Poppy Seed Cake With Sour Cherry Fillig

This is my first sweet cake in my 12 Slice Cake mould. I have to say baking sweet cake is more difficult than the savoury one, but it is only the case of practise. The cake was requested again by my poppy seed "addicted" husband. In the end he even persuaded me to serve the cake with poppy seeded sauce.

Poppy Seed Cake with Sour Cherry Filling

 For the sponge
210 g self-raising flour
210 g butter at room temperature
200 g golden caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
50 g poppy seed
1/2 lemon zest

For the filling
fresh or bottled sour cherries
200 g summer fruit sauce, or pie filling or jam+red jelly  (whatever you have at home)

For the decoration
150 g double cream
Kirsch 
a small strip of chocolate transfer sheet
20-30 g white chocolate

First I prepared the chocolate decoration.

Lay down an approx 6 cm wide chocolate transfer sheet, with the textured side up. Spread the melted chocolate with an offset spatula knife evenly on the transfer sheet. Put the transfer sheet with the board underneath to the freezer to harden up.

Heat the oven to 180C and spray the Zila tin with a vegetable oil based separating agent

Put all the cake ingredients except the poppy seed in a  large bowl. Beat them together with an electric mixer until you have a creamy mixture, then fold in the poppy seed.

Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 -25 minutes or until the sponge springs back when pressed. Always check the middle of the cake as with Zila mould that is the most important thing. If you think it is ready and you turn it up side down, but the middle is sill a bit underdone just put it back to the oven without the silicone part(the cavities upside).

If the bottom of the cake is not flat, just level it so the cake will stand straight when you turn it up side down- just use the stainless steel ring as your guide. Pour some sauce to the cavities and fill the rest of the space with sour cherries. Pour the remaining of the sauce on top of the sour cherries.

To decorate, whip the double cream with some Kirsch (amount depending on your taste, but 2-3 tbsp should be enough) to soft peaks and pipe it around the cake. Take out the chocolate from the freezer, cut out triangles and insert 12, 1 in each part.