Black Forest Cake

Along with fairy tales and mountain-top castles, Germany's Black Forest region is known as the namesake - if not the origin - of the country's most luscious cake. Dark rounds of chocolate cake are doused in a cherry syrup spiked with kirschwasser, a sour cherry brandy, then stacked atop a thin, chocolate base with deep layers of whipped cream and fresh cherries. If that wasn't flavor enough, the whole thing is swathed in more cream, dusted with shaved chocolate, and studded with cherries. The resulting cake is a frothy dream dessert that's the star of pastry cases around Germany, where it's known as a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.

Few desserts are as decadent as the Black Forest cake, which, while having its roots in Germany, is now enjoyed worldwide. Given its name, it should come as no surprise that the rich cake was inspired by the idyllic Black Forest region from which it originated.

The region is known for its cherries and cherry brandy, and some sources claim that the cake was inspired by the local women's traditional attire, which consists of dark gowns and caps decorated with bright red pom poms that resemble cherries. The cake's precise origins are not without dispute, though. Some claim that Josef Keller, a baker at Cafe Ahrend in Bad Godesberg, invented it in 1915, while others assert that Edwin Hildebrand did it in the 1930s.