I love cakes and especially chocolate ones. Most of the time I am a bit disappointed with the shop bought ones. They tend to be far too sweet and a little bit too much for me. Sometimes it is the use of the buttercream that puts me off the cake completely. I am a great fan of cream and that is probably why most of my cakes are based around double cream rather than buttercream. It is much quicker and less of a hassle to whip the cream.
I also watch my sugar intake and therefore less sugar I can use and eat the better. You are probably shaking your head as cream is much heavier. But I am also a firm believer that small portions of deliciousness are just fine 😉
Cherries are just coming to season and they go very well with dark chocolate. I have made this cake for my friends ages ago. And they really enjoyed it. I like using a regular whisk rather than electric. Cream can be very temperamental and it only takes a couple of seconds to over-whisk it, and the cream will start to separate. It is useful to also consider that spreading cream over the sponge will work as whisking. So the best is to stop whisking while the cream is still liquid.
Sweet Treats: Cherry and Chocolate Cake (serves 6-8)
For Chocolate Sponges
175 g salted butter, plus 10 g for greasing
75 g dark chocolate
300 g plain flour
375 g golden caster sugar
25 g cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 medium eggs
200 g buttermilk
100 ml boiling water
200 ml of double cream
150 g cherries
2 tbsp morello cherries jam
For Chocolate ganache
100 ml double cream
100 ml dark chocolate
Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/mark 4. Grease with butter and line two 8-inch cake tins. Boil the kettle with water. Put chocolate, broken in small pieces, and butter into a small pan, then heat gently and continuously stir until melted. Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, and soda bicarbonate together with a pinch of salt in a bowl. Whisk the eggs and buttermilk until lighter in colour then add to the flour mixture together with melted chocolate. Add 100 ml of boiling water and whisk preferably with electrical whisk, until the mixture is lump free.
Divide the cake mixture into two tins and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Check with a skewer towards the end of baking time. Cake is ready once the skewer comes out clean. Take both sponges out of the oven and allow to cool down before decorating.
Pit cherries with a cherry pitter if you have one. And cut into halves. Spread the jam over the first sponge and place some of the cherry halves. Spread the whisked cream over. For the chocolate ganache, pour the double cream into a heavy based pot and bring slowly to boil. Pour over the chocolate and allow to melt the chocolate. Once ganache is all melted, pour third over the cream on the first sponge. Place the second sponge on the top and pour the rest of the ganache. Place the rest of the cherries over the ganache. Allow the cake to stand for about 2 hours until ganache hardens a bit. You can also place the cake to the fridge to speed up the process.
by Maria
foodamaze 