Chocolate and Cherry Cake

Method

• step 1

  Find a round tin of any size. Line this with greaseproof paper. Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius (fan)/Gas mark 4/350 Fahrenheit. To a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamed.

• step 2

  To your bowl, add in the beaten eggs and combine this into the butter and sugar. Make sure every bit is combined. Sift the self raising flour into the mixture and gently fold the flour into the mixture.

• step 3

  To this, add in the baking powder and cocoa powder. Mix this until the cocoa powder has been combined. Add in your prepared instant coffee (only a quarter of the cup will do) for an extra boost of chocolate. Combine the coffee into the mixture.

• step 4

  Stir in your glace cherries and transfer the cake mix to your round tin. Bake the cake for 20-28 minutes or until there is no mixture on a skewer when you insert it into the cake. Take the cake out of the pan and leave to cool on a wired rack.

• step 5

  To prepare the buttercream, combine the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Spread a thin layer on your cooled cake and put any spare buttercream and the cake in the fridge to set.

• step 6

  After an hour or two, take out the cake and apply the rest of the buttercream to the cake. To prepare the chocolate ganache, chop the chocolate into even pieces and set aside. Heat the double cream in a small saucepan. Once you see tiny bubbles, take it off the heat immediately and stir in your chopped chocolate. You should have a glossy ganache. If the chocolate doesn't melt in the cream, heat it on a very low heat and stir until glossy.

• step 7

  The ganache will set as it cools. Pour the runny ganache all over the cake and reserve some for a sauce. Place the cake in the fridge until the ganache has a dessert-like consistency when you touch it. To serve the sauce, reheat this on a low heat, not in the microwave. Again, the ganache should be runny and smooth. If you do heat the ganache in a microwave and it has split, heat the sauce on the pan until combined. Serve the cake immediately.