Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 150 g flour
• 100 g butter
• 75 g sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 egg
• 500 g dried beans (or other legumes)
• 1 packet chocolate pudding powder
• 500 ml milk
• 1 tbsp butter
• 50 g dark chocolate (cut into small pieces)
• 2 tsp gingerbread spice
• 500 g sweet cherries (1 jar)
• 1 tbsp Cornstarch
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 500 ml whipping cream
• powdered sugar
• cherry jam
• 50 g dark chocolate couverture (shaved into flakes)
• coconut flakes (lightly toasted without added fat)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Knead a shortcrust dough from flour, butter, sugar, salt and egg. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.

2. 2.

   Grease a springform pan, roll out the dough thinly and place it in the pan. Raise a high edge (about 3-4 cm). Prick the bottom with a fork and sprinkle all beans over it. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C on the middle rack for 20–25 minutes until golden brown. Remove, discard the legumes and let cool in the pan. Carefully lift the well‑cooled base from the pan and place it on a cake plate.

3. 3.

   Warm milk and cook pudding according to package instructions. Stir in butter and chopped chocolate into the hot pudding. Mix well until the chocolate is completely melted. Spread about 2 cm of the cream over the cake base (reserve the rest). Let cool.

4. 4.

   Drain cherries, reserve the juice. Measure about 250 ml juice and boil with sugar and gingerbread spice. Whisk cornstarch into 2–3 tbsp cherry juice until smooth, then stir into the boiling cherry juice with a whisk. Boil briefly while stirring, remove from heat and fold in half of the cherries (or more if desired). Distribute cherries over the chocolate cream and fill the cake. Cool well, then refrigerate for about an hour.

5. 5.

   Before serving whip cream with 2 tsp powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over the cake into a dome shape. Boil 1 tbsp cherry jam with 1 tbsp water, strain through a sieve and brush the outer rim of the cake with it. Sprinkle the entire cake—dome and rim—with coconut flakes. Serve topped with chocolate shavings.