These little beauties are a crowd favourite and the low sugar content in this recipe makes it a guilt-free treat for everyone. With Christmas fast approaching, many of you will be looking forward to spending quality time with friends and family and catering for the descending hordes can be stressful. So why not take the stress out of dessert and have these little cups of joy pre-made so all you have to do is simply pull them out of the fridge, garnish and serve, much to the delight of all those present.

There is no added sugar in this recipe so it is not sickly sweet, something I hate in desserts; there is enough sweetness in the cake and the chocolate. I would often put these on my function menu for parties larger than 20 people because of the speedy nature of serving them and the easy delivery for the waiters, and they were always a huge hit with the punters. Clean up is a breeze too.

Did you know? A common misconception is that the Black Forest gateau takes its name from the region of its origin: the Black Forest or (Schwarzwald) mountain range in south-western Germany, whereas, the Black Forest gateau actually takes its name from distinctive and fiery kirsch alcohol made from Black Forest sour cherries, known as Schwarzwälder Kirsch or Kirsch Wasser: cherry firewater. This iconic cake now enjoys a protected status, which means that without the inclusion of the specialty kirsch a cake cannot be classified as Black Forest gateau.

The famous confectioner and pastry chef Josef Keller (1887-1981) is claimed to have invented the modern style of Kirschtorte in 1915 at the Café Agner, near Bonn in Southern Germany. Keller’s claims of fatherhood to the cake that would eventually morph into what is now known as the Black Forest gateau were unfortunately never verified, though it is documented that he was serving up his version of the cake and helped to popularise the dessert. The cake appears in written recipes for the first time in the mid-1930s and by the 1940s its popularity was becoming well established.

Chef Dylan tip: When you heat the cream to melt the chocolate this creates what we call a ganache; it must be cooled in the fridge for a few minutes to come down to room temp (not warm at all) before you fold in the whipped cream because if it is too warm you will melt the fat in the whipped cream, and release all the microbubbles.

When whipping the cream, you want stiff peaks for the mousse and soft peaks for the plain whipped cream layer. Always whip cream cold.

There are many recipes out there for Black Forest cake. But they all have the same basic building blocks − chocolate cake, whipped cream, dark cherries. The cake is usually finished with chocolate shavings, and more whipped cream, and more cherries. Sounds delicious, right? My combination of Kirsch-soaked mud cake and delicate chocolate mousse leaves you feeling light and easy, especially after a big meal. You can make your own chocolate shavings or for ease simply use a Cadbury flake.

You can even make some gluten-free cups by using a gluten-free chocolate cake and trust me, you will never be forgotten as dessert is one of the things many gluten-free diets have to miss out on.

Serves 8/10 cups
Time 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS
Mousse
- 100g milk chocolate
- 100g dark chocolate
- 200 ml thickened cream
- 1 gelatine sheet

(Whipped cream)
- 400mls thickened cream
- 1 jar of morello cherries
- 4 tbs kirsch (optional)
- 300mls thickened cream, whipped to soft peaks
 
- 1 x Small pre-made or store-bought mud cake
- 2 x Cadbury flake bars
- Few leaves of fresh mint (optional)

METHOD
1. Cut mud cake in thirds and spoon or brush on the kirsch and some of the juice from the morello cherries
2. Cut cake into 2cm (ish) cubes
3. Bloom gelatin sheet in some cold water
4. Combine chocolate in a heat-proof bowl
5. Boil the cream and pour over the chocolate to melt it and mix well to combine (if it all doesn’t melt place bowl over a small pot of boiling water making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water and stir until melted)
6. Add gelatine sheet to the chocolate mixture and cool in the fridge for a few mins
7. Whip 400mls cream until hard peaks form and gently fold into the chocolate mix (do not overmix)
8. Pour mix into a jug
9. Strain the cherries and cut them in half

Assembly:
1. In each glass place 3/4 pieces of cake; 3 cherries.
2. Pour in the mousse mix making sure to leave room for the whipped cream.
3. Set in the fridge for 6hrs or overnight is better.

To serve:
1. Whip the Whip 300g cream until soft peaks form and pour into a piping bag or a ziplock bag and cut off the corner pipe into glasses.
2. Add some more cherries and top with flake and mint.