Cherry and Almond Cake

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Soft cherry and almond cake made with fresh or canned cherries and ground almonds, this cake is absolutely delightful.

Soft cherry and almond cake made with fresh or canned cherries and ground almonds, this cake is absolutely delightful.

Tender cherry almond cake, easy to pull together, and so incredibly delicious. It can be made in summer with fresh sweet or sour cherries or any time of the year with canned or frozen cherries. Just like the Cherry Bakewell Cake or the Chocolate Cherry Muffins.

This cake is incredibly simple to make, the part that is taking longest is the pitting of the cherries, you should definitely get a cherry pitter for that (Amazon affiliate link). They are cheap and make life so much easier. I got mine at least 10 years ago (I don’t really remember) and it is still good.

Ingredients

Cherries:

• This beautiful almond cherry cake can be made either with fresh, canned or frozen cherries.
• Fresh cherries need to be pitted first.
• Canned: drain and gently pat dry with kitchen paper.
• Frozen: defrost in a sieve, drain well, and pat dry with kitchen paper.
• You will need about 350 g/ 12.4 oz cherries, weighed after pitting, but a little more or less is fine.

Almonds:

• Ground almonds, ground with their skin on. Also known as almond meal.
• Not almond flour, almond flour is made from blanched almonds and it is finer.
• However, for this recipe, use whatever you happen to have. The two products cannot always be used interchangeably, but it will be ok this time.
• I used a mixture because I had two open bags, that is why the crumb of the cake is slightly brown.
• I prefer ground almonds with the skin on, first of all, because of the nicer color and secondly because they are cheaper than blanched almond flour.

Other ingredients:

• Unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Sour cream
• Vanilla extract
• Lemon juice
• Flaked almonds

How to make?

• Pit the cherries if using fresh. Defrost and drain frozen or canned ones. Pat them dry with kitchen paper. Mix the cherries with a little flour, this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.

• Beat the soft butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and lemon juice. (1)
• Add the eggs, one by one, beating well in between. (2)
• Mix the flour, ground almonds, and baking powder in another bowl.
• Add gradually to the egg mixture, alternating with the sour cream. (3)
• Fold the cherries into the batter.
• Place the batter into the prepared springform and sprinkle with the flaked almonds. (4)
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Let rest in the tin for 10 minutes, remove and let cool on a wire rack.

How to prepare the springform?

There are many ways of preparing a springform for baking. It is necessary to do it, because even if springforms are non-stick, the cake will still stick to them if you don’t prepare them first.

Method 1: Parchment paper

• Place the springform on the paper and draw the exact circle around with a pencil. Cut the circle. Butter the bottom of the pan and stick the baking paper on top.
• If necessary, you can cut one or two longer stripes, about as wide as the springform’s ring, and stick those on the buttered ring as well.
• This step is not always necessary, most cakes will not stick to the ring and if they do slightly, you can easily release them with the help of a small knife.

Method 2: Butter and flour

• Butter the springform all over.
• Sprinkle with one tablespoon flour.
• Over the sink (to avoid a mess), start shaking the tin to coat it completely with the flour.
• Turn it upside down over the sink and pat it gently on the bottom to remove the excess flour.

Alternatives to method 2:

• Use dried breadcrumbs instead of flour.
• Use ground almonds instead of flour. I used ground almonds for this recipe because this is an almond cake.

More cherry cakes:

Fresh Cherry Loaf Cake

Cheesecake with Cherry Filling

Chocolate Brownies

Swiss Sweet Cherry Pie

Cream Cheese Bars

Banana Hazelnut Cherry Cake