Combine chocolate sponge, cherries in thick gel, and fluffy cream to create an exceptional cake for special occasions.
Ingredients:
Chocolate Sponge
- Eggs – 5
- Sugar – 180 g
- Cocoa – 30 g
- Butter – 35 g
- Wheat flour – 100 g
- Potato flour – 35 g
Cherries in Gel
- Cherries – 400 g
- Potato flour – 2 tablespoons
- Sugar – 40 g
- Vanilla sugar – 1 packet
- Cinnamon – a pinch
Cream
- Gelatin – 2 teaspoons
- Powdered sugar – 60 g
- 30% cream – 200 ml
- Water – 50 ml
Punch
- Cherry juice – 100 ml
- Cherry liqueur – 60 ml
Decoration
- Dark chocolate – 100 g
- 3.2% milk – 50 ml
- 30% cream – 500 ml
- Whipped cream stabilizer – 9 g
Preparation:
Beat eggs with sugar vigorously over steam. Add sifted wheat flour, potato flour, and cocoa to the mixture (after removing from steam). Gently combine all ingredients. Finally, add melted butter. Mix thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into a heart-shaped parchment-lined cake pan placed on a baking sheet. Bake the sponge at 190°C (convection) for about 30-35 minutes. Cool, trim the top layer (leveling the cake), and cut the sponge horizontally into two equal parts.
Heat a glass of cherry compote in a saucepan, add sugar and vanilla sugar. Boil. Dissolve potato flour in water. Gradually add the slurry to the boiling compote and stir vigorously (like cooking jelly). Add a pinch of cinnamon, drained cherries, gently stir, bring to a boil, and set aside to cool.
Whip the well-chilled cream in a mixing bowl. Combine gelatin with water in a bowl, dissolve in the microwave, and let cool. Add powdered sugar and mix thoroughly with a whisk until the ingredients combine. Add a bit of whipped cream to the bowl with gelatin to temper it. Mix and pour everything into the bowl with the rest of the whipped cream.
In the cake pan where the sponge was baked, place the bottom part of the cake, sprinkle with punch. Spread a thin layer of cream on top, then add the cooled cherries in gel (leave the prettiest cherries for decoration), and spread another portion of prepared cream. Cover with the second part of the sponge, press gently. Soak the sponge with plenty of punch (it should be very moist) and spread cream on top. Chill in the fridge for 1.5-2 hours.
Heat the remaining compote, let it cool, and mix with cherry liqueur.
Whip the cream, milk, and whipped cream stabilizer. Remove the cake from the cake pan. Coat the sides of the cake with whipped cream, smoothing it out. Transfer the remaining cream to a pastry bag and decorate the cake with a pastry tip. Garnish the center of the cake with grated chocolate. Decorate the cake with the remaining cherries.
