#LoveFreshCherries Cherry Chocolate Gateau

This year with the extreme weather – rain and sun and heat it means that we have a glut of the most gorgeous cherries in England. Full of flavour and soooo sweet at the moment! Mercant cherries are the large deep red skinned cherries and if you head to the shops now you’ll start finding Penny & later Kordia and Sweetheart cherries. They make some gorgeous recipe which culminate for me at the end of September with cherry pies!

  

The boys adore cherries and will eat bowl after bowl of them. Did you ever do the rhyme with the pips to see your future? “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief” It always results in a quick stuffing down of more cherries to get to the desired answer!

 

One of favourite recipes though for cherries is…..

  

Black Forest Gateau

5 eggs, separated

150 g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

125 g gluten-free flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

700 ml whipping cream

2 x 390 punnets of fresh cherries

150 g dark chocolate, shaved

1          Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/gas 3. Line the bottom of a 22cm springform tin with baking paper. Beat the egg whites and 3 tbsp cold water until forming stiff peaks, gradually adding the sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Sift in the flour and cocoa and mix in. Spoon into the tin and smooth out. Bake for 30-35 mins, until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool.

2          Turn out of the tin and peel off the baking paper. Cut horizontally into 3 equal pieces, by inserting a knife into the centre and rotating the cake around it. Place the bottom cake on a cake plate and place a cake ring around it.

3          Whip 350ml cream with 1 tsp vanilla extract until forming stiff peaks. Spread half over the bottom cake. Set aside 12 cherries to decorate, and distribute half the remainder over the cream. Press the second cake gently on top. Spread with the remaining whipped cream and cherries. Press the last cake gently on top. Chill for 30 mins.

4          Whip 350ml cream until forming stiff peaks and spoon half into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Remove the cake ring and spread the top and sides with the remaining cream. Stick two-thirds of the chocolate shavings around the edge.

5          Pipe 12 swirls of cream around the cake and top with the reserved cherries. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate over the top. Chill for 20 mins.

(This post is an entry for the BritMums #lovefreshcherries Challenge, sponsored by Love Fresh Cherries instagram: @LoveFreshCherries)