The Ultimate Black Forest Cake - Cakes by MK

Ingredients

• 2 cups morello cherries (from a 680g or 700g jar with syrup removed. Save syrup for other elements of the cake.)
• 3 tbsp cherry juice (from the jar of morello cherries)
• ¼ cup white granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp cornstarch (also known as cornflour in some countries)
• ⅛ tsp almond essence or extract
• ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
• ⅔ cup cherry juice (from the jar of morello cherries)
• ⅛ tsp almond essence or extract (in replacement of Kirsch (see note 1))
• ¾ cup all purpose flour
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder (Dutch processed preferred)
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp unflavoured vegetable oil (I use canola oil)
• 2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract
• 1 block dark chocolate (50% dark)
• 1 cup mascarpone (cold)
• ½ cup icing sugar (also known as powdered or confectioners sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence/extract
• 3 cups whipping cream (cold, minimum fat percentage of 34%)
• 10-12 cherries (fresh, glacé or maraschino)