Abi's Black Forest Cake
Abigail Donnelly's genius black forest cake uses xylitol instead of sugar, for a less guilt version. If you can't find fresh cherries, use canned cherries or blueberries.
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Cooking instructions
1. To make the cake, preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a 20–22 cm loaf tin.
Place the wet ingredients into a large bowl and mix using a hand-blender or a whisk.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa, flour and xylitol.
3. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.
4. To make the frosting, whisk together the crème fraîche and maple syrup, if using, then chill until the cake is ready.
5. In the meantime, place the xylitol and lemon juice in a medium saucepan, bring to the boil, add the cherries and toss through the syrup until warm. Set aside.
6. To make the ganache, chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl. Bring the cream to the boil in a saucepan, then pour the cream over the chocolate. Allow to stand for 3 minutes, then stir until melted and smooth.
7. Slice the cake into three layers horizontally, cover each slice with frosting, ganache and cherries and sandwich together. Slice to serve.