Cherries, Kirschwasser and cake

One sunny June afternoon - stacked up in between the avocados and apples on one of the market stalls - I came across some beautiful boxes of dark red cherries.  They'd just come into season and were so plump and shiny and delicious looking that I bought a whole box.  Then, as an afterthought, two bottles of Kirschwasser and some sugar to try and preserve those I couldn't eat. 

Kirschwasser (lit 'cherry water') is a German fruit brandy.  Traditionally it was made by fermenting wild cherries and their stones and as well as an aperitif, it's also used as an ingredient in fondue, Black Forest Gateau and chocolates.  A good kirsch is reputed to have the subtle taste of sour cherries and bitter almonds, but the capful I tried in the spirit of scientific inquiry had only the overwhelming taste of Very Strong Alcohol.  (I should qualify that it was cheap cooking stuff, not the artisan version I've linked to the blog).  

It was, however, much improved by the following recipe:

Kirschwasser
fresh black cherries, halved
sugar to taste

tin foil
a glass pint bottle

I halved and stoned enough cherries to fill the pint bottle and then topped this up with kirsch and sugar, before wrapping the bottle in tin foil and putting it in the fridge. Easy.

After three weeks the colour had leaked out of the cherries and filled the kirsch, turning it a bright, beautiful red.  But it had left the cherries looking slightly weird and anemic, like biological specimens ('ugh, they look like eyeballs', observed C).  So last weekend I decanted the kirsch and froze the cherries and we tried a little of the finished drink.  It was much sweeter, but with an edge of bitterness, and full of the colour and favour of cherries (although it turned a darker mahogany colour quite quickly).  It makes quite a nice aperitif, but is probably best to cook with.  (I tried pouring some over chopped strawberries with icing sugar and that worked quite well).

The plan with the cherries is to make a dark cherry fruit cake with black treacle and dark muscovado sugar in the autumn.  It's slightly theoretical cooking, but if it works, I'll put it on the blog. 

All this cooking with cherries and kirsch, made me think of making a Black Forest Gateau as well, which I think needs a re-visit.  It has a bad memory for me of defrosted, factory-made cakes or dried up versions made with artificial cream from second rate hotels of my childhood.  Here's a recipe from Waitrose, a slightly more technologically ambitious one from Heston Blumenthal from the Times and a fab looking one from the food blog Antics of a Cycling Cook.