White Forest Cake

Easy 45-minute layer cake with spongey vanilla cake layer, juicy sweet and tart cherries, and luscious cream – an indulgent dessert for birthdays and summer celebrations.

A perfect white cake, pure and light, beautiful and super yummy. It has a slight bridal vibe and will be great for Mother’s Day or a birthday celebration.

If you are a classic layer cake person like me, you know what we look for – moist, flavored sponge cakes, a generous amount of filling, and endless cream on top. And if it is light, sweet, and festive – we may eat a second slice.

And this white twist on the all-time favorite Black forest cake is exactly what you need this cherry season.

White Forest Cake vs. Black Forest Cake

A traditional black forest cake uses cherry liquor, chocolate cake layers, and milk or dark chocolate ganache, while a white forest cake recipe calls for cream filling, white vanilla cake layers, and white chocolate.

Both are delicious and rich classic layered cakes.

Ingredients Notes & Substitutions

This absolutely stunning cake comes together with just a few most basic pantry staples and cherries. You will be surprised how simple the ingredients are!

Unlike Black Forest cake, this recipe also has no alcohol in it, which makes it 100% kid-friendly.

For exact measurements, please check my recipe card at the bottom of the recipe.

Cake Layer

• 3 eggs, room temperature, or egg whites to make a fluffy cake. I don’t separate the egg yolks and use the whole egg and I love the texture. Using only egg whites makes the baked cake look whiter.
• Granulated sugar
• Vanilla extract is the classic flavoring for the white chocolate cake, but you are free to use any other extract like lemon, coconut, or almond extract. If sticking with vanilla, make sure to use good-quality pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
• All-purpose flour. Cake flour is great too, if using cake flour you can skip cornstarch. For the zero-gluten cake, use gluten-free flour, any will do.
• Cornstarch. Adding cornstarch is a kitchen hack to turn all-purpose flour mixture into the cake flour. Yep, it is that simple.

As you can see I don’t use baking powder or baking soda for my cake batter. Usually, sponge cake is made with simple white sugar, flour, and eggs. But you can add baking powder for a bit more texture.

To make this part easier, you can simply use a white cake mix in a box!

Cherry Syrup

• Granulated sugar or powdered sugar.
• Cherry juice, you can use the juice from canned cherries.

The cherry filling can use store-bought or homemade cherry pie filling, jam or preserves, thawed frozen cherries cooked with some sugar and cornstarch (the mix is like a cherry sauce), or canned cherries.

A bit of lemon juice brings out the berry flavor even more and acts like the liquor in Black Forest cake.

White Cream 

• Heavy cream, full fat (36%+), or heavy whipping cream.
• Confectioner’s sugar

I love a quick fresh whipped cream topping, but you can experiment. Buttermilk topping, cream cheese, Chantilly, white chocolate ganache – anything creamy lush, and white will work!

Whipped white chocolate ganache is also super easy to make, you need heavy whipping cream, white chocolate chips, plus butter and vanilla extract.

If you don’t want to cook anything additionally, just use store-bought stabilized whipped cream or mix the white chocolate instant pudding.

Cherry Filling/Decoration 

• Maraschino cherries or fresh cherries to decorate, with stems.
• White chocolate. You need to melt it, let it set again, and break it down into pieces. You can save a piece of white chocolate bar to make white chocolate shavings or curls for garnish.

Kitchen Equipment

• Double boiler. I bake the cake layer over a double boiler in the oven, it is not as difficult as it sounds, so don’t worry.
• 8-inch round cake pan or cake pans if you make to make more than 2 layers.
• Saucepan
• Stand mixer or a mixing bowl and a hand mixer
• Piping bag fitted with a large star tip
• Kitchen thermometer
• Pastry brush.

How To Make This White Forest Cake Recipe

Prepare Cake Batter

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper, grease the bottom (under and on top of the parchment) and sides of the pan, and dust with a light layer of flour.  Set aside. 
3. Combine the eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a double boiler.  
4. Heat the mixture in the double boiler until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture reaches 104 degrees F.  Stir constantly. 
5. Carefully transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. Carefully mix on medium for about 10 minutes or until the mixture has tripled in volume.  
6. Add the flour and cornstarch in small increments and stir well to combine.

Bake The Cake

1. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.  Make sure to not fill it to the brim. The cake will expand a little while baking.
2. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center is set, the toothpick inserted comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs, and the cake is golden brown.  
3. Allow to cool completely before assembling.

