Cherry and Almond Cake

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Soft cherry and almond cake packed with cherries and ground almonds; this is an easy recipe for a delicious cake that is moist, tender, and full of flavor.

Delightful cherry almond cake, easy to pull together, and incredibly delicious. You can make it in summer with fresh sweet or sour cherries or any time of the year with canned or frozen cherries. A simple recipe for a great cake that you might end up baking every weekend during the cherry season.

And I recommend you try one of our most popular recipes, the Fresh Cherry Loaf Cake; you will love it! Or how about a festive Cherry Bakewell Cake or a simple recipe for Cherry Chocolate Muffins?

Expert tips

• Scale: Always use a digital kitchen scale in baking; it guarantees the best results (Amazon affiliate link). Measuring flour and butter in cups is very tricky, affecting the quality of the finished product.

• Room temperature: Ensure that the ingredients (butter, eggs, sour cream) are at room temperature. When you beat them together, they will create a smooth emulsion that traps the air in the batter. This air will expand during baking, making the cherry almond cake light and fluffy.

• Immediate baking: Bake the sweet cherry almond cake as soon as you are finished stirring the batter. Make sure that the oven is preheated and the pan is prepared. If you leave the batter waiting, the baking powder will lose its power, and the cake will not rise nicely.

• Use a cherry pitter to remove the pits (Amazon affiliate link). They are cheap and make life so much easier. I got mine at least ten years ago (I don’t really remember), and it is still good.

• Don’t forget to mix the cherries with a bit of flour before adding them to the batter; this step will prevent them from sinking too much.

Recipe ingredients

Cherries:

• This fluffy almond cake with cherries can be made 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/ 12.5 oz cherries, weighed after pitting.

Almonds:

• Ground almonds, ground with their skin on. They are also known as almond meal. Not almond flour; almond flour is made from blanched almonds and 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 because of the nicer color and more almond flavor, and secondly, because they are cheaper than blanched almond flour.

Other ingredients:

• Unsalted butter: Use good quality butter with a high-fat content (European-style is best). I always use unsalted butter in baking.
• Eggs: Four large eggs.
• Dry ingredients: Granulated sugar, all-purpose flour (I often use cake flour), baking powder, and a pinch of salt.
• Sour cream: Adds moisture.
• Vanilla extract and lemon juice (freshly squeezed) for extra flavor.
• Flaked almonds will add some crunch to the otherwise soft and fluffy cake.

Step-by-step instructions

• Prepare cherries: Pit the cherries if they are fresh. Defrost and drain frozen or canned ones. Pat them dry with kitchen paper. Place them in a medium bowl and mix them with a bit of flour.

• Wet ingredients: Beat the soft butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes (1). Add the vanilla extract and lemon juice. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well in between (2).
• Dry ingredients: Mix flour, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Gradually and at low speed, add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, alternating with the sour cream (3).
• Fold the floured sweet cherries into the cake batter.
• Fill pan: Place the batter into the prepared springform and add the flaked almonds on top of the cake (4).
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, remove and let cool completely on a wire rack.

How to prepare the springform pan?

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 it 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.
• This step is not always necessary; most cakes will not stick to the ring; if they do slightly, you can quickly release them with the help of a small knife.

Method 2: Butter and flour.

• Butter the round cake pan all over.
• Sprinkle with one tablespoon of flour.
• Over the sink (to avoid a mess), start shaking the tin to coat it thoroughly 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 or ground almonds instead of flour (image below).

Recipe FAQ

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