English cherry cake

This is my Ma's cake, which she used to bake when I was growing up. It's one of my favourites. However, no matter what I do, I can't prevent the cherries from sinking to the bottom - and boy, have I tried. My consolation is that my Ma told me she can never prevent it either - and I never noticed all these years!

Ingredients
  • 200g of glacĂ© cherries
  • 275g of plain flour
  • 4 teaspoonsful of baking powder
  • 75g of ground almonds
  • 225g of unsalted butter
  • 225g of caster sugar
  • ½ a teaspoon of almond extract
  • 4 eggs
     
Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
  2. Take the butter out of the fridge to soften.
  3. Grease and line a round cake tin that's 20-ish cm across (or 8 inches), with a loose bottom.
  4. Cut the cherries into quarters, then rinse and pat them dry.
  5. Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a bowl.
  6. Take out a little of the (now self-raising) flour and toss the cherry pieces in the flour. In theory this will help them rise in the cake. I suggest attaching strings to the cherries and suspending them from the roof of the oven.
  7. In another large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  8. Beat in the eggs one by one, followed by the almond extract.
  9. Stir in the flour and almonds, gently to keep the air in the batter.
  10. Fold in the cherries, again, gently.
  11. Bake for one and a half to two hours, until golden brown on top, and pulling away slightly at the edges.