Sour cherry and chocolate simnel cake with hazelnut marzipan

Portion size: Serves 12-16
Hands-on time 40 min, oven time 1 hour, plus cooling
Difficulty: easy

Recipe by: John Whaite

For a modern twist on a classic Easter cake, try this chocolate simnel cake by John Whaite, with sour cherries, chocolate ganache and hazelnut marzipan.

Or, how about a whisky-soaked simnel cake topped with pistachio marzipan? We’ve got simnel cakes for every taste in our simnel cake collection.

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Ingredients

120g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease
100g caster sugar
300g dark brown muscovado sugar
135g (when drained) cherries in kirsch
100g full-fat Greek yogurt
4 large free-range eggs
320g self-raising flour
80g cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200ml cherry juice drink (or pomegranate juice)
250g dried sour cherries

For the marzipan

 1 large egg
 75g caster sugar
 80g icing sugar
 15g liquid glucose (from the baking section in supermarkets)
 1 tbsp brandy, rum or vodka
 200g blanched hazelnuts, finely ground in a food processor

For the ganache 

100g Bournville chocolate
 100ml double cream
 50g Nutella  Cocoa powder for dusting

you’ll also need…

23cm x 8-10cm deep cake tin

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Method

Heat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/gas 3½. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 23cm cake tin.
For the marzipan, put the egg, sugar, icing sugar and glucose into a heatproof mixing bowl and set over a pan of barely simmering water. Beat with a handheld electric mixer until very pale and fluffy – about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and beat in the alcohol, then tip in the ground hazelnuts and mix to a thick paste using a wooden spoon. Using your hands, knead the mixture vigorously for 1-2 minutes until fairly smooth. It won’t be as smooth as regular marzipan, but it will come together. Wrap in cling film and set aside.
Put the butter, sugars, drained cherries and yogurt in a food processor. Whizz until mixed, then add the remaining ingredients, except the sour cherries, and whizz to a smooth batter. Add the dried sour cherries and pulse until just incorporated.
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Tear off two thirds of the marzipan and carefully roll between 2 pieces of baking paper into a disc just smaller than the cake tin (the hazelnut marzipan is more fragile than regular almond marzipan). Roll the remaining marzipan into 11 equal balls.
Pour half the cake batter into the tin, then top with the marzipan disc. Pour in the remaining cake batter, then bake for 90 minutes or until a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean.
To make the ganache, roughly chop the chocolate and put it in a heatproof bowl with the cream. Set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water (don’t let the water touch the bowl) and stir together until you have a smooth, glossy ganache. Remove from the heat and beat in the Nutella. Leave to cool at room temperature until spreadable.
When the cake comes out of the oven, allow it to cool completely in the tin, then invert onto a cake stand. Spread the ganache over the top, then arrange the 11 balls of marzipan around the edge. Sift a little extra cocoa powder over the top to finish.