Heston Blumenthal ~ In Search of Perfection ~ Black Forest Gateau BBC2 Thurs 9th Aug 07

(R) A journey through Germany to Baden Baden and a search for what makes a true Black Forest Gateau. Not the mass produced and poor ingredients we are quite often offered in the UK.

So Heston experiments with layers and textures, of cherries, Kirsch and sponge, plus chocolate.

A redesign of the cake is required as well, from the traditional circular one to a rectangular version.

Areated chocolate is examined for its possible use.

San Marillo cherries are the basic ingredient on the cake and also in Kirsch.

Building the cake is extremely difficult. Techniques required to construct each part are not simple, but the result looks amazing.

More Heston Blumenthal recipes here.

The series was shown on BBC2 last year.