Cherry Chocolate Sponge Cake

Cherry Chocolate Sponge Cake
[Makes 2x20cm/8inch diameter cakes]

Chocolate Sponge:
6 duck eggs
¾ cup caster sugar
1 cup plain flour, sifted
25 grams/¼ cup cocoa, sifted
60 grams melted butter, cooled

Poached Cherries:
300 grams cherries, pitted
¼ cup caster sugar
¼ cup water

Filling:
250ml pure cream, whipped
icing sugar, for dusting

Make the poached cherries:
In a saucepan add the caster sugar and water and over a gentle heat stir until the sugar has just melted. Add the cherries, stir to coat and let this simmer until the cherries have softened and coloured the syrup. This should take about 15 minutes - you don't want the cherries to collapse. Let this cool before using.

Make the sponge:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
Butter and flour two 20cm/8 inch shallow cake tins - line the bases with baking paper cut to size and this will make removal a lot easier.

I have used duck eggs but if you can't find them, normal chicken eggs will do. In case you're wondering how duck eggs look inside, wonder no longer



Not sure if it's that clear in this photo, but the albumin is a lot more gelatinous and more tightly bound to the yolk then with normal chicken eggs.

Place the eggs and the sugar into the bowl of a mixer and beat until thick and fluffy and tripled in volume. This can take about 10 minutes.

While this is happening, triple sift the flour and cocoa together. It's important to get a homogenous mix here to avoid a streaky sponge.

When the eggs are ready, sift the flour/cocoa mixture into the bowl. Fold through using a metal spoon in a figure eight cutting motion. When it's almost totally incorporated, drizzle in the cooled melted butter and continue to fold until just mixed.

Divide the mixture evenly into the two cake tins and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the cakes are still springy to the touch.

Cool slightly in the tins before turning out onto wire racks to cool.

Assemble the cake:

I'm a firm believer that if you are making something like this then you should use the best ingredients. I recommend using a pure cream, in this case I've used Elgaar Dairies Pure Cream - as I've mentioned before it doesn't contain any other ingredients other than the jersey cream itself, it's free of gums or thickeners.

Whip the cream when you're ready to assemble the cake - it needs to be firmly whipped.

Drain the cherries, reserving the syrup.

Place one cake on your serving platter - drizzle over with a little of the reserved syrup from the cherries then roughly smooth over half the whipped cream.
Top this with cherries.



Drizzle a little more syrup on the underside of the second layer and cover it with the rest of the cream. Position it on top of the cherries - press down slightly to get a level top.

Dust with icing sugar.

Store it covered in the fridge until ready to serve.



You can serve the cake as it, with some of the syrup as a garnish or even extra cream! Whichever way you decide I'm sure there will be room for seconds.