Choc & cherry cube cake

Delicious and refreshing cherry cubes, with a layer of rich chocolate cake, yoghurt panna cotta, and sweet cherries in jelly. It’s a fantastic dessert – although quite pricey due to the cost of the cherries. If you have a cherry tree in your garden, you’re in luck! This recipe makes one large traybake, perfect for the whole family.

Ingredients for the chocolate cake:

• 130 g plain flour
• 40 g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 125 ml buttermilk or kefir
• 125 ml brewed coffee
• 60 ml rapeseed or sunflower oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 180 g light brown sugar

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Place the following ingredients in a bowl and lightly whisk to combine (do not beat): buttermilk, coffee, oil, vanilla extract, egg, and sugar. Sift in the plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Gently whisk until just combined.

Line a 25 × 38 cm baking tin with baking paper (the tin should have straight sides). Pour the batter into the prepared tin – it will be quite runny. Bake at 160°C for 20–25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Ingredients for the yoghurt panna cotta:

• 150 ml milk
• 425 ml whipping cream
• 425 g Greek yoghurt
• 100 g caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 4 tsp gelatin powder plus ½ cup water

Sprinkle the gelatine over the water and leave to bloom for 10 minutes.

Place the milk, double cream, Greek yoghurt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod (or add the vanilla paste) and add them to the pan along with the empty pod. Heat gently over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Just before the mixture begins to boil, remove from the heat and discard the vanilla pod. Add the bloomed gelatine to the warm mixture and stir until fully dissolved. Leave to cool slightly, then refrigerate until it reaches a lightly set, gel-like consistency (if the panna cotta is too runny, it will soak into the chocolate cake).

Pour the thickened panna cotta over the chocolate cake while it is still in the tin and level the top. Refrigerate until fully set.

Ingredients for the cherry jelly:

• 1½ kg cherries
• 3 packets cherry jelly (each for 500 ml of water)
• 1.2 litres water

Stone the cherries. Dissolve the jelly in 1.2 litres of boiling water and leave to cool to room temperature.

Arrange the cherries over the set panna cotta layer. Pour a small amount of the cooled jelly over the cherries – this helps them stick to the panna cotta. Refrigerate until lightly set. Then pour over the remaining jelly and return to the fridge until fully set.

Enjoy!