The recipe was developed by Courtney Thompson when she attended the professional cookery course at the Edinburgh New Town Cookery School.

Cherries can be quite expensive at this time of year. Fresh are best but you can use frozen – £2 from Asda and Tesco.

You’ll need:

For the cake:

175g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
140g caster sugar
140g butter – softened
3 eggs
3tbsp milk
1 banana, mashed
150g milk chocolate chopped into pieces

For the ganache and decoration:

300g white chocolate, chopped into pieces
125ml double cream
450g cherries
50g dark chocolate

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas mark 4/350F. Butter and line the base of two 18cm sandwich tins with parchment paper cut to fit.

2. Put the flour, baking powder and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the butter, eggs and milk. The butter must be really soft, but not melted, for this to work. Beat together until light and fluffy. Lightly fold in the milk chocolate and mashed banana.

3. Divide the mixture evenly between two large tins. Bake side by side on the middle shelf for 25-30 minutes until springy to the touch and beginning to shrink away from the sides.

4. Remove from the oven and leave in the tins for five minutes. Turn out on to a wire rack, remove the lining paper and leave to cool for about an hour.

5. For the ganache, put 250g white chocolate and cream into a heatproof bowl and melt gently over a pan of hot water.

6. Melt both dark and remaining white chocolate separately. Take two or three of the best whole cherries. Dip half the cherry in melted white chocolate and the other in dark. Place on baking paper in a cool place to set.

7. Remove stones from cherries and then quarter them. Once cake has cooled layer ganache on bottom half, then sprinkle cherries over it. Cover with other half of cake. Cover the top of the cake with the rest of the ganache and then decorate with chocolate covered cherries.

Bake of the week: Easter continued… with a festive fruit garland