A truly irresistible showstopper, White Forest Cake, has been in the shadow of its well-known cousin, Black Forest Gateau, for far too long! Made with beautifully spongy Genoise cake, cherry compote and white chocolate cream frosting, this white layered cake is a perfect combination of sweet and tart, creamy and spongy, sinful and delightful! Perfect for any special occasion, this gateau is made with frozen cherries, making it a great dessert even when fresh fruit is out of season!
- What is White Forest Cake And How Is It Different From Black Forest Cake?
- Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Equipment Needed
- Ingredients and Substitutions
- Step-By-Step Method
- Decorating The Cake
- Tips & Tricks
- Recipe FAQs
- How To Serve White Forest Cake?
- How To Store White Forest Gateau?
- Flavour Variations
- Other Delicious Layered Cake Recipes
- Recipe Card
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What is White Forest Cake And How Is It Different From Black Forest Cake?
Black Forest Gateau is a world-renowned cake! Although it may sound French, Black Forest Gateau originated in Germany, only there it was known as Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Chocolate sponge layered with whipped cream and cherries soaked in cherry liquor make up a traditional Black Forest Cake.
White Forest Cake, on the other hand, is a relatively modern creation. Dark chocolate is replaced with white chocolate and white cake replaces chocolate sponge. This lighter (slightly more summery) gateau, still features cherries and cream, but is less rich, slightly sweeter and simply a delight to eat!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- First things first – it’s delicious! The combination of tart cherries and sweet white chocolate cream is to die for!
- If you are short on time, you don’t have to make things from scratch: use shop-bought white cake and cherry pie filling to make an effortless but equally impressive White Forest Cake.
- The layers of this cake will impress all your friends and family, and you can get extremely creative with the decorations.
Equipment Needed
You will need:
- A large bowl (heatproof) set over a pot of simmering water. Choose a bowl that sits on top of your pan without the bottom touching the water.
- Handheld Electric Mixer – we love Kenwood. You may use a stand mixer, but you will need both the paddle and the whisk attachment.
- 2 x 7″ cake tins.
- Small-medium saucepans to make cherry filling and white chocolate ganache.
- A large knife or cake cutter to cut each sponge cake in half crossways.
- Piping bag.
Ingredients and Substitutions
For a full list of ingredients and measurements, look at the recipe card at the bottom of the page. But here’s your shopping list:
Vanilla Sponge Cake (Genoise Sponge)
- unsalted butter: if you can, use European-style butter, with higher fat content.
- eggs: use medium eggs in the UK, or large in the US.
- caster sugar: also known as castor sugar or superfine sugar. It dissolves more quickly than granulated sugar, but you may use the latter as a substitute.
- salt: if you are using salted butter, skip the salt.
- vanilla bean paste: can be replaced with seeds from a vanilla pod or pure vanilla extract. We use and love Nielsen Massey Vanilla Bean Paste.
- plain flour: also known as all-purpose flour. Whilst cake flour with lower gluten content works best for this recipe, if plain flour is all you have, it will work just fine.
Cherry Compote
- frozen cherries: we like using frozen sour cherries in this recipe to counterbalance the sweetness of the white chocolate cream, but sweet dark cherries will work too.
- lemon juice: freshly squeezed or bottled. Use a little more if you are using sweet cherries.
- kirch: also known as kirschwasser. It adds depth of flavour and a wonderful aroma, but if you don’t have a bottle in your drinks cabinet, you can substitute it with brandy or cognac, or simply skip it altogether.
- caster sugar: also known as superfine sugar.
- cornflour: also known as corn starch.
White Chocolate Cream
- heavy cream: also known as double cream or whipping cream.
- cream cheese: also known as soft cheese in the UK.
- white chocolate: use a high-quality baker’s white chocolate bar that melts well. Alternatively, use white chocolate chips.
Step-By-Step Method
STEP 1: Make Genoise Sponges
Generously grease the bottom and sides of two 7″ cake tins with butter and dust them with flour. You may line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper rounds if you know your pans are not completely non-stick.
Preheat the oven to 180° C Fan.
Place the butter in a small saucepan and melt it over low heat. Set it aside to cool down slightly.
