Nothing's complicated but the cake requires a few steps of preparation..I made the cherry filling and syrup in advance..then prepared the cake base and the whipped cream topping on the day I made and assembled the cake and I left the cake set overnight in the fridge, then served him the next day when he was back from his trip!
The recipe ( adapted from here )
The cake base..
80 g self raising flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
30 g cocoa powder
90 g caster sugar
50 g water
25 g evaporated milk
65 g canola oil
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg white
40 g caster sugar
1/4 cream of tartar
Method :
1. Preheat the oven to 180c. Line the base of 8 inch cake tin with parchment paper. Sift the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cocoa powder together into a mixing bowl and set aside.
2. Combine the 90g sugar, yolks, water, oil, milk and vanilla in another bowl. Stir until incorperated and pour overthe flour mixture. Gently mix the dry and wet ingredients with a whisk until smooth. Set aside.
3. Beat the white and cream of tartar with electric mixer until foamy, then gradually add the remaining sugar one tablespoon at a time and continue beat on high speed until reach the soft-medium peak ( more than soft but not hard peak). Gently fold the white into the cake mixture until blended.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted from center comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning the cake out and leave the cake to cool at room temperature before assemble.
Syrup ( for brushing top of layers ):
1/4 cup sugar
1/3cup water
2 tbsp Kirsch
1. Heat the water and sugar until boiled and a bit thick. Take off the heat and set aside until cool , then add kirch into the syrup.
Kirsch Whipped cream:
3 cups whipping cream
60 g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp Kirsch
1 tbsp gelatin dissolved with 2 tbsp hot water ( leave to cool )
Method :
Beat the cream, sugar, vanilla and kirsch together until soft peak then add gelatin and continue to beat until combined and set.
Cherry Filling:
1.5 cans dark cherry in syrup
3 tbsp corn stratch dissolved with 3 tbsp hot water
3 tbsp Kirsch
1. Put cherry along with the syrup into a saucepan. Heat until warm then gradually add the corn stratch mixture. Keep stirring until thick then take off the heat and leave to cool before adding the kirsch.
Assemble the cake :
1. Slice the cake into 2 layers. Brush top of each layer with the syrup. Spread the whipped cream over the bottom layer and top with most of the cherry filling ( leave fews for the topping) , then spread more whipped cream to cover the filling. Put the other layer on top and cover the whole cake with the whipped cream. Decorate the cake as desired ( I used chocolate shavings as seen in the photos!)..
