Sour cherry and almond cake

Name: Sour cherry and almond cake
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Eastern European
Ingredients: 670g jar morello cherries; 2 tbsp icing sugar plus extra for dusting; 170g butter; 170g sugar; 4 eggs; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 100g plain flour; 125g self-raising flour; 50g almond meal; pinch of sea salt

Jill Dupleix

April 10, 2018

Don't even think about changing beautiful European cakes. There's a good reason so many people have loved them for so long.William Meppem

easyTime:1-2 hoursServes:6

There is something beautifully simple about the traditional cakes of old Europe – and especially this one, popping with morello cherries and drizzled with a sweet cherry syrup. Feel free to add a healthy dash of kirsch or rum to the syrup as well.

Ingredients

670g jar morello cherries
2 tbsp icing sugar plus extra for dusting
170g butter
170g sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g plain flour
125g self-raising flour
50g almond meal
pinch of sea salt

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C and lightly grease a 22cm pie dish. Drain the cherries, reserving 300ml juices. To make the cherry syrup, bring the juices and 2 tablespoons of icing sugar to the boil, stirring, and simmer until reduced by half. Set aside to cool.
2. To make the cake, beat the butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until pale, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, and stir in the vanilla extract.
3. Sift the plain and self-raising flour into the batter, add the almond meal and sea salt and fold through until well mixed. Spoon into the pie dish, scatter the cherries on top, and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a thin skewer inserted comes out clean.
4. Dust the cake with icing sugar and serve warm or cold, with the cherry syrup.
If you like this recipe, try Jill's 'Newish Jewish' pastrami salmon with horseradish mashed potato.