Bring a little bit of water to simmer in a large pot. In a bowl, that would sit nicely on top of the pan with simmering water without the bottom touching the water, add the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla. Set the bowl over the pot of simmering water. Using a balloon whisk, beat the eggs until sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches 40°C (if you don’t have a kitchen thermometer, just use your finger to check if it’s slightly warmer than your body temperature). As soon as the eggs reach the temperature, beat them with a handheld electric whisk on high speed until they triple in volume. Then take them off the simmering water immediately.
Sift in the flour and mix gently to incorporate. Pour in the butter and, again, very gently mix it in, trying to keep as much air you whisked into the eggs as possible.
Pour the genoise cake batter into the two cake pans (leave 4-5mm off the top of the rim to give space for the cake to rise.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes. To check if the sponges are cooked, press your finger gently into the centre of the cake – if the sponge springs back, it is done!
Leave the sponges to set and firm up slightly in their pans (about 10-15 minutes), then turn them out onto a wire rack. If you had a circle of baking parchment at the bottom of your cake tins, peel them off the top of the cake. Leave the sponges to cool down completely.
Once cooled, slice each sponge into two crosswise, so you end up with 4 thin sponge rounds.
STEP 2: Make Cherry Filling
Place the frozen cherries, sugar, lemon juice and kirsch in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat it until the cherries thaw and release their juices. Reduce the heat to low. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour with 2 tablespoon of water.
Pour the cornflour mixture into the cherry pan and stir to combine. Keep on stirring the cherry sauce over low heat for 5-7 minutes until the mixture thickens. Note that it will thicken further as it cools. Set the cherries aside to cool down to room temperature. You may then cover the cherry filling with cling film and store it in the fridge if you are not assembling the cake right away.
STEP 3: Make White Chocolate Frosting
Finely chop the white chocolate. The smaller pieces you will chop it in, the better, as it will melt more quickly. You may also choose to use white chocolate chips. Add the white chocolate and double (heavy) cream to a small saucepan and heat, stirring continuously, over low heat, until the chocolate melts.
Take it off the heat at leave it to cool down for 10-15 minutes.
Add the cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Beat it with an electric hand mixer for 2 minutes, until it is extremely smooth. A stand mixer with a whisk attachment will work too, but we find it takes a lot longer and there’s more waste as the cheese gathers around the whisk. We recommend using a paddle attachment to beat the cream cheese, then changing it over to a whisk attachment once you’ve added the cream.
Pour in about ⅓ of the white chocolate cream and beat on high speed again for 1-2 minutes, until smooth, and no small lumps of cream cheese are visible. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl, as cream cheese tends to stick to them.
Finally, add the rest of the white chocolate cream and beat again until combined.
Place the mixture in the fridge for an hour.
When ready to assemble, take the cream out of the fridge and beat it again on low speed for a few moments to arrive at soft-medium peaks (it should be soft, but pipeable, like whipped cream).
Transfer the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle.
STEP 4: Assemble
Place the first cake half on a flat plate or board. Pipe a circle of whipped white chocolate ganache around the outer edge of the cake (it will keep the cherries from seeping through to the surface).
Fill the middle ⅓ of your cherry compote. Try and spread the cherries out evenly to create an even layer. Then pipe a thin layer of cream on top.
Top the cream with a second cake half and press down very gently. Repeat with the same steps (a round of cream around the edge of the cake, cherries in the middle, thin layer of cream on top) two more times. Finish with a layer of sponge (brown flat side up).
You should have some white chocolate frosting left. Use it to spread on top, or all around the sides of the cake. Get creative with decoration! Leave the cake to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.
Decorating The Cake
We used the white chocolate frosting to cover the top and sides of this White Chocolate Gateau in a thin layer (may have been a mistake, since I don’t have a pallet knife!).
We then scattered white chocolate shaving on top of the cake, around the edge. And finally, we arranged cherry halves around the bottom, and plonked two fresh cherries on top!
However, you can get extremely creative with your decorations. You can use melted white chocolate to create a drip cake effect, or buy some beautiful white chocolate curls to arrange on top. Some dark chocolate decorations would look beautiful on this gateau too!
If you are not covering the whole cake in frosting, you can also use any leftover cream to pipe little rosettes using a star nozzle on your piping bag!
