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Chocolate Cherry Cake recipe

5/11/2012

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Remember that cake I made for the moustache themed birthday party? I made that cake for another birthday party as well. Cuz I looove that cake. It's huge. It kinda reminds me of the chocolate cake from the Matilda movie. Moist chocolate cake, homemade cherry jam, chocolate ganache... Mmm.
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I really wanted to make this cake again, but since I'm not hosting any (dinner) parties soon, I decided to make individual ones. And I've been reading about baking in tin cans for a while now, so I thought I should give that a try. They turned out pretty well if I may say so myself :P
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Recipe for the chocolate cake adapted from David Lebovitz' devil's food cake.

Ingredients (makes 6 individual cakes):
If you want to make one big cake, just double the quantities and use two ø23 cm baking tins

Chocolate cake:
55 gr unsalted butter + extra
140 gr granulated sugar
1 egg
25 gr cocoa + extra
100 gr flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
120 ml coffee
120 ml milk

Filling:
150 gr (canned) cherries
about 80 gr granulated sugar
35 gr white chocolate, shaved (use a vegetable peeler to do this!)
150 gr dark chocolate, in pieces
100 ml cream
60 gr unsalted butter
(optional) kirsch
(optional) armagnac, cognac or brandy

Oh and you also need some tin cans! I used 3 leftover tomato cans.
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Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Then cut your butter into small pieces and add the sugar. Now mix! You can use a mixer, but a whisk works just fine.
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Mix until the butter looks like this. Add the egg and mix until you have a smooth batter.
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Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and sift half of it into the batter.
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Mix until incorporated. 
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Add the coffee and milk. Mix well, then add the rest of your dry ingredients.
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Now, it's time to use the tin cans!
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Sorry for the blurry pic, but you should probably do this or else there's a high risk you'll cut yourself ;). Next, peel off the label and wash and dry it thoroughly.
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Grease your can with butter and dust it with cocao so the cake won't stick. I used three cans and divided the batter evenly.

Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
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In the meantime, place the cherries and sugar in a pan over low heat, stirring often until the sugar dissolves. Crush the cherries a bit with a wooden spoon. Add a tablespoon of kirsch if you like.
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While your jam is bubblin' away, make your chocolate ganache. Bring the cream and butter to a boil in a pan over medium heat. (You can also use a microwave to do this, you just have to be more careful) When the cream is boiling, take off the heat immediately and pour over the chocolate. 
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Stir until the chocolate is fully melted and incorporated. Add a pinch of salt and a tablespoon or 2 of armagnac (or cognac. or brandy). Cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge.
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If your jam has become thick and boils very slowly, your jam is ready. Take off the heat and let it cool. If it becomes too sticky to handle, just add a little water and let it simmer again. 
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Your cakes should also be ready by now! Let them cool before you take them out of the cans. Since we're making 6 individual cakes, you should end up with 12 seperate layers of cake. So if you use three cans like I did, cut all the cakes in four layers. Use a brush to drizzle some extra kirsch over the cakes.
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Let the assembling begin!
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Take out your chocolate ganache, it should be firm yet spreadable. If the ganache is still runny, leave it in the fridge for a bit longer. Now slather on some of that chocolate ganache.
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Add about 1½ teaspoon of jam, sprinkle white chocolate on top, then top with a layer of cake. Et voilà!
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You can leave the cakes like this...
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Or you can top with another tablespoon of ganache and some white chocolate like I did :) You can also cover the whole thing in chocolate ganache (to resemble the original cake), but I thought they looked kind of dainty like this.

So there you have it, individual chocolate cherry cakes! Perfect for a sophisticated birthday party (I imagine, I never have sophisticated birthday parties) or for afternoon tea with friends. You can maaaybe serve this as a dessert after a light meal. It's best the day it's made, but you can keep it for a couple of days in the fridge (but whyyyy would you do that? :P). x
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