wash more bowls and don't judge me.

To try and mask the flavor of shortcut frosting (and to cover the fact that I'm not good at frosting cakes), I decided to decorate the cake with crumbs-- I reserved a little batter and baked it separately, then I toasted the crumbs. It was at that moment I realized that with a little whipped cream (which I had), some maraschino cherries (which I had), and a white candle (which I didn't have, but then had to run to the store last minute and so could buy one), I could totally make it into a Portal cake.

For those of you who don't know, Portal is a video game where the main character, Chell, participates in a series of tests (the puzzles the player has to solve) and is promised cake at the conclusion of the experiment. As the game progresses, it gets weirder and darker and you find out that the cake is, of course, a lie.

Okay, so I went a little crazy on the whipped cream. Oops

The "official" version of the cake is decorated with chocolate shards and uses a tall, thin candle. I covered mine with cake crumbs and, since it was kind of a last minute decision, could not find a tall, thin candle, so I just used a taper. You can still totally tell what it's supposed to be. Right?

How did it taste? Well, I'm not the best judge on that. It could be the world's best cheesecake, and I'd still be like, meh. How about we let the birthday boy weigh in?

Thumbs up!

Cheesecake Stuffed Portal Cake

Yield: 12-16 servings

Ingredients

For the cheesecake:

3 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese, at room temperature

1⅓ cups sugar, divided

3 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

2 extra large eggs

⅔ cup heavy cream

To assemble:

1 recipe devil's food cake

Chocolate frosting

Toasted cake crumbs or chocolate sprinkles

Whipped cream

8 maraschino cherries

1 tall white candle

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9 inch springform pan, and wrap the outside with aluminum foil.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl with electric beaters, beat 1 (8 oz.) pacakge of cream cheese with ⅓ cup sugar and cornstarch on low speed until creamy. Add the remaining cream cheese, one package at a time, scraping down the bowl after each. Increase the speed to medium and add the remaining sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the cream and beat until just incorporated. Do not over mix.

Gently spread the batter into the spingform pan. Place the pan in a large, rimmed pan (I used a foil roasting pan). Add hot water to the large pan until it comes up the sides of the springform pan about 1 inch. Bake until the edges are golden, the top is lightly tanned, and the middle still jiggles slightly when moved, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove the springform pan from the water bath and cool on a wire rack and cool for about 2 hours. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until completely chilled, about 4 hours. Freeze until use.

Prepare the devil's food cake according to recipe instructions and bake in two 9 inch round cake pans. Optional-- reserve about 1 cup of batter and bake separately to make cake crumbs cake crumbs. Cool completely.

To assemble the cake: allow the cheesecake to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Place one layer of devil's food cake on a cake plate and spread generously with frosting. Remove the cheesecake from the springform pan and place top side down on the frosted cake layer. Spread more frosting on top. Add the second cake layer, and frost the sides and top of the cake with the remaining frosting.

Cover the cake with the reserved cake crumbs or chocolate sprinkles, pressing them lightly into the frosting so they stick. On the top of the cake, use the whipped cream to pipe 8 rosettes evenly around the edge. Place one maraschino cherry in the middle of each rosette. Pipe another rosette in the middle of the cake and place the candle.

Recipe adapted slightly from FoodNetwork.com

Things you may need:

*Disclaimer: This post contains affliate links*

Peanut Butter Caramel Pie with a Chocolate Cake Crust

Do you remember when I made Black and White Mini Cupcakes and I told you that it makes a buttload of cake? Do you remember when I oh-so-subtly pondered on what one could do with all those leftover, frosting-less mini cupcakes? Yeah, they've been sitting in my freezer ever since.

See, I never know what to do with leftover cake. Usually, I just eat it, but this was a little much just for me. I stirred some chunks into some mocha ice cream, and that was good, but there was enough cake for about 25 gallons of ice cream. So I consulted the interwebz, like you do, and most of the results were predictable. Trifle (meh). Cake pops (ick). Put in ice cream (been there, done that).