Tips & Tricks
- Be patient when beating the eggs over the pan of simmering water. To get a fluffy white sponge, you need to keep beating until the eggs triple in volume. You will lose some air when mixing in dry ingredients, so put in the hard work to overcompensate.
- When you pour the butter into the cake batter, drizzle it all over, it will make it easier to distribute it throughout the mix.
- Make sure to grease your cake tins properly, and dust them with flour. There’s nothing more frustrating than having your sponge cake stick.
- Take your cream cheese out of the fridge at least 1 hour before you start making the frosting. It will help in making your frosting extra smooth.
- Your chocolate ganache will be quite thin (not of pipeable consistency) before you chill it – that’s normal and expected. You will whip it again after it had time to cool down and add extra air bubbles into it when you whisk it just before assembling the cake.
- Make more of the cherry compote if you plan to decorate the top of the cake with it.
- The best way to spread the frosting around the cake is to use a revolving cake decorating stand and a pallet knife (the tools I have recently invested in)!
Recipe FAQs
There are several reasons why a sponge may turn out flat. Here are some things to consider:
1. Overmixing: Genoise sponge relies on the incorporation of air into the batter to create lift. If you mix it too long or too vigorously, you may lose some of the previously incorporated air, resulting in a flat sponge.
2. Insufficient leavening: Genoise sponge typically uses either eggs or egg whites as the leavening agent. If your eggs are too small or if you don’t whip the egg whites to the right consistency, the sponge may not rise properly.
3. Incorrect oven temperature: If the oven temperature is too low, the sponge may not rise properly. On the other hand, if the oven temperature is too high, the sponge may rise too quickly and then collapse.
4. Overbaking: If you bake the sponge for too long, it may become dry and lose its structure, resulting in a flat sponge.
Whilst traditionally Black and White Forest Cakes are made with cherries, you can use raspberries, or blueberries to make this cake too! It may no longer be called White Forest Cake, but it will be delicious nonetheless!
How To Serve White Forest Cake?
White Forest Cake can be made and served all in one day, however, we highly recommend storing the undecorated cake in the fridge overnight before serving it. The sponge has the time to absorb some moisture and flavours from the cherries and cream. Whilst the layers are not as prominent the next day, as the cherries bleed into the cream and sponge, the overall flavour is so much better.
To serve, the cake, take it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before serving, so that it can come to room temperature.
Using a thin-bladed knife, cut the cake into portions, wiping the knife in between each cut. Dipping the knife into hot water and wiping it dry helps to cut an even cleaner slice.
How To Store White Forest Gateau?
If you have made your gateau ahead of time, store it in the fridge without decoration. Ideally, you want a very large tall bowl to put over it to keep it from absorbing other odours from the fridge. Alternatively, don’t smother the top and sides in the frosting and cover it in plastic wrap, and then finish the exterior on the day that you are serving it.
Any leftover cake can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. Cover the cake, or place leftover slices in an airtight container.
Unfortunately, this cake is not suitable for freezing.
Flavour Variations
White Forest Cake is typically made with cherries, but you can mix it up and make it with various different fruit and berries. For example, frozen summer berries or forest fruit mix will work just as well. For a summer version, make a layer cake with a fresh strawberry compote instead.
You may also like the idea of making white chocolate cake, instead of white chocolate frosting. Follow with White Chocolate Cake recipe here for a nice twist.
Whilst we always turn to Genoise Sponge when we are looking for fluffy vanilla cake, you can make a delicious cake with shop-bought sponges, or even use white or yellow cake mix.
Add some almond extract to your sponges instead of vanilla
Other Delicious Layered Cake Recipes
We this it’s the best White Forest Cake recipe, so we truly hope you enjoyed it! If so, we have a bunch of other impressive creamy cakes for you to try:
- Lithuanian Honey Cake
- Napoleon Cake
- Lime and Passion Fruit Charlotte Royale
- Moist Carrot Cake with Pecans and Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe Card
Irresistible White Chocolate Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
For Genoise Sponges:
- 75 g unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 5 eggs medium
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 140 g caster sugar
- 125 g plain flour
For Cherry Compote:
- 250 g frozen cherries
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon kirsch optional
- 100 g caster sugar
For White Chocolate Cream:
- 180 g cream cheese at room temperature
- 300 g double heavy cream
- 120 g white chocolate finely chopped
For Decorations:
- cherries
- white chocolate shavings
Instructions
Make Genoise Sponges:
- Generously grease the bottom and sides of two 7" cake tins with butter and dust them with flour. You may line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper rounds if you know your pans are not completely non-stick.
