Sweet lasagna with spiced cherries

Lasagne has always been one of our favorite dishes – and now it’s also one of our favorite cakes! Because this sweet lasagne with spiced cherries and organic cocoa from Becks cocoa has it all. Visually and in taste: airy sponge cake, Christmas spiced cherries and mascarpone cream combine to make the most delicious XXL lasagne.

To match the ground vanilla in the mascarpone cream, we use organic “Nude” cocoa from Becks cocoa for the sponge cake. This is because it is refined with bourbon vanilla from Madagascar. So it goes perfectly with sweet cake creations – whether in the batter or as hot chocolate.

We have been relying on the high-quality cocoa from Becks Cocoa for years. Fairly traded raw materials, high-quality organic ingredients and a great deal of passion make for top quality. And you can taste it! In every single one of the numerous varieties that the cocoa makers from Stephanskirchen come up with.

For the sponge cake

5 eggs

100 g sugar

1 pinch of salt

90 g flour

30 g Becks cocoa fine flavor cocoa “Nude”

For the cherries

1 jar (720 ml) of sour cherries

35 g sugar

1 strip of organic orange zest

1 cinnamon stick

5 cloves

1 star anise

½ tsp cinnamon

25 g cornstarch

Juice of 1 orange

For the cream

250 g mascarpone

250 g low-fat quark

250 g cream

20 g sugar

½ tsp ground vanilla

Also 2 tbsp Becks cocoa fine flavor cocoa “Nude”

Star anise as decoration

For the dough, preheat the oven to 180°C top/bottom heat. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set a baking frame to the size of the tray.Separate the eggs. Beat the egg yolks with half of the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar and a pinch of salt until stiff and fold into the egg yolks. Mix the flour and Becks cocoa organic cocoa “Nude”, sift into the egg mixture in three parts and fold in.Pour the batter onto the baking tray and smooth out. Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove and leave to cool completely.In the meantime, drain the cherries, collect the juice and simmer in a pan with the sugar, orange zest and spices for 10 minutes. Stir the cornflour into the orange juice until smooth. Remove the cherry juice from the heat, remove the spices and pour in the cornflour while stirring. Return to the heat and simmer for 1 minute. Then fold in the cherries and leave to cool completely.

For the cream, mix the mascarpone and quark until smooth. Whip the cream with the sugar until stiff and fold into the mascarpone cream together with the ground vanilla. Fill into a piping bag with a large nozzle.

Divide the sponge cake into three or four equal-sized rectangles. Pipe on the mascarpone cream in dots and spread a few cherries on top. Then place the next sponge base on top, press down a little and also cover with cream and cherries. Continue in this way until the lasagne is completely stacked. Finish with the cream and a few cherries as the top layer. Dust everything with cocoa powder and decorate with star anise.

Recipe note:

The lasagne is easier to stack if you divide the sponge into just three “lasagne sheets” instead of four.

Recipe and photos: Annalena from Heyfoodsister.