Chocolate and sour cherry mousse cake

This recipe for a Chocolate and Sour cherry mousse cake was inspired by a cake I had in a cafe. This cake was a pistachio mousse cake, it was very good and inspired me to play with the flavours and create my own version. I highly recommend taking a recipe you are familiar with and changing the flavours, as it gives you a better understanding of the recipe and a great chance to be creative and find new combinations. Never be afraid of baking failures because they are normally the start of your baking successes!! I chose to combine chocolate and sour cherry as I found mousse cakes can be very rich and by adding the sharpness of cherries it counteracts that.

Chocolate cake

400g flour

400g sugar

150g cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

1tsp espresso powder

200ml milk

2 eggs

2tsp vanilla extract

200ml boiling water

Sour cherry mousse

300g tinned cherries (or 200g tinned and 100g morello cherry compote)

150ml cherry brandy

100g dried morello cherries

4 sheets gelatine

3 eggs

200ml double cream

For the ganache

100g dark chocolate

150ml double cream

For the mousse

1. Chop your dried morello cherries and soak in 50ml of cherry brandy.
2. Soak your gelatine sheets in cold water.
3. Combine your tinned cherries (or tinned and cherry compote) with 100ml of cherry brandy and 100ml of water, and simmer on a medium low heat for 15-20 minutes.
4. Combine 3 egg yolks with your caster sugar and whip until pale and the consistency of a milkshake.
5. Whip your cream until thick and your egg whites to stiff peaks.
6. Blend your tinned cherry mixture and strain through a sieve adding to the egg yolks.
7. Drain your gelatine except for 1 tbsp of water and then melt over a bain-marie or in the microwave. Add to the egg yolk mixture.
8. Add one spoon of double cream to your egg yolk mixture and fold in to combine, then incorporate the rest in two parts. Repeat this process with the egg whites and then finally incorporate the dried chopped cherries and the brandy they where soaking in.
9. Leave to set in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

For the cake

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and flour two 8-inch cake tins.
2. Combine all the cake ingredients and divide evenly between the two tins.
3. Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
4. Leave to cool completely.

For the ganache

1. Chop your chocolate into small chunks and place in a bowl.
2. Heat the cream until gently simmering.
3. Pour over the chocolate and leave for a few minutes then whisk to combine.

To assemble

1. Cut both of your cakes in half, an easy way to do this is to score around the sides with your knife first and then cut through to the centre.
2. Take your first layer of cake and place on a cake stand (or plate), pipe a thick layer of your mousse, then smooth with a palette knife. Repeat for all your cake layers.
3. Take your palette knife and scrape off any overhanging mousse so the sides of your cake are flush.
4. Pour your ganache over the top of your cake, if you want you can cover the sides as well or you can leave them open.
5. Leave to cool and then serve with a cup of tea or coffee.

#Accessibility (image description: sat on a wooden chopping board we can see the cake with a slice cut out of it. There is chocolate ganache on the top and we can see the layers on the side. There are 4 layers of cake with sour cherry mousse in between the layers, the mousse is pink and has pieces of burgundy cherry dotted throughout. The slice that was taken out is sat in front set on slate.)