This is such a simple cake to make. (The trickiest bit is trying to de-stone those darned cherries…) It taste’s delicious and stays light and fluffy for days. I know this for a fact as the cake in the photo survived a trip to Wales and a tour of the Brecon Beacons before being devoured by a wearily-legged party of friends.
(Climbing Pen-Y-Fan in the pouring rain before cake consumption is optional.)
Recipe (serves 8)
Ingredients
- 200g butter (softened)
- 220g caster sugar
- 220g self-raising flour
- 50g ground almonds
- 150g fresh cherries (de-stoned weight)
- 75g glacé cherries
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 4 large eggs
- 1tsp almond essence
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 tbsp cherry jam (optional)
- a handful of flaked almonds
Method
- Grease and line a small cake tin (I used a 23cm tin) and preheat the oven at 180c or 160c fan.
- Halve the cherries and toss in 2 tbsp of the flour. This will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Slowly add the eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated. Then, add the almond and vanilla.
- Fold in the flour, ground almonds and baking powder. Then gently fold in the cherries.
- Fold in the cherries and pour into the prepared tin. You can add a few dollops of morello cherry jam here if you like… Scatter with the flaked almonds. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Leave to cool and dust with icing sugar if you wish.