Piana Vyshnia Cake (Drunken Cherry Cake)
An absolute favorite of many, Piana Vyshnia is one of the most popular choices for a wedding or birthday cake. It is no wonder. This ‘drunken’ dessert is moist, tangy, slightly acidic, and just sweet enough – everything you are looking for in a dessert.
Ingredients
Cherry syrup:
- 2 lbs fresh cherries (canned cherries work as well)
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 fl oz horilka (vodka)
Chocolate sponge:
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tbsp baking soda
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Cream:
- 1 cup thick sour cream
- vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cans dulce de leche (condensed milk)
- 12 oz unsalted butter at room temperature
- 4 cups fresh cherries
Instructions
How to Make Cherry Syrup:
- Cut each cherry in half and remove the pits.
- Place the cherries in a small pot.
- Add the sugar and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Reduce the heat to low and let the cherries simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from the heat and cool completely.
- Add horilka and let the cherries soak for a few hours. Squeeze the cherries gently before using them to release excess alcohol and liquid.
How to Make Chocolate Sponge:
- Preheat the oven to 350 ºF/ 175° C. Sift the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda into a small bowl.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar on high speed (approx. 5 minutes).
- Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients in two parts, stirring thoroughly and carefully not to deflate the air bubbles.
- Bake the sponge (approx. 25 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and cool completely.
- Slice the sponge in half. Remove the middle of the cake in chunks, leaving an outer sponger layer intact.
- Set the sponge pieces aside for now.
How to Make the Cream:
- To prepare the cream, beat the butter with a mixer for about 5 minutes, making sure to stop and scrape it off the sides of the bowl every once in a while.
- Add the dulce de leche gradually, in 3 batches, whisking in between, until homogenous. Finally, fold in the sour cream and vanilla until well-mixed and creamy.
- Reserve ⅓ of the cream and place it in a separate bowl.
- Strain the cherry syrup we prepared before and set aside for now.
- Add the sponge pieces to the remaining 2/3 of the cream and mix them until combined. Make sure the sponge pieces are not mashed.
- Add the strained cherries and mix with the cream and sponge. Do not over mix, keeping the sponge pieces and cherries large.
How to Assemble the Cake:
- Soak the top and bottom cake crusts with the reserved strained cherry syrup.
- Place the bottom of the sponge cake on a cake platter. Pack all of the cream/sponge/cherry filling and cover with the top crust of the cake sponge.
- Ice the top and sides of the cake with the reserved cream.
- Decorate the cake with the one-pound pile of fresh cherries.
- Sprinkle the top and sides of the cake with chocolate shavings. Use a potato peeler or grater.
- Refrigerate overnight or for at least 6 hours.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!