Eurovision-inspired Black Forest gateau
In honour of Eurovision John Whaite is going retro for us in the kitchen - today he is making today Black Forest Gateau.
Ingredients
For the Sponge:3 large eggs90g caster sugar80g plain flour15g cocoa powder
For the Filling:390g jar black cherries in kirsch200ml double cream2tbsp icing sugar40g milk chocolate, coarsely grated
To Finish:2tbsp cocoa powder40g dark chocolate, melted
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6
For the sponge, whisk together the eggs and sugar in a mixer until tripled in volume and you reach the ribbon stage(when you lift the whisk out of the mixture and draw a figure of eight with the falling mixture, it should sit and take at least two seconds to sink away). You could do this with a handheld electric whisk, but it will take a little longer.
Sift together the flour and cocoa powder, then fold into the eggs very gently but thoroughly. Carefully pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cake springs back when very gently poked.
Immediately invert the cake onto a lightly oiled piece of baking paper sitting on a clean, damp tea-towel. Roll the cake up tightly length ways, and leave to cool.
Drain the cherries but retain the liquid, chop the cherries roughly
Whip the cream with the icing sugar and grated chocolate until soft and floppy
Once the cake has cooled carefully unroll and drizzle with a little of the liquid from the cherries
Spread over the cream, then scatter over the chopped cherries. Roll the cake back up, as neatly as possible - dont worry if some cream splurges out of the sides and edges, you can trim to neaten once rolled up.
Sift the cocoa powder over the roll, then drizzle the melted chocolate all over the roll in random splashes