Black Forest Gateaux

Method

1. Line and grease a deep, round 9-inch tin. For the cake, cream the butter and sugar well together. Melt the chocolate by putting it into a bowl and stand in a saucepan of hot water over a gentle heat. Beat melted chocolate into creamed mixture. Add the eggs. one at a time. Sift flour, salt and cinnamon together and fold lightly into mixture with the sour cream and cold coffee.

2. Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for1 hour and 25 minutes .When baked cool on a wire rack.

3. To make the base, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and bind until the mixture forms a stiff. Roll out the pastry onto a lightly floured board to the same size as cake tin, place on baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.

4. Split the cake into 3 layers. Whip cream until it holds its shape. Drain the cherries, reserve 8 for decoration and remove the stones from the remainder. Put pastry on serving plate and spread the pastry with black cherry jam. Soak the cakes with brandy. Put one layer of cake on top of coated pastry. spread a layer of cream with half the stoned cherries. Put the second layer of cake on the gateau and add another layer of cream and cherries .Finish with the top cake layer.

5. Put some cream into pastry piping bag with a star pipe attached, and reserve this for the decoration; mask the entire cake with the remaining cream and press on the grated chocolate. Decorate the top with piped rosettes of cream and the rest of the cherries.