Black Forest Cake Light (Sugar Free) and a Blog Birthday

This is a Sweet Blog turns ONE today! First blog birthday! First anniversary! 

I couldn't even imagine that this blog would take such a significant part of my life. As a matter of fact, I couldn't imagine that I could have a blog at all! Since I can remember my passion for cooking, I have always been reading other food blogs and I always thought that it would be so nice one day to have my own. However, I have never taken it seriously and it seemed to be just another unrealisable dream.

One year ago I was supposed to be preparing for examination on International economic relations, but instead I decided to start a blog. I do not remember how and when exactly the idea of creating a blog came to my mind. I am even curious about it now.  But what I do remember - is me sitting for three days and three nights running working on a space on the Internet which is this blog today. I have learnt HTML and CSS and a lot of other interesting (just as not interesting at all) stuff while creating the blog. Thinking about it now I can not believe that I am able to do such things! Sometimes I still can not believe that I am a blog author. It is like all this blog-thing is going on by itself and I am just an observer. Every time I write a new blog post I am thrilled like it is for the first time. 

So, you can imagine how exited I must be today! I am so exited, like it is the first birthday of a child. Though This is a Sweet Blog is my child, my creation, the way of expressing myself. I do not have to pretend and wear masks over here. I like that this space belongs only to me. But also I am so thrilled to know that there are so many people throughout the world reading this blog. And every day the audience grows bigger and bigger. I would like to thank you guys! Thank you for reading, commenting and following my recipes. Your feedback gives me inspiration to keep blogging.  Your attention and responses mean so much to me.! 

My love for cakes has started long before This is a Sweet Blog, but only thanks to TSB I have improved my skills and now I am truly proud of my cakes! To celebrate all that I made a cake, obviously!  Because what a birthday without a cake? My cake today is a lighter sugar-free version of the famous German Black Forest Cake or Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. It has a rich chocolate flavour balanced with a light mascarpone frosting and bitter sweet drunken cherries. This cake is for you, This is a Sweet Blog!  Happy birthday!

BLACK FOREST CAKE LIGHT

makes one 6 inch/ 15 cm cake

serves 8-10

Ingredients

Cake layers (adapted from Green Kitchen Stories)

100 g almond flour

100 g oat flour

25 g cocoa powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

2 bananas, pureed

80 ml (1/3 cup) olive oil

1/2 cup honey 

Drunken Cherries

250 g cherries (not pitted)

1/4 cup alcohol (kirsch liqueur, rum, brandy,whisky)

Mascarpone frosting

250 g mascarpone

200 ml (3/4 cup ) heavy cream

sweetener to taste (I used stevia-based)

Chocolate glaze

4 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp potato starch

3 tbsp milk

1 tbsp liquid from the cherries

To decorate

fresh cherries

Directions

Drunken Cherries

1. The night before assembling a cake pit the cherries, pour over the alcohol and leave in the fridge overnight.
2. Before assembling a cake, strain the cherries and preserve the liquid to soak the cake layers.

Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F.
2. Line, grease with olive oil and dust with cocoa powder three 6 inch (15 cm) cake pans.
3. Combine almond and oat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and a pinch of salt in a large bowl.
4. In another bowl beat the eggs for about 2 minutes. Add  in pureed bananas, olive oil and honey.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until completely smooth.
6. Divide the batter between three cake pans.
7. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.
8. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Then invert onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely

Mascarpone frosting

1. Beat mascarpone until it is creamy, add heavy cream and sweetener and beat until the frosting is thick.

Chocolate glaze

1. Mix all ingredients until the glaze is smooth

Assembly

1. Using a toothpick prick each cake layer a few times. Then soak the cake layers with a liquid from the cherries.
2. Put the first layer on a serving plate, Spread a  layer of mascarpone frosting and half of the drunken cherries. Repeat with the second cake layer. 
3. Top with the last cake layer and cover the entire cake with a thin layer of mascarpone frosting to contain the crumbs. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Then spread the rest of the frosting over the cake.
4. Pour chocolate glaze over the cake.
5. Decorate with fresh cherries. 

- xo xo.