Ingredients – serves 8

For the chocolate cake:

• 3 eggs
• 60 g butter
• 100 g sugar
• 50 g honey
• 115 g flour
• 5 g baking powder
• 65 g ground almonds
• 20 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 50 g dark chocolate
• 100 ml double cream

For the kirsch buttercream:

• 2 egg whites
• 100 g sugar
• 135 g butter, cut into cubes
• 1 teaspoon Kirsch

For the chocolate mousse:

• 300 double cream
• 150 g dark chocolate

For the topping:

• 30 cherries

Method

Make the cake:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
• Line a 20 cm springform tin with baking parchment.
• Whisk the eggs with the sugar and honey for 8 minutes until pale and fluffy.
• Gently warm the cream until it reaches boiling point, then remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and stir until dissolved.
• Pour the chocolate mix over the whisked eggs and give it a good stir.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa over the mixture, tip in the ground almonds and fold together.
• Melt the butter on a very low heath, add it to the batter and whisk in until well combined.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, put it in the heated oven and bake for 5 minutes.
• Lower the heat to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and bake for another 50 minutes. Take out of the oven and leave to cool.

Make the chocolate mousse:

• Break the chocolate in small pieces into a large pan and pour in 75 ml of the cream.
• Put on the lowest possible heat and stir until the chocolate has melted and everything is combined. Take of the heat and set aside.
• Put the rest of the cream into large bowl and whisk to soft peaks.
• Pour the melted chocolate into the bowl containing the whisked cream and fold together until they are evenly and smoothly mixed.
• Put in the fridge and leave to firm up for 1 hour.

Make the kirsch buttercream:

• Put the egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl, simmer over a pot of water and whisk constantly but gently until the temperature reaches 60°C (if you don’t have a thermometer: until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are warm), then remove from the heat.
• Whip the warmed egg withes for 10 minutes with the whisk attachment of the mixer, until the meringue is thick, glossy and cooled down.
• Switch over to paddle attachment and mix in the butter cubes, one at a time. Keep mixing until the buttercream has reached a silky smooth texture.
• Add the Kirsch to the buttercream and beat until incorporated.

Assemble the cake:

• Cut the cooled cake in half. Cut 18 cherries in half and remove the pit.
• Spread half of the buttercream on the bottom half of the cake, leaving a gap of 2 to 3 cm. Put halved cherries on the buttercream, then cover them with the remaining half of the buttercream.
• Add dollops of the chocolate mousse to fill the gap and spread a thin layer on the buttercream.
• Put the top layer of the cake back on and sandwich together. Decorate the sides of the cake with the remaining halved cherries.
• Pipe some chocolate mousse on the cake and top with the reserved whole cherries.