Black Forest Gateau

A friend suggested an app for cooking. Despite some initial doubts I gave it a go and found out that the app was quite useful. Of course not all recipes are suited to the Balkans and Mediterranean, and my comments at first fell into the realm of  "Avocado was a staple for my granny back in the days of and just after WW2".  The name of the app is Kitchen Stories.

After figuring out the app and going through the recipes I had a list of few things I wanted to try out. Spending two weeks at my parents' seemed like a great opportunity since they have a garden and an orchard and plenty of produce to experiment with and use in different manners.

So, one Monday afternoon I decided to make Black forest  gateau in a glass. The app offered clear instructions and an amount of ingredients suitable for mini portions like for 2 or 3 people which was perfect. Following the rule that clear instructions are made to be adjusted and ingredients to be kept in mind I carefully measured 3 spoons of sugar to 2 eggs which were beaten until creamy and velvety. Then I added the 3 full spoons of flour, 1 and a half spoon of cornstarch and 1 and a half spoon of cocoa powder and half a pack of backing powder, something which was not mentioned in the recipe. All this baked at 180 -200 C in the oven  for 15 min in a size 24 baking tray. In the meantime,  I prepared the cherry sauce with 3 spoons sugar, caramelized and melted with 1 cl of cherry brandy ( I used a bit more and homemade) and sour cherry juice, I used the one from the cherries I had pitted beforehand and a bit of water but I suppose you can use any sour cherry juice. Also I trhew in the cherries I had picked earlier that afternoon. In 15- 17 min the gateau was baked and the syrup was ready. I followed the instructions and cut out the gateau in pieces and arranged it in glasses one layer gateau one layer syrup and a dash of brandy. The recipe said to decorate with whipped cream and I kept that in mind and decorated it with some mint leaves and gooseberries. Voila!