Dear Mary Jane, Thank you for the recipe! Sabine Kurtz noted below that cherry brandy is de rigeur, and that sounds sensible. After all, It would be a shame not to get tipsy along with the sugar high. My questions is: in what quantity does one use the Kirschwasser in the cake and/or filling? Is it sufficient to substitute it for the vanilla? My father-in-law, a Nuremberg native, is turning 60 on Labor Day. Schwaltzvalder Kirschtorte is his absolute favorite dessert, and I hope to make it for him. Life is not always a bowl of cherries, however. As a young Jewish boy, he witnessed Hitler's terrifying marches. After the Nazis held and beat his father, the family knew that they must try to leave Germany. Fortunately, a distant cousin in America sponsored them and they immigrated to the US in 1937 before war broke out in Europe. Once established in New York, Dad's mother opened a bakery. Her lebkuchen--a traditional Nuremberg confection--became quite well known.

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