Rolling Wave Cake (chocolate and cherry sponge)

Chocolate sponge studded with boozy cherries, vanilla sponge in waves, topped with chocolate fudge icing. Not a lot like a river though!

Danube Waves Cake (Chocolate and vanilla with fresh cherries and fudge icing)

Well, an adaptation of the traditional German “Donauwelle” recipe. The “waves” are the curves made by the vanilla and chocolate cake mixes and the wavy top of the icing. I’m not convinced it looks like the Danube, but it tastes very good, which is the main thing.  The combination of boozy cherries and chocolate is a classic, from which the Black Forest Cake also gets its fabulous flavours, so you can hardly go wrong.

At Seniors Lunch Club this week we played “What Have I Got to be Grateful For?”  - a pretty simple exercise but always brings up surprises. This time, we had a strong theme of Community developing. Many members felt grateful not only for their family but for their community, valuing the feelings of togetherness and friendship. We felt grateful for art and music, local art galleries and for great composers and the joy they have brought to so many. Being able to watch great music and concerts on TV was highly valued. Ballroom dancing was something appreciated and remembered by several; both watching it and taking part. We know we’re lucky to live where we do, in a beautiful suburb of Manchester, we love our homes and our environment. Inspiring as ever, talking to the group.
 
Makes 16-20 pieces                        Timings:  2 hours

• 250g salted butter
  
• 250g caster sugar
  
• 1 sachet or 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
  
• 5 medium eggs
  
• 250g self raising flour
  
• 20g cocoa powder
  
• 200g fresh cherries, stoned and soaked in 2 tablespoons of your chosen liqueur – I used the last dregs of my last year’s Damson Vodka but you could use rum or brandy if you prefer.

For the icing: 200g softened butter, 250g icing sugar, 75g chocolate, melted (I used a mix of dark and milk), 1 tablespoon of sour cream, 1 tablespoon of Camp Coffee Essence
 
Stone and snip up your cherries and soak them in the liqueur for half an hour.

Pre heat the oven to 180°C, and grease and line a 22cm square baking tin. Sieve the flour.

Beat the butter and caster sugar and vanilla sugar together until creamy and then add the eggs one at a time alongside a tablespoon of flour each time. Add in the rest of the flour and mix well to a fluffy cake batter.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared tin. Now mix the cocoa powder into the remaining batter and stir again. Blob the chocolate mix over the top of the vanilla cake mix. Drain the cherries (keep the liqueur for a warming nip at dinner time, no sense in wasting good liqueur, especially now it has an extra tang of cherries to it) and drop them over the chocolate part of the batter.

Place in the oven and cook for 45-50 minutes until risen, golden and a skewer comes out clean.
Leave on a wire rack to cool.

For the icing, beat the butter until soft and add the icing sugar a spoonful at a time. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water. Add the sour cream and Camp Coffee essence to the icing and then scrape in the melted chocolate and beat well. You will get a fluffy fudgy mixture.

Spoon the icing over the top of the cooled cake and make wavy patterns with a fork. Keep in a cool place until ready to eat.