The magical kitschiness of Black Forest gateau

Kitsch is something of my stock-in-trade. And it doesn’t get more kitsch than Black Forest gateau. Pots of cream, pints of cherry schnapps, a storm of chocolate shavings and some very baroque decoration: it ticks all my old-school boxes.

Of course, we are very familiar with the Black Forest gateau’s – BFG to its friends – punchy flavours. Chocolate, cherry, cream. What a trio! Now so classic that we barely give it a second thought. But where did this particular combination of ingredients first come from? I like the (unsubstantiated)theory that it harks back to a traditional costume worn by women in the Black Forest: dark chocolate for their black dresses, cream for their blouses, cherries for the red pompoms on their hats. But then I’m a sentimental soul.

Actually it may be that these better-known components play second fiddle to the kirsch. It is a strong, clear spirit distilled from the region’s morello cherries – and it plays an important role in the cake, painted onto the sponge and folded through the cream.