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Cherry Compote Torte

Cherry Compote Torte

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This cherry compote torte is made with homemade sponge cake, pastry cream and cherry compote.

I made this cherry compote torte last Saturday when a friend of mine called me to tell me that she was coming to visit and stay with us for a few days.  Of course this was discussed the previous week but she wasn’ t sure when she would be coming.  On Saturday I got a last minute warning that she was coming, so I had to get prepared in just a few hours.

Living in a village is not always easy to find all the ingredients you need.   I asked my husband to rush to  the village’s mini market  to buy some butter as I was planning to make a Cherry Cake but unfortunately, they ran out of butter.  This is not unusual as during summer this happens quite often.  I usually make a list and go to Nafplion (8 km from the village) to shop, but going there just for a couple of things it’s time consuming and considering the cost of fuel, our shopping is confined to a couple of days a week, usually combined with farmers’ market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  I usually stock some staples but I try to avoid using butter as much as I can unless I have planned beforehand to bake a cake.

cherries

The reason I decided to make the cherry cake, apart from it being delicious, was that I had some frozen cherries in the deep freezer.  Now that cherries are still in season and cheap, each time we visit the farmers’ market, I buy more  and after washing and pitting them, I put them in zip lock bags, 500 grams / 1.1 lbs each and put them in the deep freezer, to continue enjoying them when they are out of season.

Frozen cherriesf

Since I couldn’t make the cake and since I had already defrosted the cherries, I decided to make savoyard biscuits which did not need any butter. However, I was running short of time and instead of piping biscuits, I decided to make it into one big biscuit.  I had only 5 eggs, so I adjusted my recipe accordingly.  However, you do not have to worry about this and make the recipe with six eggs.  I baked the sponge a couple of more minutes and it became crispy outside but still soft inside, just like a savoyard should be.  Since in Greece you can get either icing sugar or regular crystal sugar, with nothing in between, I used my electric grinder to grind and sprinkle some on top of the biscuit.

To assemble the cake I used a spring form loaf tin.  I cut the sponge – biscuit into three pieces.  I added the first third and sprinkled a couple of tablespoons homemade cherry liqueur, then half of the cream and 1/3 of the cherries.  I added a second layer of sponge, which I wet again with cherry liqueur, the remaining cream, 1/3 of the cherries and topped it with the last sponge.  I grated some white chocolate on top and decorated it with the remaining cherries.   I then refrigerated it and rushed to Nafplio to bring  my friend home.

Cherry Sponge Cake

After lunch, I made some Greek coffee and of course ate some of the cake.  At that time I did not have time to takes photos of the cake, so when everyone went to rest, I managed to take a couple of quick shots.  The remaining photos were taken the following day after coming back from the beach and enjoying our afternoon coffee.

This impressive cake is easy to make and delicious.  If you are afraid to make the biscuit yourself you can still try it with store bought savoyard biscuits and cherry compote.  The result will be equally good but making everything from scratch is what I like to do and it is more rewarding when everyone is enjoying one of your own creations.

Collage Cherry Compote Cake

Cherry Compote Torterecipe by Ivy

Ingredients:

  • 1 sponge cake
  • 1 tbsp ground sugar
  • 1/4 cup cherry liqueur

Cherry compote:

  • 500 grams / 1.1 lb pitted cherries
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 lemon peel
  • 1/4 stick cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 gelatin leaves

Cherry cream:

  • All the cherry syrup
  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 tbsp (about 25 – 30 grams corn flour (starch)

Decoration:

  • Cherries
  • 100 grams white chocolate shavings

Directions:

  1. Prepare sponge cake, as per my recipe.
  2. Put gelatin sheets in a bowl of tap water.  Set aside for 5 minutes.
  3. Put the water and sugar in a 2 litre pot.  Add cinnamon stick and lemon peel and boil for 5 minutes.  Add pitted cherries and when it comes to boiling point again, boil for 2 minutes.  Add lemon juice and remove from the heat.   Remove cherries in a strainer and add the gelatin sheets to the syrup and mix until the gelatin dissolves.  (At this point I waited for about an hour but it would not set).
  4. Add the corn flour and milk in the syrup and put back on the heat.  Mix until the cream sets.
  5. Cut the sponge into three slices.  Keep the best one to use on top.
  6. Assemble cake in a 30 x 10 cm / 12 x 4 inches, spring form baking tin.
  7. Refrigerate for at least one hour before removing the spring form.

Sponge Cake with Cherries

Other relevant recipes:

Cherry Cake

Glyko Kerassi – Cherry Spoon Sweet

Glyko Vyssino – Sour Cherries Spoon Sweet

Komposta Kerassi – Cherry Compote

Cherry Mousse Millefeuilles

Vegan Cherry Olive Oil Cake

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,

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Jamie

Wednesday 14th of August 2013

Oh, Ivy, this is just great! I love the idea of the Savoyard biscuit base which make a wonderfully light, airy cake layer. Mmmmm...and beautiful, too. Adding the compote and the cream is heaven for us cherry lovers!

Simona

Monday 29th of July 2013

I like how you adjusted to the various challenges of missing ingredients and ingredients on hand. I wish cherries were cheap here too, so I could make some preserves.

Donald Osborne

Sunday 28th of July 2013

Yummy, excelent for hot summer. Thanks

Rosa

Friday 26th of July 2013

Divine! That is a great summer dessert.

Cheers,

Rosa

Angie

Friday 26th of July 2013

Ivy, the cake looks splendid! I might just enjoy some cherry compote with a tablespoon :-))

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