Black Forest Berry Gateaux

This  Black Forest Gateaux looks absolutely divine! can’t wait to try it!

Ingredients

• 6 free-range eggs
• 220 g caster sugar
• 350 g good quality dark chocolate
• ~ 200 g broken into small pieces, the rest set aside in the fridge
• 75 g plain flour, sifted
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
• 4 tablespoons Kirsch liqueur

For the filling

• 200 g mascarpone
• 150 ml cream, whipped
• Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
• 50 g good quality milk chocolate, very finely chopped or shaved finely
• 400 g morello cherries, drained
• 400 g fresh black or red cherries, pitted
• 100 g fresh raspberries
• 100 g fresh mulberries (optional ~ if you can’t get them don’t worry, omit or use raspberries/blackberries etc)
• 100 g fresh blueberries
• 100g redcurrants

For the frosting

• 350 g good quality dark chocolate
• 250 ml pouring cream
• Splash of milk
• 1 tablespoons Kirsch liqueur

Extras

• Icing sugar for dusting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C fan forced, grease and then line the base and sides of two 20 cm round spring form pans with baking parchment.
2. Using an electric mixer, whisk the eggs for 5 minutes on medium speed until pale and frothy. Add the caster sugar and continue to whisk until thick and pale. Meanwhile, bring a small saucepan of water to a gentle simmer and melt the 200 g of chocolate in a small heatproof bowl that fits snugly over the pan without touching the water, stirring occasionally.
3. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold the flour and cocoa into the whisked egg and sugar mixture, followed by the melted chocolate, and combine well. Pour into the prepared cake tins and bake for about 20-25 minutes of until a skewer comes out clean. (Timing of the baking will depend on your individual oven, they may take a little longer than this 20-25 min guideline, so just keep an eye on them once they go into the oven).
4. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool a little before removing from the tins and transferring to wire racks to cook completely.
5. When cooled, drizzle 2 tablespoons of Kirsch Liqueur (Kirsch is cherry flavoured liqueur) over the base of each sponge and allow to soak in (you can add more if you like). If you want you can bake the cake sponges the night before serving as overnight the liqueur will really get a chance to flavour the sponge.
6. To assemble the cake ~ place one of the sponges onto a serving plate. Add the mascarpone and whipped cream to a mixing bowl, stir to combine then add the chopped chocolate and vanilla bean seeds, carefully combing before dolloping onto the top of the sponge on the serving plate. Spread the cream out evenly, but leave a 2cm gap around the edge so when you place the second sponge on top, all the cream won’t ooze too much out around the sides. Top the cream with the drained morello cherries and half the fresh pitted ones. Then follow with half the raspberries, mulberries, blueberries etc. Place the second sponge on top.
7. To make the ganache: chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl. Pour cream into a small saucepan and heat until almost boiling then simmer over low-medium heat for a minute or two. Pour hot cream over chopped chocolate and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Note ~ it’s super important you do not touch the mixture until 4 or 5 minutes have passed, if not there’s a good chance the ganache will split. If it does, you can normally rectify it by beating with a Bamix or regular stick mixer.
8. After 5 minutes, stir the chocolate and cream together until thick, smooth and glossy, add the milk and the Kirsch then pour over the cake. If you do indeed use a packet cake mix and they include a pouch of chocolate frosting, add it to the ganache now.
9. Scatter all the remaining berries on top of the cake and dust with icing sugar. Serve.