- Preheat the oven to 180 C Fan.
- Place the butter in a small saucepan and melt in over low heat. Set it aside to cool down slightly.
- Bring a little bit of water to simmer in a large pot. In a bowl, that would sit nicely on top of the pan with simmering water without the bottom touching the water, add the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla. Set the bowl over the pot of simmering water. Using a balloon whisk, beat the eggs until sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches 40C (if you don't have a kitchen thermometer, just use your finger to check if its slightly warmer than your body temperature). As soon as the eggs reach the temperature, beat them with a handheld electric whisk on high speed until they triple in volume. Then take them off the simmering water immediately.
- Sift in the flour and mix gently to incorporate. Pour in the butter and, again, very gently mix it in, trying to keep as much air you whisked into the eggs as possible.
- Pour the genoise cake batter into the two cake pans (leave 4-5mm off the top of the rim to give space for the cake to rise.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes. To check if the sponges are cooked, press your finger gently into the centre of the cake – if the sponge springs back, it is done!
- Leave the sponges to set and firm up slightly in their pans (about 10-15 minutes), then turn them out onto a wire rack. If you had a circle of baking parchment at the bottom of your cake tins, peel them off the top of the cake. Leave the sponges to cool down completely.
- Once cooled, slice each sponge into two crosswise, so you end up with 4 thin sponge rounds.
Make Cherry Filling:
- Place the frozen cherries, sugar, lemon juice and kirsch in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat it until the cherries thaw and release their juices. Reduce the heat to low. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour with 2 tablespoon of water. Pour the cornflour mixture into the cherry pan and stir to combine. Keep on stirring the cherry sauce over low heat for 5-7 minutes until the mixture thickens. Note that it will thicken further as it cools. Set the cherries aside to cool down to room temperature. You may then cover the cherry filling with cling film and store it in the fridge if you are not assembling the cake right away.
Make White Chocolate Frosting:
- Finely chop the white chocolate. The smaller pieces you will chop it in, the better, as it will melt more quickly. You may also choose to use white chocolate chips. Add the white chocolate and double (heavy) cream to a small saucepan and heat, stirring continuously, over low heat, until the chocolate melts.
- Take it off the heat at leave it to cool down for 10-15 minutes.
- Add the cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Beat it with an electric hand mixer for 2 minutes, until it is extremely smooth. A stand mixer with a whisk attachment will work too, but we find it takes a lot longer and there's more waste as the cheese gathers around the whisk. We recommend using a paddle attachment to beat the cream cheese, then change it over to a whisk attachment once you've added the cream.
- Pour in about ⅓ of the white chocolate cream and beat on high speed again for 1-2 minutes, until smooth, and no small lumps of cream cheese are visible. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl, as cream cheese tends to stick to them.
- Finally, add the rest of the white chocolate cream and beat again until combined.
- Place the mixture in the fridge for an hour.
- When ready to assemble, take the cream out of the fridge and beat it again on low speed for a few moments to arrive at soft-medium peaks (it should be soft, but pipeable, like whipped cream).
- Transfer the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle.
Assemble:
- Place the first cake half on a flat plate or board. Pipe a circle of whipped white chocolate ganache around the outer edge of the cake (it will keep the cherries from seeping through to the surface).
- Fill the middle ⅓ of your cherry compote. Try and spread the cherries out evenly to create an even layer. Then pipe a thin layer of cream on top.
- Top the cream with a second cake half and press down very gently. Repeat with the same steps (a round of cream around the edge of the cake, cherries in the middle, thin layer of cream on top) two more times. Finish with a layer of sponge (brown flat side up).
- You should have some white chocolate frosting left. Use it to spread on top, or all around the sides of the cake. Get creative with decoration! Leave the cake to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.
- Decorate with fresh cherries and white chocolate, if you wish!
Nutrition
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