I love to make cakes and I’m the one in the family that offers to make dessert when we have family get-togethers or meet ups with friends. Many of them have a favourite from the growing range of cakes that I have been baking. For a recent get together, I decided to make a few different cakes, one which was my Chocolate Sponge with Vanilla Cream and Cherries and this went down a treat. It’s not one I make often but after the recent response, I’ll have to change that. I used cherries in alcohol to make this but you can make the cake minus the alcohol if you prefer (See Chefs Tips).
Chocolate Sponge with Vanilla Cream and Cherries
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Sponge
115g dark chocolate
200g butter softened/room temperature
1tsp vanilla essence
240g caster sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
200g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
3 medium eggs
150ml sour cream
Vanilla Cream
1.5 tsp vanilla essence
double cream
3 tbsp Caster sugar, more if needed (taste to check)
Cherry Filling
Opies Black cherries in Luxardo kirsch
Extras for Topping
Dark chocolate for grating
Method
Line and grease a 9 inch tin.
For the Sponge
Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool.
Whisk the butter, vanilla and sugar in a bowl.
Combine the flour, baking powder and cocoa.
Add the eggs one at a time to the butter mix with a tablespoon of the flour mix and gentle mix. Repeat until all 3 eggs have been combined.
Then add the rest of the flour, the sour cream and the melted chocolate and mix in.
Cook in a fan oven at 170 degrees for approximately 35 minutes.
Check to see if the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the middle. If this comes out without any cake mix stuck on it the cake is fully cooked. If not cook for another 4-5 minutes then check again.
Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool down further.
For the Cream
Combine the cream, sugar, and the vanilla essence and whisk until it thickens. Make sure you do not over whisk the cream.
Assembling the Cake
Cut the sponge horizontally in the middle.
Place on side on a foiled covered cake board.
Then drizzle some of the kirsch from the jar into the sponge. You’ll need approximately 3-4 tablespoons for this.
Then add a layer of the vanilla cream.
Evenly distribute some of the cherries on the cream. Give them a little squish to spread them slightly.
Place the top layer of cake on the cherries so the cut side is facing upwards. This gives you a surface that is more absorbent to work with.
To this add another 3 tablespoons evenly distributing the kirsch across the sponge.
Cover this with cream.
You can pipe even swirls of cream around the edges if you wish.
I set aside a cherry from the kirsch for each swirl. These were laid out on absorbent paper and after most of the moisture had been removed onto each swirl.
I then grated chocolate even over the top of the cake.
Chefs Tips
You can use fresh cherries instead of cherries in kirsch if you prefer. Use black cherry jam alongside this.
This can be made with or without alcohol. It works well either way.
The sponge can be made in advance and frozen if you are limited for time on the day you are serving. Just allow enough time for the sponge to thaw before putting the cake together. This should only need a few hours depending on the room temperature.
I hope that my Chocolate Sponge with Vanilla Cream and Cherries cake has left your mouth watering and has inspired you to get baking.
What sort or cakes do you enjoy most? Do you like cakes with fresh fruit? Would you enjoy a cake like my Chocolate Sponge with Vanilla Cream and Cherries?
Here are some of the other delicious cakes I’ve made that you might like to try:
Lemon and Elderfower Cake with Vanilla Butter Cream
Almond and Amaretto Cake in a Double Chocolate Cage
Strawberry and White Chocolate Pavlova
Strawberry and Vanilla Sponge Cake
Banana, Walnut and White Chocolate Cake
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Cake and cream are always a great combo. I love the idea of combining them into one cake. Yummo!
Add chocolate and cherries and it’s even better!
Aww yeah. I can eat my weight in cake and cream. It’s my favorite dessert combo. Making them into one recipe is genius!
It does work well. Enjoy!!!
This cake looks amazing. I really do love the chocolate and cherry and cream combo it works so well.
Who doesn’t love a yummy cake!
You have me drooling over this recipe! I love the combination of cream and cherries and the addition of vanilla makes it even better. I can’t wait to make this for the family.
It’s soooo good. You can also play around with it and make different variations.
Yum! This chocolate cherry sponge cake looks amazing. Great recipe. Thanks for sharing-nice photos!
It’s a really lovely cake
This sponge cake looks really good. Much better than what I’d make! I think cherries and chocolate can work well.
This is a lovely combination and one I am sure you will enjoy
This looks like it would be Devine! I love the cherries added to it, they always give an extra dash of flavor and color to cakes that I love.
They sure do. Fresh cherries can work well too.
The combination of kirsch, cream, and cherries must be heavenly, and the chef’s tips are super helpful. I love cakes with fresh fruit, so your Chocolate Sponge with Vanilla Cream and Cherries is right up my alley. Can’t wait to try it out—thanks for the inspiration! What a treat!
This is a lovely cake. Cakes with fruit can be lovely and this one is very easy to make.
Oh my gosh this looks yummy. Please could you bake this again and send it my way lol. This is all my favs cherry’s, chocolate and cream so I am going to give this bake a try next week. thanks Mel W xx
Lol, it’s soooooo good!!!!
Reminds me of a Black Forest Cake! I love chocolate cake and cherries ^_^ looks absolutely delightful!
It’s that sort of thing and a lovely cake that can work well when you have guests.
This is exactly what I need right now, I’d love to try this recipe out. I’ve been craving something like this for a while. Thanks for sharing!
It’s such a delicious cake. Enjoy!
I love chocolate cakes but not with fruits! Your sponge cake looks delicious and I’ll definitely try making this for my husband as he loves it ❤️. Thanks for sharing the tips, will keep those in mind 🙂.
Honestly, once you try this, you will love it too x
Hhhhhmmmm….I would enjoy a cake like this, yes but without the alcohol. I have been sober since 2014!
You can always use fresh cherries instead and cherry jam
Oh my god, what a delicious-looking cake! It has everything I like. I’ll have to try this one out soon. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I hope you love it as much as we do.
This looks absolutely delicious, between the chocolate and cherries, and the moist quality of the cake. It is nice to try some different variations of cake recipes.
It does work very well. I do love the combination of flavours in this cake. The Opies cherries in kirsch work exceptionally well.
Wow the Chocolate Sponge cake will definitely be a delicious dessert for sure. Will try it during my next family get together.
Enjoy, it’s a yummy one!
Your Chocolate Sponge with Vanilla Cream and Cherries sounds divine! The combination of cream, cherries, and vanilla is irresistible, and I can’t wait to try it out with your helpful tips. Thanks for the inspiration!
I’m glad you liked it. Have fun baking!
I love cakes so much and my husband and I have it for lunch every Sunday. This particular one looks absolutely delicious so we would try to replicate this recipe.
It’s such a yummy recipe and very popular too.
Oh wow this looks absolutely delicious. I love cherries and the cherries with the chocolate combo I bet is stunning !.
It is a lovely combo and works so well.
I really do love a good cherry and chocolate cake! Thank you for sharing your easy to follow recipe.
I’m so glad you liked the recipes. It is a popular one with my family.
That looks delicious. I would make this for special occasions, the next special occasion is my granddaughter’s birthday and I know she would love this
I hope you all enjoy the cake!!
This is black forest gateau – always a winner with me
It is yummy!!!
Baking is one of my favourite hobbies, so this will definitely be tried out. Thank you!
Mine too, it’s great for destressing
i love both chocolate and cherries, so this cake would be a fav in our house.
it is really yummy!!!
Just reading this has my mouth watering! Great job
It is really yummy!!!
oh this looks so delicious
It is really yummy!!
This looks delicious for a special occasion such as a Birthday Tea!
It is really yummy