Preheat
oven to gas mark 6/200º 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 4/180º 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.