Make The Syrup

Combine the sugar and reserved juice from the cherries in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, cooking for 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool. 

Make Whipped Cream

Combine the heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.  

Stir on low speed until combined, then increase the speed to medium-high, beating until stiff peaks form.  

Assemble White Forest Cake

Carefully remove the cake from the pan.  Slice the cake in half horizontally – making two thinner layers. If the baked cake has a little dome, cut it carefully to make an even top.

1. Use a pastry brush to coat the cake with the cherry syrup. The layers should soak in that sweet and tart goodness.
2. Spread a thin layer of cream over the bottom half of the cake.  
3. Cut some cherries in half and place them on top of the cream.  
4. Position the top half of the cake on top of the cherries and gently press into place.  
5. Spread an even layer of cream over the sides and top of the cake.  
6. Add the white chocolate to the sides of the cake, pressing gently.  
7. Transfer the remaining whipped cream to a piping bag and pipe eight large swirls around the outside of the cake.  

Chill And Serve

Chill the cake for 2-4 hours to help it set before serving.  

Take the cake out of the fridge 20-30 minutes before you’re ready to serve it, and insert a whole cherry on top of each piped swirl of cream.  

Optional decorations: Use white chocolate curls or shavings, mini white chocolate chips, maraschino cherries, lemon zest, toasted coconuts, sliced almonds, or cocoa powder to decorate the cake – options are endless and so many things pair well with cream and cake!

Slice and serve. The chilled cake is very easy to slice!

Storage

Cake can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.  

Making Ahead

You can bake the cake layers ahead and store them on the counter wrapped in plastic for 24 hours, in the fridge overnight or for a couple of days, or freeze the baked cake layer wrapped in a layer of plastic wrap and foil for a month.

Prepare the cream right before assembling the cake.

The cherry filling can be made 4-5 days ahead and stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Substitutions & Variations

• For richer, creamier cake batter you can use some vegetable oil or melted butter, but also add sour cream or plain full-fat yogurt – the moist texture will be unparalleled.
• Missing the booze from the traditional Black Forest cake recipe? You can use the same kirsch or any other similar cherry liquor, or even bourbon in the cherry filling. Or soak the cake layers in Amaretto.
• Make cherry filling with fresh cherries, cornstarch (to thicken it), and some sugar. Combine all the ingredients in the small bowl, then transfer to a saucepan over low-medium heat, wait until the sauce starts simmering, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool completely before spreading over the cake layers.
• To make eggless cake you can simply skip the eggs! I would suggest then using baking powder and baking soda to support the structure of the future cake layers and a bit of vegetable oil. The baking time may be a little longer.
• Chocolate shavings are easier to make if you freeze the chocolate bar. Then just use a sharp knife or a vegetable peeler to make a few.

Tips For Baking The Best White Forest Cake

• Drain excess liquids from the cherries you’re using to keep your cake from getting soggy.
• To measure the flour always sift and fluff it first, using the scoop and level method, and digital scales.
• If you’re trying to trim the cake layers and they are too crumbly, pop them into the freezer for 20-30 minutes and try again. It will work much better.
• Do not overwork the whipped cream to make sure it stays fluffy.
• Frosting cakes is easier with offset spatulas, they work great to spread the remaining cream over the top or sides of the cake.
• If you are making more layers or a double batch, keep the remaining batter in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it.

Popular Questions

How Does White Forest Cake Taste?

This White forest cake recipe has a subtle vanilla flavor with a lot of sweet cream and juicy cherries. The cake combines sweet and tart flavors, and the spongey texture of the cake with white chocolate, cream, and cherries bursting with juice.

Is There A Difference Between White Cake And Vanilla Cake?

White cake recipes don’t use egg yolk to achieve pure white color while vanilla cake can use whole eggs. In terms of flavor vanilla cake always has vanilla extract in it while white cake doesn’t always have flavoring extracts.

What Can I Add To White Cake Mix To Make It Taste Better?

Milk or buttermilk will make the white cake mix richer and more moist, while flavoring extracts can make it taste better – vanilla, lemon, almond, or coconut are great options. White cake mix will also taste better if you mix in some white chocolate chips.

If you love this cake recipe, you’re going to love these other cakes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

Try These Black Forest Recipes

Black Forest Ice Cream

Black Forest Cake

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