Sour cherries seem to be an elusive fruit. Finding them fresh in the supermarket is nigh on impossible and finding them at a greengrocer or farmers market seems almost as hard. Thankfully, the frozen variety is a little easier to track down and I hoard them when I see them. I would encourage you to get your hands on some for this dessert. You can use regular sweet cherries, but the flavor won’t be quite the same, so double the lemon juice, reduce the sugar a little, and add a few drops of almond extract to get you close. You can either freeze this, akin to a semifreddo, which is my preference, or simply chill it in the refrigerator, which will, of course, give it a softer finish.
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 12
Ingredients
For the sour cherry compote:
For the filling:
Preparation
Step 1
Lightly grease the baking tin and line the base with parchment paper. If you want to remove the cake from the tin to serve, you can line the tin with a piece of parchment paper that overhangs the two long sides.
Step 2
For the cherry compote, place the cherries, kirsch, sugar and lemon juice into a large saucepan and cook over a medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until the fruit softens and releases a lot of juice. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cherries to a heatproof bowl, leaving the syrup in the pan. Continue cooking the syrup until it is reduced to about 240 ml (8½ fl oz / 1 cup).
Step 3
Place the cornflour in a small bowl and whisk in a little of the cherry syrup to form a smooth paste. Add this to the cherry syrup in the pan and simmer, stirring, for a couple of minutes, or until slightly thickened. Pour the syrup over the fruit, cool slightly, then cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until cool.
Step 4
For the filling, whisk together the mascarpone, icing sugar, 600 ml (20 fl oz / 2½ cups) of the cream and the vanilla in a bowl until the mixture just starts to hold its shape. Add the lemon curd and continue whisking until the mixture holds soft peaks.
Step 5
To assemble the dessert, spread a thin layer of the lemon cream over the base of the prepared tin, then cover with a layer of biscuits, breaking them up as needed. Spread over half of the remaining lemon cream and then dollop over about a third of the cherry compote. Repeat the layering a second time and then finish with a final layer of biscuits.
Step 6
Cover the tin with clingfilm and refrigerate or freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.
Step 7
Just before serving, whip the remaining cream to soft peaks and spread over the dessert. Cut into slices and serve each portion with a spoonful of the remaining compote.
Step 8
Store in a sealed container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks; if refrigerated, it will keep for 3–4 days.
Recipe notes
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