Chocolate cherry drip cake

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160fan/350F. Butter and line your cake tins with a circle of baking parchment.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Beat in the soft butter until the mixture is well combined.
3. Whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla extract and eggs. Beat this into the butter and flour mixture, stopping when you have a well combined, smooth batter.
4. Pour the batter into your tins and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. For the buttercream, beat the sieved icing sugar and butter together using an electric mixer until well combined. Add the cherry preserves, milk and vanilla and beat on high speed until very soft and fluffy.
6. When the cakes are completely cold, pipe a “dam” of buttercream around the edge of each sponge. By piping a “dam” all I mean is pipe a ring of buttercream all around the outside edge of the cake using a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle. This prevents the filling from oozing out of the cake. You can find tutorials on YouTube if you aren’t sure but it’s very simple.
7. Once you’ve piped the “dam” of buttercream, spoon about half of the jar of cherry conserve in the middle. Repeat with the other two layers of sponge before topping with the final sponge, making sure they are as level as possible, then using a spatula, apply a layer of buttercream all over the top and sides of the cake. I achieve a smooth finish by using a bench scraper/plastic scraper. They are a cake decorator’s secret weapon - they help you achieve a professional finish.
8. Once you’ve crumb coated the cake and are happy with the finish, pop the cake in the fridge for 10 minutes to set before applying another layer of buttercream if you wish. Put the cake back in the fridge while you make the ganache.

Chocolate Ganache Drip:

1. This is very simple. All you need to do is microwave 100g of dark chocolate and 100ml double cream in very short bursts, (no more than 5 seconds at a time) stirring well each time. When the chocolate has almost melted, keep stirring until very smooth. Add the 2 tablespoons liquid glucose and stir until smooth and shiny.
2. Then all that's left to do is adorn the cake with fresh cherries and you have a cake worthy of any celebration!