German Black Forest Cake

We had a visitor from Germany and we had so much fun! We did lots of shopping and enjoyed spending time. Our son LOVED having her with us so he as all over her which means I was able to relax a lot ;-)

One of the things we did while she was here was making a cake called Black Forest Cake.

I tried to make this cake before by myself but the result was not great. I bought cherry liquor from a local liquor store and used it for the cake. This liquor was so strong that the cake only tasted like the liquor.

This time, I made it with my friend whose grandma make this cake all the time. She told me that she actually never made it but I was sure she knows how it taste like and how it should look.

So We baked.

First of all, making batter was quite easy. Then, we baked. The cake came out very flat and we were not sure how it will turn out but we proceed with the rest of process.

We cut the cake then brushed with cherry preserve. Then, add whipped cream, then, canned cherry.

Then more whipped cream. In my book, there is no such a thing as too much whipped cream.

Then cover with the other half of the cake. Cover with more whipped cream then topped with canned cherry. I bought this cake decoration turn table while ago. I didn't have a chance to use it till this day but I was happy to use it. It is much easier to decorate cake with this turn table. I know I need more practice but I think this looks OK.

Then sprinkle with shaved chocolate.

So, I don't have a picture of inside but the color of cake looked little grayish. So next time, I think I will try to add more cocoa power into the batter. Despite the cake color, the taste was super good!

I didn't put too much cherry liquor this time because my husband and my son would eat also.

It was really fun making this cake with her. I like cooking with my friends. She came to visit us in California and I remember we baked brownie that time together. If we live close to each other, we will be baking together all the time.

It was great to have her and I miss her already. She is such a good friends and I feel so comfortable with her. I feel like I don't need to pretend anything. I am glad that I met her through my husband and I am happy that we became good friends!

I am curious what we will be baking when she come visit us next time :-)

Apple Picking and Apple Pie

I love going to Apple picking in fall. A few weeks ago, we went to NJ for apple picking. This year, it was our son's first apple picking so we prepared him by explaining what it is and how to pick an apple.

I am not sure if he understood completely but he was mimicking us how to pick an apple from a tree and put it in a basket. He also learned a letter A for an apple and he found an apple tree in a book and saying "apple picking! Apple picking!" so he was absolutely excited about it.

In the past, we went to upstate NY for apple picking but this time we tried going to NJ. We went to this orchard called Sun High Orchard and we absolutely love it there.

The orchard was not too big and was actually perfect size for us and they had homemade apple cider, apple cider doughnuts, ice cream etc.

The owner of the orchard came to talk to us and told us about the orchard and which apple is the best right now. He was very friendly and I really liked that.

They also had some animals like this.

Our son enjoyed apple picking so much! The tree was not too tall and there were many apples on the lower part of the tree so my 2 year old son could easily pick them by himself.

So we got lots of apples in different kinds.

It was also Halloween season so there were many pumpkins there. Big pumpkins were bit pricy for us so we bought 4 small ones and those were very very reasonable price. And they are so cute! We gave one to our friend.

Our son likes apple so he eats apple if I peel them but since we have a lot of them, we decided to bake apple pie. Apple pie is also one of my favorite fall thing. When I smell apple pie, it makes me feel very happy and cozy. Since I am not good with making pie crust or any kind of dough, I decided to cheat and use frozen one. It came out perfectly!

We ate hot apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It seems like our son enjoyed ice cream more than apple pie but he also ate some apple pie and was very excited that it came from the apple he actually picked himself.

I am very happy that we took him for apple picking. I didn't think he would enjoy this much!

So I can check off the apple pie from the list of what I want to make in fall. Next is pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup! Well, actually I already made pumpkin soup so it is only pumpkin pie! Wish me luck!