Then I found a recipe where the cake was crumbled up, toasted in the oven, and then used like cookie crumbs for a pie crust. Now we were talking.

The only thing that remained was a filling to put in the pie. Something that would pair well with the dark chocolate cake, but was still easy to make (my free time has been taken up by NYCC and prep for the brother's wedding and I still got asthmatic kitty to worry about) and maybe didn't dirty too many pans.

Enter the crazy deliciousness that is this Peanut Butter Caramel Pie from the Cooking Actress. Not only is it peanut butter and caramel, but you make it in the microwave. Chill, top with whipped cream, et voila, vous etes finis. Plus, it makes your house smell amazeballs. Like, if Willy Wonka took over the Reese's factory good.

The toasted cake crumb crust is chewier than a traditional cookie crumb crust, less crisp, but not soggy or soft by any means, and it tastes like cake which is awesome. Plus, you can use any kind of cake you like. Are you gluten free? Use a gluten free cake. Got an egg allergy? Go with an egg free cake. And then there's the peanut butter caramel. Words cannot describe how much you need peanut butter caramel in your life. It's caramel, but with a rich, peanut buttery undertone. Neither flavor overpowers the other, but instead they meld into this amazing new flavor and it is necessary for living

I may or may not be eating this pie right now. For breakfast. Don't judge.

Peanut Butter Caramel Pie
Yield: 1 9" pie (8 servings)

Ingredients
For the crust:
2 cups toasted chocolate cake crumbs (instructions below)
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter

For the caramel:
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch salt

For the whipped cream:
1/4 cup chilled heavy cream
1 tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions
To make the toasted cake crumbs: Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Crumble chocolate cake onto a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about an hour, until the cake is dry. Once completely cooled, pulse in a food processor until finely ground. Store in an airtight bag or container.

Prepare the crust: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch pie plate with butter or non-stick cooking spray. Combine the cake crumbs and melted butter, and press evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes, until the crust is set.

While the crust is cooling, prepare the caramel: In a large, microwave safe bowl, add the sugar, heavy cream, and peanut butter, and whisk until completely smooth. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove and stir. Microwave on high for another 2 minutes, or until bubbly and thickened. Stir in the vanilla and salt and let cool until thickened, but still warm. Add to the prepared pie crust, cover, and chill in the refrigerator, minimum 4 hours or overnight.

Before serving, prepare the whipped cream: Add the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand mixer). Mix on low until well combined, then gradually increase the speed to high. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form. Spread evenly on top of the pie and serve.

Tip: Let the pie sit at room temperature for a bit so it's easier to cut

Crust recipe adapted from PastryJane.com*. Pie recipe adapted from The Cooking Actress
*The website where I found the pie crust recipe has since expired, so I can't link to the original

Black Forest Icebox Cake

We've been having a heat wave over in New Jersey. It's been so hot, I haven't wanted to turn the oven on. And that's like, me not wanting to bake? Inconceivable!

(You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.)

But I had to satisfy my dessert-making cravings somehow, and since my ice cream maker was ousted from the freezer because of a lack of room, that meant ice cream was out of the question.

So what's a girl to do but make her most favoritest no-bake treat in the whole wide world? That's right, it's time for icebox cakes!!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Kermit flail*

(Sometimes I worry about how much I love these things. Then I make one and worry about how little I loved them before.)

I've been playing around with the idea for a Black Forest icebox cake for a while. After all, what is Black Forest Cake, but chocolate cake, cherry filling, and whipped cream? Replace the chocolate cake with chocolate cookies, stick it in the refrigerator for a few hours, and you have an icebox cake. I haven't made it before now because I kept forgetting to buy canned cherries (easier to make a filling with, and fresh cherries don't last long enough in my house to make something with) (you could use cherry pie filling, but the canned stuff is too bright and tastes artificial, and as for making my own, see the previous parenthetical comment.)

