Pre-heat oven at 150ºc
Melt the butter in a pan on low heat
Crack the eggs into a large bowl
Beat the eggs
Add the butter once fully melted
Add the vanilla extract
Add the self-raising flour
Add the caster sugar
Add the baking powder
Mix roughly by hand, then use a hand whisk to mix thoroughly for 2-3 minutes until smooth
Pour equal amounts into two 8“ circular cake tins
Put both onto middle shelf of oven for 15 minutes
Skewer each cake and put back into oven - repeat every few minutes until skewer comes out clean
Once skewer is clean, remove cakes from oven
Let cakes rest inside the cake tins for 10 minutes
Remove from cake tins and leave on a cooling rack until room temperature
Empty one full tub of 250g italian mascarpone cream cheese onto whichever cake looks worse, gently spread with a butter knife until evenly distributed across the surface
Place other cake on top and gently smush it onto the mascarpone
Decorate on top with cherries to preference
Put the double cream into a pot on low heat for a minute or two
Break the white chocolate into small pieces and then pour into the pot with the double cream
Gently mix until all chocolate is melted
Using a hand whisk, mix the ganache together until it has a glossy appearance, then remove from heat
Allow ganache to cool to room temperature, mixing occasionally to ensure no separation
Once cooled to room temperature, check consistency of ganache. If it is too runny, put it in the fridge to cool further.
Once ganache is not too runny, pour on top of cake - ensure all cherries are covered. Be careful not to flood the area under the cake.
Slice and serve as desired. Any excess ganache can be poured onto slices before serving.
