Layers of rich chocolate cake drizzled with cherry brandy sandwiched together with sweetened whipped cream and black cherry conserve. The cake is finished off with more whipped cream and some dark chocolate curls.
Preheat your oven to 190°C/170°C and grease and line 3 x 15 cm cake tins.
Cream together butter and sugars using your hand mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.
Sift over the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
Add the coffee and soured milk. Mix well.
Divide the batter evenly between your cake tins.
Bake in the centre of your oven for 25-30 minutes, until the cakes begin to come away from the sides of the tins and they are springy to touch. Cool completely on a wire rack before assembling/decorating.
To assemble
Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of barely simmering water.Pour the chocolate out in a thin layer on a chilled stone slab (or piece of baking paper) and pop into the fridge to harden.
Whip the double cream with the icing sugar and vanilla.
Using a wooden skewer, poke holes in each cake. Drizzle over 1 tbsp of cherry brandy into each cake (or more, if desired).
Pipe a circle of whipped cream around the outside edge of the cake, filling the centre with black cherry conserve or cherry pie filling. Decorate with more cherries, if desired.
Repeat with the second cake layer, and finish the third layer of cake off with a layer of whipped cream, piping swirls around the edge.
Decorate with dark chocolate curls, made by scraping a knife over the top of the hardened chocolate. Garnish the whipped cream swirls with fresh or tinned cherries.
Notes
To make soured milk: add 1/2 teaspoonful of white vinegar to 75ml of full fat milk.
This cake is best eaten on the day that it is assembled, although the cakes themselves can be made up to three days in advance and kept in an airtight container.