Normally I go to the park or take a walk or sit outside and read on my lunch break, but it was way too hot for any of that this past week. And since there is a grocery store a short drive from my office, what better way to spend the time than buying ingredients for an icebox cake?

I have to say, though, that grocery store is big and clean and nice and has a great salad/hot food bar, and all sorts of organic and specialty diet options, so it totally lulled me into thinking that it would have a great selection for scratch cooks.

It does not. It is a grocery store for hipsters who like to pretend to be all gourmet and up on foodie trends and eco-friendly, but don't actually like to cook. The baking aisle is so limited (mostly mixes, to be honest), and they didn't even carry unflavored gelatin until recently. Nor could I find plain chocolate wafer cookies. They had Oreos and off-brand Oreos galore (though not much in the way of other cookies), but not plain wafers. What is up with that?

I ended up getting chocolate graham crackers. Those, at least, they had, and I did not fancy baking my own or scraping the filling out of the Oreos. And I ended up really liking the graham crackers. I think the chocolate ones taste more cake-like after softening than the regular grahams, too.

I also added a little red wine to the cherries, because the cherries are traditionally soaked in kirsch for Black Forest cake. I do not have kirsch, but I had a bottle of Malbec with only a little bit left in it. This was a last minute decision, and totally optional

There's no point to ganache if you don't let it drip down the sides.

And because I'm fancy, I poured some ganache on top. And then I let the rest set, whipped it, and piped ganache rosettes, so the cherries on top would have little chocolate thrones. And ended up with the PRETTIEST CAKE EVAAAAAAA!

And tastiest. Because you can't go wrong with cherries, chocolate, and whipped cream. And you can NEVER go wrong with an icebox cake. Word.

Black Forest Icebox Cake
Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients
For the cherry filling:
1 (15 oz.) can sweet cherries in heavy syrup
1/4 cup fruity red wine (optional)*
2 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. sugar

For the cake:
1½ cups whipping cream, chilled
1½ tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
1 box chocolate graham crackers or chocolate wafer cookies

For the ganache:
6 oz. milk chocolate, chopped**
6 oz. heavy cream

Chocolate sprinkles, and more cherries, for decorating

Directions
Prepare the filling: Dice the cherries into quarters. Add all ingredients to a saucepan. Heat on low, mixing until the sugar and cornstarch are dissolved. Continue to heat until the mixture is thickened and can coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

Prepare the cake: In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl with electric beaters, whip together the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla on high speed until stiff peaks form. Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap. Spread some of the whipped cream evenly in the bottom of the loaf pan, about ¼ inch thick. Place a row of graham crackers over the whipped cream, filling as much space as possible. Spread a layer of cherry filling on top. Top with another layer of graham crackers and spread with more whipped cream. Repeat, alternating between the cherry filling and whipped cream until the top of the loaf pan is reached, ending with the whipped cream. Refrigerate 4-6 hours or overnight.

Prepare the ganache: Place the chopped chocolate in a medium-sized mixing bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the cream over low until boiling, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. Pour the cream over the chocolate. Allow to sit for a few minutes, then stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

Assemble: Invert the loaf pan over a serving dish to release the cake (it should pop right out). Frost the sides with the remaining whipped cream, decorate with sprinkles, if desired, and pour about 1/2-2/3 of the ganache on top. Allow the remaining ganache to come to room temperature (it seem solid), then whip on high with an electric beater. Pipe the whipped ganache on top of the cake in rosettes, then top with more cherries. Serve chilled.

Tip: You can also make a freeform cake. Just line the serving dish with graham crackers and layer from there.

*Traditionally, the cherries for Black Forest Cake are soaked in kirsch. I did not have any, so I used wine instead. Feel free to skip.

**I originally used bittersweet chocolate, but it overpowered the cake. Milk chocolate has a much milder flavor. However, feel free to use your favorite

Recipe by Kim

This recipe is featured on Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party