Chocolate and Cherry Cake

A chocolate sponge cake recipe to impress without a doubt, this cake has it all: a cherry filling base, a fluffy cocoa sponge cake and a spectacular chocolate sauce topping.

In this recipe, the tart and passionate flavor of the cherry filling melts with the intensity of the cocoa-flavored cake batter, but especially with the intensity of the chocolate and coffee topping. Will you dare to make it?

You can buy the cherry filling base, although I recommend making it at home: it only takes 10 minutes and it's utterly addictive. You could also replace it with cherry jam, but the result is not the same: jams are extremely sweet, while what we're looking for here is precisely the contrast between the slight tartness of the cherries and the intense chocolate flavor. A true Mon Cheri confection.

Round ceramic mold, Le Creuset ceramic plates,

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 260 g of pastry flour
• 150 g of sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder (10 gr)
• 50 g of cocoa powder
• 100 g of unsalted butter, melted
• 150 ml of milk, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 can of cherry pie filling* (500 gr)

*You can find cherry pie filling in supermarkets, in the aisle with jams and canned fruit, or where spreads are stocked. But I definitely recommend making it at home (it takes a moment and it's totally addictive). You can see how to make it in this blog recipe.

For the chocolate sauce topping:

• 180 g of brown sugar
• 250 ml of water
• 30 g of cocoa powder
• 1 tsp instant coffee

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 190 °C.
2. In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and cocoa.
3. In another separate bowl, mix the melted butter, milk, vanilla and eggs.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and whisk until combined. You should get a thick, consistent batter.
5. Prepare the Le Creuset Heritage round ceramic mold by greasing it with butter or a non-stick spray.
6. Pour the contents of the can of cherry pie filling (or 500 gr of the filling you prepared homemade) and carefully add the batter you made, trying to keep the layers separate. Smooth the batter to the edge of the mold with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Set aside.
7. Let's prepare the chocolate sauce: add all the sauce ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Just as it starts to boil reduce the heat and keep stirring, obtaining a very liquid, lump-free mixture.
8. Pour the chocolate sauce over the batter in the prepared mold, and place the mold in the oven, on the middle rack. It will look very liquid, but it will thicken during baking.
9. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes: once the batter begins to crack on top and springs back slightly when touched, remove the mold from the oven and let rest for about 5–7 minutes.
10. When it has lost heat but is still warm, serve it dusted with icing sugar, and if you like you can accompany it with lightly whipped cream and fresh cherries, or the cherry filling to add a little more if your guests have a sweet tooth.