Chocolate ganache cake with Amarena cherries
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8
1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients
Cake base
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6 eggs
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175g of raw cane sugar
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150g of unsalted butter
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180g of 100% cacao, Willie recommends Rio Caribe. If you'd rather use 70% cacao chocolate, use 260g of it and reduce the sugar to 100g
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100g of ground almonds
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24 Amarena cherries in syrup, preferably Fabri
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2 tbsp of brandy, Willie recommends Somerset cider brandy
Ganache topping
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400ml of double cream
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80g of raw cane sugar
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90g of 100% cacao, preferably Rio Caribe. If you'd rather use 70% cacao chocolate, use 130g of it and reduce the sugar to 40g
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
2
To make the cake base, beat the eggs with the sugar until doubled in volume. Meanwhile, melt the butter with the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, ensuring the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water
3
Gently fold half the egg mixture into the chocolate then fold in the other half. Mix in the ground almonds and spread out on a lined baking tray. Bake for 7 minutes
4
Meanwhile, mix together 2 tbsp of the syrup from the cherries and all of the brandy. Remove the cake from the oven and, while still warn, prick all over with a fork and drizzle over the syrup mixture. Cut into circles using the metal pastry rings, leaving them in place. Discard (or nibble on) the remaining sponge
5
To make the ganache topping, gently heat the cream in a heavy-based pan. Once hot but not bubbling, place the chocolate and sugar in the pan and stir over a very low heat until everything has melted together
6
Cut strips of baking paper big enough to line the tops of the moulds. Pour in the ganache to a 2cm depth and push 3 cherries into the top of each, so they are just poking out of the top. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to set and cool
7
Remove fromthe fridge, gently remove the moulds and peel off the baking paper. Serve immediately with a drizzle of cream