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 glacé 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
- Preheat the oven to 160°C.
- Take the butter out of the fridge to soften.
- Grease and line a round cake tin that's 20-ish cm across (or 8 inches), with a loose bottom.
- Cut the cherries into quarters, then rinse and pat them dry.
- Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a bowl.
- 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.
- In another large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs one by one, followed by the almond extract.
- Stir in the flour and almonds, gently to keep the air in the batter.
- Fold in the cherries, again, gently.
- Bake for one and a half to two hours, until golden brown on top, and pulling away slightly at the edges.
