Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.

Step 2

Grease the bottoms of three 6-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray.

Step 3

In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Step 4

Separately, whisk together the eggs, milk, sour cream, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk until well combined, about 15 seconds. Fold in the chopped cherries.

Step 5

Bake the cakes on the center oven rack until a cake tester or sharp knife inserted in the cake comes out clean. If your ingredients are at room temperature, it may take 15-20 minutes for the cakes to bake. My batter was quite cold, due to my using frozen cherries that I didn't allow to fully thaw first, so my cakes took 25 minutes to bake.

Step 6

Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.

Step 7

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the softened butter and vanilla extract for 1 minute until smooth.TIP: If you're doing the piped buttercream design, I highly recommend substituting vegetable shortening for half the butter, for a more stable buttercream.

Step 8

In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt. With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar mixture, alternating with the cherry juice.

Step 9

Increase speed to medium, and beat for about 5 minutes until very light and fluffy, scraping the bowl down occasionally. If your buttercream is a little thin for piping, just add more powdered sugar. If it seems too stiff, add a bit more cherry juice.

Step 10

Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 2 minutes to get rid of large air bubbles.

Step 11

Frost your cooled cake with the buttercream - see my post How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost a Layer Cake.

Step 12

For the piped Lambeth cake decoration, see the post above for detailed, step-by-step photos.