Ingredients
Sponge:
- 155g butter, room temperature
- 420g castor sugar, sifted
- 8 eggs
- 130g cocoa powder, sifted
- 15g coffee granules
- 50g dark chocolate, melted
Praline mousse:
- 250g castor sugar
- 250 whole pecan nuts
- 16g powdered gelatine
- 30ml cold water
- 240g white chocolate
- 148ml whole milk
- 30g cream cheese
- 2g salt
- 140ml double cream
- 15ml hazelnut syrup
- 5ml hazelnut essence
Cherry jam:
- 2 cans black cherries, drained
- 60ml canned black cherry syrup
- 250g granulated sugar
- 38g cornflour
- 1ml cherry oil
- 1ml almond essence
- 1 lemon, juice of
- red food colouring
Cherry syrup:
- 80ml canned black cherry syrup
- 80ml cherry cordial
- 1ml cherry oil
Ganache glaze:
- 20g gelatine powder
- 160ml cold water
- 280ml whipping cream
- 400g castor sugar
- 140g cocoa powder, sifted
- 250g glucose
Red mirror glaze:
- 5g gelatine powder
- 30ml cold water
- 75g liquid glucose
- 75g castor sugar
- 37ml water
- 50ml condensed milk
- 150g white chocolate, melted
- 1ml red food colouring
- 1ml cherry oil
Cherry buttercream:
- 125g white butter, room temperature
- 250g icing sugar, sifted
- 20ml milk
- 7.5g acti-white powder
- 1ml cherry oil
- red food colouring
Decorations:
- 6 chocolate bark shards
- 8 praline shards
- 6 whole maraschino cherries
- 3 dark red roses
- 1g bronze edible glitter
Cherry chocolate bark:
- 100g dark chocolate, melted
- 100g white chocolate, melted
- 1ml cherry oil
- 60g glazed cherries, halved
- 1g red edible glitter
- 1g bronze edible glitter
Preparation method
Sponge:
- Pre-heat oven to 180 C
- Grease and line 2 sheet pans (36x42cm)
- Cream butter
- Add castor sugar to butter, a little at a time
- Add eggs, one at a time
- Sift cocoa powder and combine into butter mixture
- Add coffee granules to batter and combine well
- Spoon batter into sheet pans, tap tray to settle batter
- Bake for 10-15 minutes - sponge must lightly spring back
- Remove and leave to cool
- Once cool cut into 4 x 20cm circles
- Spread dark chocolate over one sponge circle, allow to set
Praline mousse:
- Melt the sugar, without stirring, to a caramel
- Add pecans to caramel. Place on baking tray and allow to cool
- Crush 3/4 of praline. Reserve a few shards for decorations
- Bloom gelatine in water
- Melt the chocolate
- Boil the milk, cream cheese and salt, then remove from heat
- Whisk the bloomed gelatine into the milk
- Emulsify and whisk the hot milk into the melted chocolate
- Allow to cool
- Whip the cream and hazelnut syrup and hazelnut essence to soft peaks
- Fold cream into cooled chocolate mixture, with 3/4 of the crushed praline
Cherry jam:
- Boil the cherries (including the syrup), sugar and lemon juice
- Take 60ml of the canned cherry syrup and mix with cornflour
- Add the cornflour mix, cherry oil, almond essence and food colouring to the cherries
- Bring to boil and stir until thick
- Transfer to shallow dish and cool
Cherry syrup:
- Whisk all the ingredients
- Reserve for later use
Ganache glaze:
- Bloom gelatine in water
- Heat cream and sugar and allow to boil
- Add glucose and cocoa powder and mix well. Blend well until combined
- Remove from heat and add gelatine
- Transfer glaze to shallow dish, allow to cool
Red mirror glaze:
- Bloom gelatine in water
- Boil glucose, sugar and water
- Remove from heat, add gelatine and condensed milk
- Pour mixture over chocolate. Blend very well
- Add red food colouring and cherry oil
- Transfer to shallow dish and cool
Cherry buttercream:
- Cream butter
- Add sifted icing sugar and acti-white powder, mix well
- Add milk, cherry oil and food colouring to icing mixture
- Transfer to bowl and set aside
Cherry chocolate bark:
- Melt dark chocolate
- Melt white chocolate
- Add cherry oil to white chocolate
- Cut into small pieces
- Place dark chocolate onto baking tray
- Add melted white chocolate to dark chocolate and make a swirl pattern using skewer
- Add pieces of glazed cherries to chocolate
- Sprinkle with red and bronze glitter
- Place in fridge to set
Assembly:
- Grease and line a 20cm spring form tin
- Place 1st sponge circle (with chocolate base) down
- Coat sponge with cherry syrup
- Pipe praline mousse onto sponge
- Cover mousse with cherry jam
- Place 2nd sponge onto filling
- Coat sponge with cherry syrup
- Pipe praline mousse onto sponge
- Cover mousse with cherry jam
- Place 3rd sponge circle onto filling
- Coat sponge with cherry syrup
- Pipe praline mousse onto sponge
- Coat mousse with cherry jam
- Place 4th sponge circle onto filling
- Place in freezer for 45 minutes
- Remove cake from tin
- Cover the cake in buttercream
- Freeze cake for about 15 minutes
- Pour ganache over cake
- Dip knife/cake lifter into red mirror glaze, sweep in one motion over dark glaze
- Drizzle more over if needed
- Place in fridge fro 10-15 minutes
- Carefully transfer cake to cake board
- Decorate with chocolate bark, praline shards, cherries and edible glitter