My Easter Drunken Cherry Cake
This cake is a pure delight, made with cherries soaked in cognac, dark chocolate and decadent whipped cream. You can decorate it in style to create a beautiful dessert for any feast.
Equipment
- 2x 22 cm cake baking tin or 1 x 22 cm tall baking tin
- 1x A stand mixer or a hand mixer
Ingredients
- 125 g all-purpose flour
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 200 g granulated white sugar
- 5 medium eggs
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons milk skimmed or full fat
- 100 g dark chocolate (75%+ cocoa) melted
- 425 g Cherry compote
- 50 ml cognac
- 500 ml double or whipping cream
- 3-4 drops vanilla essence
For decoration
- 150 g dark chocolate 75% or more cocoa melted
- 100 ml heavy cream
Instructions
- To make the drunken cherries, fish the cherries from the compote and arrange them onto a deep plate. Pour the alcohol on top. Soak the compote cherries in the alcohol overnight at room temperature. Reserve the compote syrup and keep it in the fridge.
- Preheat a standard oven to 150°C/302°F and a fan-assisted oven to 140°C/284°F.Melt 100 g of the dark chocolate in a water bath and let it cool for 5 minutes. Stir the baking powder and the cocoa powder with the flour, then sieve them through a sifter into a bowl.Separate the eggs' whites and beat them in a bowl until stiff.Break the butter into crumbs with your mixer. Add the sugar and whisk to integrate it with the butter. Drop the egg yolks, one by one, while whisking continuously. Pour the milk and the melted chocolate and whisk to combine. Add the flour-cocoa mix and stir with a spatula into the mixture, then whisk with your mixer for a few minutes to form a thick batter. Finally, stir the stiff egg whites into the batter with light scraping movements of your spatula from the bottom of the mixing bowl upwards to let air and combine the whites in the batter.
- Line your cake tins. Split the batter into equal parts and transfer it into the baking tins. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. Do a test with a wooden skewer to check if the cake is cooked inside, and bake longer if needed. Let the cake base cool for a few minutes.
- Whip the cream with the vanilla essence for a couple of minutes.
- Place the first cake base layer on your serving plate and tighten a cake ring around it. Pour generously and evenly compote syrup over it.
- Spread the whipped cream over the moist cake base evenly. Arrange the drunken cherries on top of the cream layer. Place the second piece of the cake base over the drunken cherries and pour the leftover compote syrup generously to moisten it. Press the assembled cake with your hand to remove air pockets in the layers and make it even. Transfer it to the fridge and let it chill for 15-20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the ganache. First, chop the chocolate into small pieces. Heat the heavy cream on the hob. Don't let it boil! Remove from the heat as soon as it starts steaming. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let the chocolate melt in the hot cream for 10 minutes, then whip the ganache to a smooth consistency. Split the ganache into two equal parts.
- Pour one part of the ganache, while still thin, on top of the cake and tilt the cake to spread the ganache evenly on the surface of the cake. To ensure the decoration on top of the cake sticks to the glaze, arrange it at that point. Place the cake in the fridge. Leave the second half of the ganache uncovered to cool at room temperature until it reaches the required consistency. Then, take the cake out of the fridge, remove the ring carefully not to damage the chocolate glaze and spread the ganache over the side of the cake with a cake knife.
- Keep the cake in the fridge until you are ready to serve it. Prepare a sharp knife and dip it in warm water before cutting the cake to ensure the chocolate glaze does not crack.