Preheat
oven to gas mark 6/200؛ C. Grease and line two 9 inch spring
form tins. Beat eggs and sugar with electric mixer on high
speed or by hand until light and fluffy or it turns pale in
colour. Sieve together the dry ingredients thrice to ensure
lightness of the flour and fold gently into the egg mixture
a little at a time, alternating with milk.
Pour
mixture into two greased tins, lower over temperature to gas
mark 4/180؛ C and bake for 15-20 minutes or until firm to
touch. Do not open the oven unnecessarily otherwise the cake
will collapse. Cool cakes on wire tray.
Icing: Carefully whip fresh cream in a bowl held over a large bowl
containing ice cubes, add in the icing sugar. Over whipping
will result in butter! Spread one third of the cream onto
one cake, place the second cake on top and sandwich the two
together. Spread the cake completely with the remainder of
the cream and decorate the top with the grated chocolate and
cherries.
Chef’s
tip: To make chocolate caraques, place a plain chocolate
slab in the refrigerator until it is firm and hard. When
hard, scrape the chocolate with a potato peeler to make long
curls. If the chocolate is too hard, only small shaving will
emerge. In this case leave at room temperature for a minute
or two and repeat. Place caraques directly in the freezer.
Sprinkle on to cake after 10-20 minutes.
