A light vanilla cake filled with maraschino cherries, frosted with creamy white chocolate ganache and finally topped with drippings of semi-sweet chocolate. This white chocolate cherry cake is a cake lover’s dream.
1and 1/2 sticks unsalted buttersoftened but still cold, and cut into cubes
FOR THE WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
600mLheavy whipping cream
400gwhite chocolatefinely chopped
FOR THE CHOCOLATE DRIP
140gsemi sweet chocolatefinely chopped
1 -2tspcanola oilor more or less as needed
1jar Maraschino Cherriesfor filling and topping the cake
Instructions
FOR THE VANILLA CAKE
Make sure the egg whites and milk are in room temperature by measuring them ahead. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the bottom of two 9 inch baking pans and line them with parchment paper. Grease the parchment papers and the sides of the pans. Dump a little amount of flour on the baking pans and tilt the pans around to lightly cover the insides with flour. Tap the base of the pans to remove the excess flour.
Combine egg whites , vanilla extract and milk in a bowl and stir using a fork to combine.
Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using low speed, run the mixer to combine the dry ingredients. Add the cubed butter and continue beating for about a minute and a half.
Adjust the speed of mixer to medium. Add ½ of the milk mixture and continue mixing for about 1 and ½ minutes. Add the remaining milk mixture and continue to mix for about a minute.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cakes come out clean. Cool cake for ten minutes, then turn them over on a wire rack to cool completely.
FOR THE WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
Add the chopped white chocolate in a medium mixing bowl. In a medium saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat just before it reaches the boiling point. You should see the surface of cream is starting to make waves but not bubbling. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand for about 3-5 minutes, The chocolate should be covered by the cream entirely. Using a rubber spatula, mix the mixture until all the chocolate are completely melted. Let the ganache cool while occasionally whisking with a wire whisk.Cover the surface of the ganache with plastic wrap ( Let the plastic touch the entire surface of the ganache. This prevents a film to form in the surface). Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When the ganache has cooled down completely, beat it using either a stand or hand mixer until the ganache forms stiff peaks and is thick.
ASSEMBLE THE CAKE
Spread a little amount of ganache on the center of the dish that you are using for serving the cake.This will serve as an adhesive to keep cake in its place while decorating. Lay first layer of cake on your serving dish or base. Spread ganache over the first layer and even it out. Top with cherries and spread another thin layer of ganache. Lay the second cake over the cherries and ice the entire cake with the ganache. Refrigerate cake for at least 2 hours.
FOR THE CHOCOLATE DRIPPINGS
Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, 30-40 seconds at a time. Repeat until the chocolate start to become shiny and soft. Be watchful, chocolates still hold their shape even if they are completely melted, tricking you to heat it up more. Touch the surface often, if is is soft, it is ready. Use a whisk or fork to stir the chocolate until it is very smooth. Add about a teaspoon of cooking oil to the chocolate, and add another teaspoon gradually until it becomes flowy and runny but not very thin. Using a glass with a spout or a spoon, pour chocolate syrup around the edge of the cake and use the back of the spoon to make it drip down the sides. It is important that the cake has been chilled in the fridge so that the syrup will begin to set as it drips down the sides of cold cake. Gently spread the chocolate syrup on the entire top surface of cake using the back of spoon. Top with cherries. Keep cake refrigerated in a sealed cake container.