Ingredients

For the cherry jam

• 150g fresh cherries, pitted
• 100g caster sugar

For the sponge:

• 225g soft butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 220g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 50g unsweetened cocoa powder

For the buttercream:

• 400g soft butter
• 300g icing sugar
• 70g unsweetened cocoa powder
• dash of vanilla extract

For the garnish:

• 150g grated chocolate or sprinkles
• 250ml whipped cream
• 7 whole cherries
• Edible gold leaf (optional)

Tools

• Titanium Chef Patissier XL

Method

For the cherry jam:

1. Put the pitted cherries and sugar into a saucepan and place over a low heat until the sugar dissolves.
2. At this point turn up the heat and cook for 10minutes until a jammy consistency is reached. You can use a Kenwood hand blender to blitz for a smooth jam.
3. Set aside at room temperature until needed. If you are tight on time, you can use store-bought cherry jam.

For the sponges:

1. Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan.
2. Line the base of 2 x 9” loose bottom cake tins with parchment paper and grease and dust the base and sides.
3. Into your Kenwood mixer bowl, place all the ingredients and using the K Beater attachment, mix all the ingredients together until smooth.
4. Spoon this batter between the two prepared tins and place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25minuntes.
5. Once baked, remove and allow to rest in the tin for a few minutes before removing on to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Once cold, take a 6cm/2.5 inch round cutter and cut 11 circles from each sponge (22 in total) and set aside.
7. Keep the trimmings to nibble on or freeze them down to use at a later stage-they're delicious in a trifle

For the buttercream:

1. In the bowl of your Kenwood mixer fitted with the K Beater, cream all the ingredients together for 5 minutes until smooth.
2. Place the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a small round piping nozzle.

To assemble:

1. Each individual cake will have 3 discs so you will need 21 discs in total to make 7 cakes.
2. Pipe a circle of buttercream on the base sponge disc and spoon some jam in the centre, place another sponge disc on top and pipe a circle of buttercream on top and spoon some jam into the centre and finally add the final sponge disc on top.
3. Repeat this process until you have 7 individual cakes.
4. Place these in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.
5. Once firm, cover the outside of each sponge with buttercream and while the buttercream is still soft, roll the sponge in the grated chocolate or sprinkles.
6. Place back into the fridge until needed

To serve:

1. Remove the cakes from the fridge 30 minutes before you wish to eat.
2. Pipe a rosette of fresh cream on top and finish with a gold leaf cherry for the extra touch of class.
3. Enjoy!