cherry brandy sponge cake with chocolate ganache and cherry brandy cream

… so we’re off to Ibiza for the weekend.  It’s a little bit of a work and holiday all rolled into one and whilst I am of course looking forward to a little sun and warmth I am a little petrified about the level of alcohol consumption that’s about to take place… you see we are joining our favourite clients for their annual sales meeting and these lovely people are young and know how to have a lot of fun.  I’ve never been to Ibiza before, preferring the more sedate and reclusive vibes of our little old town in Mallorca but of course I grew up in the 80’s and fully understand the lure of the party island of Ibiza… I just never made it there. In a past life The Viking was a club promoter, working with some of the coolest club creatures in town.  It was very hedonistic and lasted for a glorious decade before we moved into the even more creative arena of event production but because of the pressure of promoting other people’s Saturday nights we always made sure that when we went on holidays we went somewhere as far away from this as we could.  Many people couldn’t understand why we didn’t do the clubbing holiday thing but we were happy to leave it all behind and find a mountain to climb… Anyway, I’m sure it will be fun but just in case I don’t resurface until the end of next week here’s something sweet to sink your teeth into…

cherry brandy sponge cake with chocolate ganache and cherry brandy cream
after all my sugar-free and clean baking recently I really need to dip into something a little bit naughty and the cherries are absolutely stunning at the moment, sweet and sharp and fat and juicy and so dark they bleed the most gloriously gory blood red and stain everything.  You do’t really need the cherry brandy in this but i’ve used just a drop and just a drop lifts the whole cherry taste to somewhere rather special and if you’re going to eat this much butter and sugar then why not make it extra special.  What I love most about this cake is that it looks so wonderful but really it’s such a basic layer cake with some nice ingredients in the sponge mix to add a little flair to the cherry taste.  If I made it again i’d spread a little cherry jam on both layers before adding the cream to add a little more moisture to the whole thing… but other than that it was pretty near perfect.

for the cake
250g sugar
250g butter
3 large free-range eggs
200g Homepride self-raising flour
50g ground almonds
the finely grated zest of one orange
1 tablespoon cherry brandy or kirsch

for the filling
400ml double cream
1 tablespoon cherry brandy or kirsch
a large punnet of cherries – halves and pitted – reserve 8 whole with stalks for the top

for the cherry brandy ganache
100ml double cream
100g dark chocolate
2 tablespoons cherry brandy or kirsch

pre-heat the oven to 170C and great and line 2 20cm loose-bottomed cake tins and then dust the inside edges with ground almonds

measure out the flour and ground almonds, mix together and set aside

in a large bowl or a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until beautifully light and creamy, then add 1 egg and beat in followed by a third of the flour mix, then the next egg, beat in and another third of the flour mix, then add the orange zest and cherry brandy followed by the final egg and remaining flour and beat together until you have a soft dropping batter mix (a little drop of milk will help slacken if it’s too thick

divide evenly between the two cake tins and bake on the middle shelf for 20 mins or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean – set aside to cool completely

make the ganache by heating the cream and cherry brandy in a pan then once it’s pipping hot but not boiling take it off the heat and add the chocolate.  Stir until it has melted then set aside

beat the cream until thick and then fold in the cherry brandy

assemble the cake by spreading some cherry jam onto the top of the first layer, followed by the cream, place the cut cherries on top, then spread a little jam on the underside of the top layer and carefully place it on top

spread the thickening ganache onto the top of the cake – don’t be afraid to let a little dribble down the sides – then add the whole cherries with stalks on top

eat and of course, enjoy!