High Altitude White Forest Cake

This high altitude white forest cake is a vanilla version of a black forest cake, with vanilla cake layers filled with sweet cherry preserves, frosted with chocolate chip whipped cream frosting, and decorated with fresh cherries. This is a beautiful cake to make in the summertime, when fresh cherries are at their sweetest.

You might also love these high altitude recipes for cherry almond amaretto loaf cake, chocolate cherry cupcakes, and cherry pistachio layer cake.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Perfect Summer Flavors. I’ve been known to buy a bag of cherries when they’re in season and eat them all in two days, because they’re just so good. I look forward to cherry season every year, and this white forest cake celebrates fresh cherries in all their delicious glory.

Easy to Make. This whole recipe comes together pretty quickly, with each element simple and straightforward to make.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Vanilla Cake

• Flour. I use cake flour, rather than all purpose flour, for my vanilla cakes, for a super soft, light texture.
• Granulated Sugar. Gives the cake sweetness and moisture.
• Baking Powder. Leavens the cake, so it rises as it bakes.
• Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances the flavors.
• Eggs. Eggs plus an extra egg white adds moisture, structure and strength to the cake.
• Buttermilk. The acidity in buttermilk makes a tender, flavorful cake. You can also make your own sour milk with a little lemon juice or vinegar and whole milk.
• Butter + Oil. A combination of melted butter and vegetable oil adds moisture, fat and flavor.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.

Whipped Cream

• Cream Cheese. Adds a little body to the whipped cream and helps to stabilize it, so it doesn’t deflate on the leftover cake. I recommend full fat block style cream cheese, not light cream cheese.
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and stabilizes the whipped cream.
• Vanilla Bean Paste. Adds rich vanilla flavor and pretty black specks to the whipped cream. You can just use vanilla extract, too.
• Heavy Whipping Cream. You need the high fat content of heavy whipping cream for thick, fluffy whipped cream that doesn’t deflate.
• Chopped Chocolate. This is a chocolate chip whipped cream, but I recommend finely chopped chocolate, not chocolate chips. You could get away with using mini chocolate chips, though.
• Fresh Cherries.

Filling

• Cherry Jam. Cherry jam or preserves makes a wonderful cake filling. Use a good quality jam, like Bonne Maman.
• Chopped Chocolate. A little more chopped chocolate in between the cake layers keeps everything from slipping and sliding.

Baker’s Note: Today’s recipe is a slightly smaller version of my original vanilla cake. For 8-inch cake layers, make the full vanilla cake recipe found here, and double the filling/whipped cream.

Instructions

Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray the bottoms of three 6-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
• Separately, whisk together the eggs, egg white, buttermilk, melted butter, oil and vanilla, until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk just until combined.
• Divide the batter between the cake pans, and bake the cakes for about 25 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
• Set the pans on a cooling rack, and cool the cakes completely before assembling. If needed, trim a small portion of the domed top off the cakes to level them for stacking.

Whipped Cream

• In a bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.
• Stream in the cold heavy whipping cream and beat on medium speed until soft, thick, fluffy peaks form that hold their shape.
• Fold the 2 ounces chopped chocolate into the whipped cream.

Filling and Assembly

• Place one of the cake layers on a serving plate or cake pedestal. Spread with a very small amount of the whipped cream, just enough to soak into the cake. If you add too much whipped cream between the cake layers, your cake layers will slide around in a slippery mess.
• Top with half the cherry jam, then sprinkle with half the (1 ounce) chopped chocolate.
• Repeat with another layer of cake, a small amount of whipped cream, and the rest of the cherry jam and chopped chocolate.
• Place the last cake layer on top, then frost the cake all over with the whipped cream.
• Decorate with fresh cherries. Serve the cake immediately, or refrigerate in a cake carrier until ready to serve.

Recipe Variations

Vanilla Buttercream

I love the lightness of whipped cream frosting on a cake, but it does require the cake to be refrigerated. But cakes are best served at room temperature, while cold cakes tend to be a bit more firm when served straight from the refrigerator. So I prefer to either assemble this cake immediately before serving, or replace the whipped cream with vanilla buttercream. A buttercream frosted cake won’t need to be kept refrigerated, so the cake will be soft for days at room temperature.

White Chocolate

Instead of the chopped dark chocolate, try chopping up a bar of white chocolate to fold into the frosting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this cake need to be refrigerated?

Yes. The whipped cream frosting on this white forest cake will spoil if not kept in the refrigerator.

Can I use cherry pie filling instead of cherry preserves?

That would work just fine.

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