Portal cake

• 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup kirsch ( cherry liqueur)
• 2 can sour cherries
• 3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 3 tbsp cocoa
• 1/4 cup Kirsch (optional)
• 1 semisweet chocolate bar, frozen
• 8 maraschino cherries
• 1 white candle

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.
3. Or line with parchment paper
4. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
5. Set aside
6. In a separate bowl,beat shortening and sugar until fluffy.
7. Add eggs and vanilla, mix thoroughly.
8. Slowly beat in flour mixture.
9. Occasionally alternating with the butter milk until everything is combined
10. Pour batter evenly into the two cake pans
11. Bake for about 35-40 minutes.
12. Let cake cool completely ( it will cut more easily and cleanly if it it refrigerated)
13. After cake has cooled, cut each layer in half horizontally so that there are four total layers.
14. Level off whichever layer will be on top now so that the cake will be nice and level when frosted.
15. Sprinkle the layers with the 1/2 cup of Kirsch
16. Drain the canned cherries in a colander to get rid of most of the juice
17. Beat together whipping cream and confectioners sugar until it thickens to desired texture ( careful not to over over whip it)
18. Put a small amount of the cream and sugar mixture aside for the garnish.
19. Mix the cocoa powder into the remaining majority of the whipped cream frosting
20. If you don't want whole cherries in between each layer you can blend them up and mix the puree like stuff into the frosting AFTER you separate out the frosting for the garnish on top.
21. You may also want to separate out plain frosting for the surface of the cake if you use the method as well.
22. Place one cake on the serving dish you wish to use and spread about one sixth of the cream on top and place about a third of the cherries on top of the cream
23. Repeat step 14 until you get to the final layer.
24. On the top layer just use the remaining frosting to completely cover your cake.
25. Use a potato peeler to shave your frozen chocolate bar and use your hand to gently press them into the side of the cake until the shavings are evenly distributed.
26. ( this works better if your frosting has been given a chance to cool in the fridge first.
27. It will keep you from getting your hands too terribly dirty)
28. Use the remaining whipped cream to create 8 evenly spaced dollops around the top of your cake.
29. Place the cherries in each dollop and the single candle right away n the middle.

allpurpose, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, vegetable shortening, eggs, vanilla, sour cherries, heavy whipping cream, sugar, cocoa, chocolate, maraschino cherries, white candle

Taken from cookpad.com/us/recipes/345184-portal-cake (may not work)