Chocolate Cherry Celebration Cake by Magz Guy

@a_tablespoon_of_love_ (Magz Guy) Chocolate Cherry Celebration Cake

The cake is made up of:

• My chocolate Victoria sponge recipe with a twist
• Swiss meringue buttercream with freeze dried cherry powder
• Chocolate mousse icing
• Cherry compote (home-made from fresh British cherries)
• Cherry drip made from strained compote, but with added cornflour
• Home-made caramel covered fresh cherries
• Home-made chocolate cherry brandy liquor truffles, dusted with freeze dried cherry powder. Stalks made from chocolate and cherry flavoured cocoa powder
• Filo cups filled with home-made chocolate Baileys truffles, with a freeze dried cherry on top
• Filo centre piece filled with cherry compote, cherry swiss meringue buttercream and a cherry truffle on the top.

My Chocolate Victoria Sponge Recipe

Have all your ingredients at room temperature.

Butter should be soft, but not to the point of a melted sheen.

Butter, sugar and flour weights are based on the weight of your eggs in their shells. I have used the weights of my eggs, but yours may be different. 

1 x 6” Tin 1 large / very large egg – mine was 72g – lightly beaten 72g unsalted butter – soft 72g golden caster sugar 60g self-raising flour – this allows for cocoa powder 8g dark chocolate 14g cocoa powder 0.6 tsp baking powder ¼ - ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract) Large pinch espresso powder ½ tbsp milk (you may need more)   20-25 mins – check at 20 mins

1 x 8” Tin 2 large eggs – mine were 138g – lightly beaten 138g unsalted butter – soft 138g golden caster sugar 110g self-raising flour – this allows for cocoa powder 15g dark chocolate 30g cocoa powder 1 1/8 tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt ½ tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract) 1/8 tsp espresso powder 1 ½ tbsp milk (you may need more)   20-25 mins – check at 23 mins

1 x 10” Tin 4 large eggs – mine were 248g – lightly beaten 248g unsalted butter – soft 248g golden caster sugar 200g self-raising flour – this allows for cocoa powder 20g dark chocolate 55g cocoa powder 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract) ¼ tsp espresso powder 2 ½ tbsp milk (you may need more)   35-40 mins – check at 35

Cake Method:

Grease tin and put a circle of parchment paper in the bottom.

Pre-heat oven to 180 / 190 degrees or 160 / 170 fan depending on your oven.

Weigh out dry ingredients into a bowl (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, espresso).

Grate chocolate.

Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until fluffy and white (3-5 minutes on med-high).

Beat in the eggs gradually. Add a little flour if necessary, but not too much.

Add the flour mix and beat slowly until just incorporated or mix in by hand. Mix as little as possible from this point.

Add vanilla and grated chocolate. Mix briefly.

Add milk so that you get a consistency where the batter drops slowly, but easily off the spoon.

Put the mixture into the tin and smooth the top gently.

Get straight into the oven.

Bake for the allotted time. Ovens vary, so timings may be different.

Cake should be just coming away from the sides and a skewer should come out clean.

Cool for around 20 mins in the tin and then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Cherry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This made plenty for this cake, so you could probably make three-quarters the amount.

4 large egg whites

300g caster sugar

400g unsalted butter – chopped and soft

1tsp vanilla extract

Pinch salt

50g Freeze dried cherry powder (to taste)

Method

Separate eggs one at a time.

Put the egg whites and sugar into a food mixer bowl. Place the bowl over a  bain-marie on a fairly low heat. Use a whisk to stir together until the sugar is dissolved and smooth (but don’t cook). Be patient, this takes a while. Test sugar is dissolved between your fingers.

With a balloon whisk, whisk on medium to high for about 10-20 mins. Whisk until its completely cool. Should be white and fluffy.

Add the butter cube by cube whilst the mixer is still going.

It will eventually look silky smooth and just off-white. Make sure all the butter is completely incorporated.

Add the vanilla , salt and cherry powder and whisk until fully mixed in.

Chocolate Mousse

This made plenty for this cake, so you could probably make three-quarters the amount.

120ml hot water

30g cocoa powder

½ teaspoon espresso powder

260g dark chocolate

480ml double cream

2 tbsp golden caster sugar

5 tbsp hazelnut chocolate spread

Method

Dissolve the cocoa and espresso powder in the hot water.

On a bain-marie, melt the chocolate until nice and smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk the cream with the sugar until peaks form.

Stir the cocoa mixture and hazelnut spread into the melted chocolate.

Add half of the whipped cream and mix everything together with folding motion. Fold in the remaining whipped cream and mix well until no white streaks remain.

You can keep it in the fridge, but this makes it go hard, so you would need to bring it back to room temperature before using.

Recipe courtesy of Magz Guy @a_tablespoon_of_love_

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