given the perpetual state of stress i'm in these days, can u honestly blame me for turning to food? especially chocolate, good ol sinful chocolate. in any case, as most of you can probably tell by now from my various nicks, yes, i'm on the search for THE definitive Black Forest Cake (i've given up on tiramisu. the best is still the one i make myself. hah.)

the search so far's been, well, so so. my ranking's so far's as follows below. if anyone has any recommendations, please please please do share them. n i dun mean stealing off the recent list of recommended cakes in the Sunday Times two weeks ago. if i get another recommendation for the one at mezza9 just coz it's on that list, i'll scream.

1. brandied cherry cake from awfully chocolate - by far the best blending of brandied cherries and chocolate cake, brandy's not too overwhelming, and well, you can't go wrong with chocolate cake from awfully chocolate (again reason why the list in the Sunday Times is unreliable. there wasn't a single mention of the cakes from awfully chocolate, which means, it's simply unrepresentative.)

2. foret noir from bakerzin - only gripe was that it was huge and tad too much cream. but still good nonetheless.

3. black forest cake from da paolo's gastronomia - overwhelming alcohol taste, had to split into two sittings coz it was way too strong. too much cream, and even the cake was soaked with alcohol. i'll stick to their tiramisu from now on...

so i've got one recommendation for a shop in amk, shall check that out if /when i'm in the area. if anyone else has any other recommendations, suggest now and save my sanity!