Cranberry Christmas cakes

STEP BY STEP

Let's make something delicious.

1. 01

   For the chocolate cake layers, preheat the oven to 180 °C conventional heat. Melt the butter, dark chocolate couverture and maple syrup together in a saucepan, then transfer to a mixing bowl.

2. 02

   Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds to the mixing bowl with the cocoa powder, brown sugar, crème fraîche and cinnamon, then mix everything together.

3. 03

   Mix the wheat flour with the baking powder and gradually fold into the batter along with the eggs. Spread the finished batter onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake for 25 minutes.

4. 04

   Caramelise the sugar in a frying pan and add the fresh cranberries. Bring to the boil, then deglaze with the apple juice. Simmer until the liquid has almost evaporated, then thicken with the starch.

5. 05

   Transfer the cranberry filling to a tall container and blend until smooth with a hand blender. Leave to cool completely.

6. 06

   Once the cake has cooled completely, cut out twelve rounds with the large cutter (7 cm diameter) and a further six with the small cutter (1 cm diameter).

7. 07

   Place the smaller chocolate cake rounds on half of the larger rounds. Spread the cranberry filling around each smaller round.

8. 08

   Place the remaining rounds on top of the filling and press down gently. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a water bath and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes. Glaze the chocolate cakes with the melted chocolate.

9. 09

   Garnish the finished cakes with fresh cranberries and serve.