This traditional cake is easy to make and uses ready-made sour cherry jam preserve and a whipped cream topping. Using only egg yolks makes the cake moist and tender. Topped with a whipped cream frosting, it has a wonderful light-as-air chocolate flavor that works well with the tartness of the sour cherries.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup 2% milk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 cup boiling water
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ingredients – Topping/Filling
2 cups 35% cream
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
2 teaspoons Whip It stabilizer
1 cup sour cherry preserves*
Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare two 8” round pans by spraying with non-stick spray and lining the bottom with a parchment ring. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside. In a measuring cup, mix together the milk and vinegar and set aside.
In a mixing bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light and yellow. Add in the vegetable oil and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Turn down the mixer to a low setting and alternatively add in the milk mixture and the flour mixture, ending with the flour mixture. Once the ingredients have been incorporated, slowly pour in the boiled water. Mix until combined.
Pour half the batter into each pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes for 10 minutes in the pan, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
While the cakes are cooling, prepare the whipped topping by beating the 35% cream until stiff in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Sift the confectioner’s sugar into a bowl, and once the whipping cream has stiffened, slowly add it into the whipped cream. Add the vanilla sugar and the stabilizer. Store in the refrigerator until ready to frost the cake.
To frost, add half the sour cherry preserves to the first layer. (*If you don’t want to make your own, jarred preserves can be found in most grocery stores.) Add half the whipped topping and place the second layer on top. Add the remaining sour cherry preserves to the top layer, reserving 2 tablespoons for the top decoration. Cover the preserves with the remaining whipped topping and add the reserved cherries along the top, evenly spacing them out. If desired, decorate with shaved chocolate.
Makes one 8” round cake.
Patataki 