The illegitimate lovechild of a Black Forest gateau and a jar of Nutella

So it was Chris, Inés and James' birthdays recently. We're going to go and celebrate this fact on Saturday, but I thought I'd bake them a cake for Friday so that it can be enjoyed in the lab with more people around. I decided that a Victoria sponge was too boring and a true Black Forest Gateau was impossible to get just right. So I decided to experiment.

The Illegitimate Lovechild of a Black Forest Gateau and a Jar of Nutella
Ingredients:
For the cake:

• 1 Tin of pitted black cherries (in fruit juice)
• 100ml of Kirsch
  
• 150g Caster sugar
• 150g Butter
• 5 Eggs
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• A few drops of almond essence
• A pinch of nutmeg
• 125g Self-raising flour
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 25g Cocoa powder
• 150g Dark chocolate (fairly low-grade cooking stuff)
• Nutella

For the topping:

• 110g Dark chocolate
• 15g Butter
• 2 tbps Water
  

Method:

1. Drain the cherries and leave to soak in the Kirsch.
2. Cream the sugar and butter together.
3. Beat the eggs and incorporate into the butter/sugar mixture a little at a time. Add the vanilla and almond essence.
   
4. Sift in the nutmeg, flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda, folding in with a wooden spoon.
5. Melt the chocolate with a heaped teaspoon of Nutella in a bowl over hot water, taking care not to let the chocolate split.
6. Stir the melted chocolate into the cake mixture.
7. Pour the cake mixture into a lined 20cm cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 170C/Gas Mark 3 for 50-55 minutes.
8. Check the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre. It should come out clean.
9. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
10. When cool, cut the cake in two horizontally.
11. Sprinkle what remains of the kirsch that has not been absorbed by the cherries onto the inner surfaces of the half-cakes.
12. Break up the cherries and place on top of the lower half of the cake, keeping a few back for the top of the finished cake.
13. Spread Nutella onto the upper half of the cake and sandwich together.
    
14. Make the topping: Melt the dark chocolate, butter and water in a bowl over hot water.
15. Cover the top of the cake with the topping and place the reserved cherries. Allow to set.

The cake fresh from the oven (i.e. just after step 9):
And the finished cake:
It seems like it's turned out pretty well. The cake feels quite oily, but it's been quite a while since the last time I baked an actual cake, so I'm hoping that this translates to it being moist rather than unpleasantly greasy. I'll update you on how it tastes once it's been eaten!