Cherry chocolate cake recipe + my blog’s 4th birthday!

Today is Cassiefairy.com’s 4th birthday! I can’t believe I’ve had four whole years of happy blogging already and this little blog kick-started a whole new career as a writer for me so I couldn’t let the birthday pass unmarked. So I divided to push back my usual Pieday Friday cookery post by a day and I whipped up a cheeky cherry chocolate cake to celebrate.My blog anniversaries have passed me by in previous years and I’ve only ever celebrated my 1000th blog post with a cake before so I thought that this would be the perfect excuse to indulge in a cake just for me! I also wanted to try out a new recipe that I’ve been thinking about for a while. The starting point is a standard sponge recipe that I’ve added chocolate, cherry juice and amaretto syrup to in order to create a gooey cake that’s just a little lighter than a dense rich chocolate cake. It’s just as naughty and flavoursome though! 

Here’s the recipe I used: 200g caster sugar, 200g softened butter, 4 eggs, 200g self-raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 4 tbsp cherry juice, 40g cocoa powder, 2 tsp amaretto syrup. And for the topping I used: Whipped double cream,25g cocoa powder and 4 tsp amaretto syrup to taste. Cream the butter and sugar together before mixing in the eggs, juice and dry ingredients to form a thick batter. Pour into an 8 inch cake tin lined with greaseproof paper and bake for around 20 minutes at 180 degrees. Check with a cocktail stick to find out whether the cake is done and if the centre is still gooey, put it back in the oven for a couple more minutes and check again. I sandwiched my cake with cherry jam and whipped cream in the centre and spread a chocolate-and-amaretto flavoured whipped cream all over the cake. I’ve been using amaretto syrup for flavouring coffee in my cake and cream, but you could even use a shot of Disaronno for a boozy version!

I sprinkled chocolate chips all over the top of the cake and added a few cherries to decorate. And of course I made myself a little ‘FOUR’ sign to celebrate this blogiversary. As I snapped some photos of my cake, I thought about all the wonderful opportunities that have come my way through blogging and all the lovely, inspirational people I’ve met and I realise what an important step it was to write that first blog post four years ago today.Even though I’d blogged on and off or a few years before starting Cassiefairy.com, it’s certainly been the thing that I’ve stuck with longest in life! I’ve used it to learn how to become a better writer, develop my photography skills (it’s getting there..!) and try my hand at design. The subjects that I’ve researched and written about over the years have increased my general knowledge, and my confidence in my work has improved no-end. And, ultimately, the blog has turned me into a writer – someone who can make a living from writing about things they love for a whole host of publications – so I really owe Cassiefairy.com big time.

Let’s cut that cake!