That’s a great idea using just the cherry juice in the syrup. It’s very tart with no added sugar, just naturally occurring sugars.

I’ll let you know how it turned out.

Hi Jason! I think that would work but personally I would make the simple syrup with part of all tart cherry juice rather than water. Is the tart cherry juice sweet at all? If so then only use part of it in the simple syrup.

Hi Jackie! The cake layers should not be dense. Are you at high altitude by chance (over 3000ft)? Are your baking soda and powder fresh? The cake should be quite delicate, light, and fluffy. They should bake to the top of two 8×2″ cake pans.

Hi Sandra! Oh man, how frustrating! At what point do they topple? Do you use fresh cherries as a filling or something else? Stabilizing the whipped cream is a good start and also not overloading the layers with either cream or cherries. I’d also recommend assembling the cakes with chilled layers. That should help.

Hi Cynthia! Either will work, honestly. Converting pan sizes is always tricky. Here are some sites I use as a guideline:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html
https://www.cookipedia.co.uk/recipes_wiki/Cake_tin_conversion_charts

Just remember to adjust baking time either way as it might take less time.

Hi Vanya! It really just depends on ho strong you like it. I’d do a up to a tablespoon of instant coffee into 250mls hot water. You could also just use plain hot water instead of coffee.