My miniature chocolate & cherry cakes were not so miniature. I decided to make a birthday cake for my son, born on Valentines Day, – cherries and chocolate, perfect!!
Given that I didn’t have the 16 miniature ramekins, it seemed like too good an opportunity to waste, so big birthday cake it was. I have to say, if you’ve ever thought about pimping up a cake, this has got to fall into that category. What didn’t it have in it? It had from melted chocolate, to cocoa, to liqueur to cherry syrup, cherries and buttermilk, this was a rich wholesome cake. It made me realize there’s no holding back when baking. You can pimp your cake anytime!!!! Add cherries, melted chocolate, whatever you like. Such a great idea, even inject liqueur if it’s a special occasion, Why not I say?
muscovado sugar gave it an extra depth of flavour 
chopped cherries 
melt that chocolate
So to make the cake I melted dark chocolate over a bain marie, and set this aside to cool. I beat together butter, caster sugar, and muscovado sugar till light and creamy, and gradually beat in the eggs. Then
mixed in the flour, baking powder, cocoa and the melted chocolate. Then I added the buttermilk, cherry syrup and chopped cherries. See what I mean!!!! I would have stopped making a cake before the last three ingredients, but this just took it to another level, not to mention the melted chocolate!
extra 
extra 
extra 
smooth silky textured mixture
While the cake was cooking, I made the cherry syrup. This cake ain’t done yet! I put sugar, cherry syrup and brandy in a pot. In doing so I ran out of brandy, woops, too much baking!!!! So I searched through the liqueur cabinet for an alternative and found a bottle of Pacharán, a liqueur we acquired while living in the Basque country in Spain. Its made from blackthorn or sloe bush berries that grow wild in Navarra. It had a slight aniseed flavour which I thought wouldn’t hurt the cake one bit!.
Once the syrup was cool and the cakes were cooked I injected the syrup into the cakes. Crazzzy!!! Then I made ganache, and poured this over the cakes. I rolled the small one in hundreds and thousands and decorated the birthday cake with cherries. Delicious. It went down quite a treat!
