Tuesday, July 08, 2008

I Heart Cherries!



But in these tropical climes, fresh, juicy red cherries are fleeting, not to mention expensive. But hey, a girl’s gotta live a little, no?

Recently C and I passed a fruit stall along Geylang where we journey to every now and then for our fix of pomfret charcoal steamboat. The pile of gleaming, rubescent fruit were simply impossible to resist — well, that and the durians that C carted home in a pungent Styrofoam box.

We had cherries, stoned and sliced into our bowls of yoghurt and cereal at breakfast; we ate them for dessert, and then for supper. They also found their way into this deceptively delicious cake from Mich Turner’s Fantastic Party Cakes.



Now there are books I buy for the recipes and those I pick purely for aesthetic inspiration. This book falls in the latter category. So until I read a review of the book in last Sunday’s newspapers, I’d never actually thought try out any recipe from it. But the reviewer said something about the author’s recipe yielding the best butter cake that had ever come out of her oven. And in our house, the quest for the perfect easy-to-make butter cake is a never-ending one.



Indeed, Turner’s recipe for a basic vanilla butter cake yielded one of the best that’s ever come out of my oven. And a few pages away was the recipe for this gem. It is moist, soft, fluffy and just downright delicious. The crumble on the top also gives it a nice, light crunch. It is a cake that needs no accompaniment — not ice cream, not crème fraiche, not whipped cream, nothing. Well, maybe just a steaming cup of coffee or tea.

Cherry & Almond Cake
(adapted from Mich Turner’s Fantastic Party Cakes)

For the cake:
140g self-raising flour
50g sugar
1 large egg
4 tbsp milk
85g unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp almond extract (I used vanilla instead)
350g cherries, stoned and cut in half or quarters (I got away with using about 200g)

For the crumble topping:
25g butter
25g ground almonds
25g sugar
1/2 tsp almond or vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line the base of a shallow 20cm tin.
2. Measure flour and sugar into a bowl and mix well. Make a well in the centre and add the egg, milk, melted butter and almond or vanilla extract.
3. Beat with a wooden spoon till smooth.
4. Spoon into the tin and spread evenly.
5. Scatter the cherries over the cake mixture and gently press them in.
6. Make the topping by measuring all the ingredients into a clean bowl.
7. Rub the butter in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs gently clumped together. Scatter this over the cherries.
8. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake emerges clean.
5. Allow the cake to cool and then remove it from the tin to cool completely on a wire rack.

10 Comments:

Blogger Patricia Scarpin said...

What's not to heart here? These look delicious and that cake is a way great of using them!

9:38 pm  
Blogger Helene said...

Absolutely wonderful! Cherries are nto cheap here either but you are right, a girl has to live a little...and you did it perfectly!

5:37 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i do love cherries too. they're real great in desserts and with chocolate. this cake is beautiful and your breakfast sounds lovely too. man, i'm awful jealous.

12:17 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've been reading your blog for a while and I tried this cherry cake this past week. Every crumb is gone! Hahaha! Very delicious!

Keep up the fooding, I'm a huge fan! =)

2:18 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lauh nuah, lauh nuah.....

8:31 am  
Blogger Mansi said...

the cake looks beautiful! I too used my batch of fresh cherries to bake some cherry-almond scones:)

3:35 am  
Blogger rosecreekcottage-carol.blogspot.com said...

Annette...I adore your blog, and can't wait to try this Cherry Almond Cake recipe! I heart cherries, too!!

Carol

1:13 am  
Blogger Oh for the love of food! said...

Thanks for the Birthday Wishes, Annette. This Cherry almond cake looks divine, but I would have savored the fresh cherries on their own and used canned or frozen ones for the cake - Cherries cost an arm and a leg here, it's so ridiculous since it's a local produce.
Hugs and Kisses to you, your 'Gorgeous Butter cake fan' and your brood from all of us!

7:42 am  
Blogger Desiree said...

I love your food styling. The colors, arrangement.... perfect!

12:24 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe! The cherries i had were too watery for eating straight and did better in the cake. :-)

1:38 am  

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