Sinful Chocolate Cherry Cake: Devil’s Food Mini Layer Cake with Cherry Buttercream and Cherry Filling

Cherries, blue berries, strawberries.. berries in general are hard to find in India in most places and are super pricey and when you find them I make sure to make the best thing in can… 

This is  a chocolate cherry cake, its a 4 layer mini (4.5′) devil’s food cake with cherry buttercream frosting and a cherry-brandy compote, doused with dark chocolate drip and garnished with some fresh cherries…

Ingredients:
Cherry-Brandy Compote: 

  • Cherries (pitted) – 250gm
  • Brandy – 60ml
  • Sugar – 50 gm
  • Water – 30ml
  • Cornflour – 1 teaspoon

Devil’s Food Cake:

  • Flour – 180gm
  • Dark brown sugar – 150gm
  • Butter – 150gm
  • Eggs – 3 large
  • Cocoa powder – 60gm
  • Expresso – 125ml 
  • Boiling Water – 100ml 
  • Baking powder – 1teaspoon
  • Baking soda -1 teaspoon
  • Vanilla – 1 teaspoon 

Cherry Buttercream 

  • Cherry Compote – 3 tablespoons
  • Butter – 80 gm 
  • Icing sugar – 200gm

Dark Chocolate Drip

  • Dark Chocolate (chopped) – 50gm
  • Butter – 25gm 
  • Cherries to garnish

Method:
Cherry- Brandy Compote:

  • Pit the cherries.
  •  In a heavy bottom pan, add the cherries, sugar, water and brandy and cook. 
  • Add the cornflour and cook until it thickens slightly. 
  • Clean and dry a glass jar, add the cooked cherries. 
  • Once cooled, refrigerate. 

Devil’s Food Cake:

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease and line the baking tin with parchment sheet. 
  • In a small bowl, add the boiling water and cocoa and mix into a paste. 
  • In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale, fluffy and smooth. 
  • Beat in one egg at a time. Add vanilla.
  • Add the cocoa mixture and expresso to the butter-sugar-egg mixture. 
  • Sift in the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
  • Mix thoroughly until completely incorporated. 
  • Divide and pour the batter into the baking tins.
  • Bake for about 15-20 minutes, check from about 18 minutes. 
  • Check to see if completely baked by poking the cake with a wooden skewer.
  • Once baked, let it cool on a cooling rack. 

Cherry Buttercream Frosting:

  • Blitz 3 tablespoons of cherry-brandy compote, until almost fine. 
  • In a bowl, cream the butter until pale and fluffy. 
  • Mix the blitzed cherry in the butter. 
  • Add the icing sugar in batches and whip until the required consistency. 

Assembling the Cake:

  • Slice the tops of the cake, so they are all of uniform thickness. 
  • Place a small dollop of cherry buttercream on a cake board. 
  • Place the bottom most cake layer on the dollop of cherry buttercream.
  • Pipe the cherry buttercream along the edges of the cake layer, like a circle. 
  • Brush the kirsch (liquid from the cherry -brandy compote) on to the center of the cake layer. 
  • Spoon in the cherry pieces from the compote. 
  • Place a second layer of cake on top of the layer and repeat until all the layers are complete. 
  • Smoothen the sides of the cake with buttercream (I wanted to make a naked cake). You can also frost the cake with a thin layer of buttercream as a crumb coat. 
  • Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes to a hour. 

Dark Chocolate Drip:

  • In a heavy bottomed pan, add the chopped chocolate and butter. 
  • Heat it on a low, let the butter melt and mix with the chocolate. 
  • Let the chocolate come to about room temperature. 

Final Assembly of the Cake:

  • Pour the melted chocolate on the cooled cake. 
  • Cool the cake for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator. 
  • Pipe small blobs of buttercream on the cake.
  • Place fresh cherries on the blobs of buttercream. 
  • Serve with a large cup of tea…. 

Oh Sinful!!! 
Happy Baking
​xx

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