Christmas chocolate cherry cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 2 eggs
• 75 g sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 35 g flour
• 35 g cornstarch
• 1 pinch of salt
• ½ tsp gingerbread spice
• 20 g cocoa
• 25 g chocolate sprinkles
• 250 g sour cherries, with juice
• 25 g sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 20 g cornstarch
• 200 g cream cheese
• 30 g sugar
• 30 ml Amaretto
• 1 ½ sheets of gelatin
• 30 g speculatius or cinnamon stars
• 200 g whipped cream
• 17 g sugar
• 10 g cocoa
• 15 ml rum, alternatively Amaretto
• 50 g marzipan
• 8 cranberries, dried
• e.g. cinnamon
• n. B. Cookie(s) (cinnamon stars)

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 3 hours 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 35 minutes; Total time approx. 5 hours 35 minutes

for a springform pan of approx. 18 cm, makes 9 pieces

Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites with 2 tablespoons of water and a pinch of salt until stiff, gradually adding the sugar. Briefly mix in the egg yolks on the lowest setting. Sift the flour, cornstarch, cocoa, spice, and baking powder over the mixture and fold in with the chocolate sprinkles. Spread the mixture into an 18 cm diameter springform pan lined with baking paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C (convection oven) for approx. 25 minutes. Allow to cool and then cut in half crosswise. If the sponge cake hasn’t risen evenly or is too high, level off the top and trim off, perhaps using it for decoration. Bring the morello cherries to a boil with the sugar and cinnamon. Mix the cornstarch with a little cold morello cherries’ juice until smooth. Add to the cherries, bring back to a boil, and continue to cook while stirring until the mixture thickens. Allow to cool, stirring occasionally. Place a cake ring around the bottom sponge cake layer and spread the fruit mixture on top. Soak the gelatine. Crumble the speculatius or cinnamon stars. Mix the cream cheese with the sugar. Dissolve the gelatine in the Amaretto over low heat. Stir in a little cream to equalize the temperature, then stir everything into the cream cheese mixture. Chill for about 30 minutes, until the cream begins to set, then fold in the cookie crumbs. Spread the cream over the cherry filling and cover with the other layer. Chill for about 3 hours. Whip the cream with sugar and cocoa until stiff, then briefly stir in the rum. Fill a third of the mixture into a piping bag. Cover the cake with the remaining cream. Roll out the marzipan to the diameter of the cake and divide it into 8 to 10 cake slices. Roll up the ends of each slice with a cranberry or, if desired, a cherry. Cover the cake with the marzipan wedges and decorate with cream puffs and cinnamon stars. For a large cake, simply double all the ingredients. The nutritional information of 300 kcal per serving refers to a slice of a small cake with a total of 9 slices.