Light relief: A baking tour de force. 1-Jan-2018

Back in my youth, there was a brilliant bakers on the corner of Junction road and Holloway road. They baked the most wonderful Black Forest Gateau; full of flavour, correct balance of cream, cherries, jam and sponge, all on a biscuit base.

Fast forward a few decades to the insipid cream based, overly sweet versions of today that has driven me to make my own Black Forest Gateau, following proper German based recipes.

I give you, on this grey and manky New Year's day, my 9" Black Forest Gateau. Mary Berry eat your heart out. GBBO here I come.

OK, not the prettiest of cakes, but then again the proof is in the eating.

Medical experts say that with long term treatment and counseling, those family members brave enough to sample this creation may make a full recovery.

Actually, as you can see from the last photo, the Black Forest Gateau - aka Crater cake - went down a storm.

Happy New Year!

Update: Crater cake was all eaten up by 3rd Jan 2018, with requests for more!

The sponge does not have any flour in it - just eggs, sugar and cocoa powder. Proper Bakewell tart is the same, except ground almonds used instead of cocoa powder.