honeycomb cherry cake

By foodiva

Ingredients

• 2 sheets premade puff pastry (Pepperidge Farm ), rolled to 10in x18in
• 3 cups sour/tart cherries, pitted, drained (see bottom of post for the kind I buy from the Russian Stores)
• 3 cups heavy whipping cream (at least 33% fat content)
• 1 cup sour cream / plain yogurt / Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• (click for recipe & instructions)
• Chocolate Bar
• Vegetable Peeler
• 1/3 cup roasted chopped walnuts (optional)

Details

Servings 8
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 45mins
Adapted from letthebakingbeginblog.com

Preparation

Step 1

Instructions
Thaw puff pastry sheets on the counter until you can unfold them. Dust working surface with flour and roll each sheet to 10 in x18 in. Cut each sheet into 3 long strips. Line cherries in the middle of each strip. Pinch two ends firmly together enclosing the cherries inside. Combine 3 long logs together, then coil inside two 9 inch round cake pans lined with foil. Bake for 30 minutes at 400-425F.
Once golden in color and puffed up, remove from oven, remove foil from the pan and unpeel the cake from the foil while hot (it will be harder to do so after it cools). Allow to cool completely.
While the cakes are cooling make the ganache following the recipe and instructions here.
Also, prepare the cream. In a bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment combine the heavy cream, sour cream (or Greek yogurt, or plain yogurt), sugar and vanilla extract. Whip on high until supple and holds shape without running, about 3-5 minutes. Take care not to overbeat or the cream will break into butter and whey.
Reserve about 1.5 cups cream for the decorating and refrigerate until needed. Put a dollop of cream onto the serving plate, press and adhere the first cake layer to that dollop. Spoon less than half of the remaining cream on top of the cake and spread around evenly. Sprinkle with roasted chopped walnuts (optional). Place the second layer of cake and spoon the remaining cream on top. Smooth cream on top and sides.
Pour cooled ganache in the middle of the cake. Using a spatula spread the ganache around, brining it close to the edges so it drizzles down the sides.
Fit a pastry bag with a star tip. Fill the bag with the reserved cream. Pipe stars all around the border of the cake, by making a spiraling motion twice for each star.
Microwave the chocolate bar for about 20-25 seconds in 5-10 second intervals. You’re trying to make the chocolate bar softer, but not soft. While holding the chocolate bar with a paper towel, run along the edge of the bar with a vegetable peeler producing chocolate curls. Do this right over the cake so that curls fall around the edges or over the piped stars.
Refrigerate cake overnight, allowing the cake layers to soften. Serve cold with coffee or tea.
To slice, dip knife in boiling hot water, wipe and cut. For clean cuts, do so after each cut.

Instructions