It’s been years since I ate something with cherries in it. Along with apricots, they’re not one of Justin’s favourite dried fruits. He’s more of a raisin/sultana kinda guy. Having said that, wrap virtually anything in a cake batter and he’ll have a slice. I actually quite like them, so this week, I bought some and made a cherry and almond pound cake.
Cherry and almond is a classic pairing in cakes, biscuits and other sweet, baked goods. Glacé cherries are such as 1960s/70 foodstuff; a tropical cocktail garnish stalwart also to be found accompanying pineapple chunks and cubes of cheddar on a buffet ‘hedgehog’.
As an aside, I can’t recommend highly enough paper loaf tin liners; they avert a lot of faffing about with parchment paper. Before buying them though, make sure they fit the dimensions of your tin.
The results were delicious. The flavour combination did indeed work perfectly – and the cake was sweet & moist. It wasn’t intentional, but it looks quite festive too… the red cherries on a white icing sugar background. We both enjoyed it and agreed that it’s definitely a ‘cup of tea’ cake rather than a ‘cup of coffee’ cake. So, if time allows – rustle yourself one up, get the kettle on… and enjoy!
Click here or on the image below to save the cherry almond pound cake recipe to Pinterest
Cherry almond pound cake
Equipment
- large mixing bowl
- small mixing bowl
- loaf tin
- loaf tin liner
- wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- 200 grams butter softened
- 200 grams caster sugar
- 3 eggs beaten
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 200 grams self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 50 grams ground almonds
- 100 grams glacé cherries roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 3 glacé cherries sliced into halves
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
- Grease & line a 900g/1lb loaf tin. Set aside
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and caster sugar
- Mix in the beaten eggs in 3 increments
- Add the almond extract
- In a small mixing bowl, sift together the self-raising flour and baking powder
- Stir the ground almonds into the flour
- Fold the flour mixture into the contents of the large mixing bowl
- Fold in the chopped glacé cherries
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf tin
- Cook for 40-45 minutes
- Allow the loaf to cool completely - still in its tin - on a wire rack
- Sprinkle the icing sugar evenly over the top and place the halved cherries in a row
- Slice and serve