This cake is so moist, light and fruity. The recipe forms part of that small repertoire of summer orchard fruit cakes, alongside apricot, peach and fig, which I call “Now or Never Cakes”. The season for these sorts of fruits is so very short, it would be madness not to take full advantage of it in all its glory. Make sure you find really ripe, deep ruby red cherries, that are not bruised or blemished. I always keep a few aside for decoration, if I can bear not to eat them.
With fruit cakes, the fruit tends to sink to the bottom, being weightier than the other ingredients, so I place my cherry pieces at the bottom of the cake tin. When I turn the cake out onto its wire rack to cool, the cherries are now at the top. I was born cake-clever.
Ingredients
225g. Farina 00 Italian flour, or plain flour
a little pinch of sea salt
1.5 tsps. baking powder
200g. unsalted butter, I use Rachel’s Farm or Yeo Valley
200g. Billington’s raw cane caster sugar
4 fresh, free range, organic, eggs from corn fed chickens
2 tbsp. Kirsch or liqueur of choice
350 g. fresh cherries
I vanilla pod
1 unwaxed lemon
Billington’s Icing sugar for dusting on top.
Method
1. Prepare all the ingredients in front of you in little bowls. Weigh and measure all the ingredients. Make sure the butter is soft. Wash the cherries and slice into pieces to remove the stones. De-seed the vanilla pod, and zest the lemon. Beat the eggs very well. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. C.
2. Sift the flour with the salt and the baking powder in a big bowl, and set aside.
3. Beat the soft butter until it is very light and creamy. Add the sugar, then cream again until fluffy. Add the beaten eggs, bit by bit, and keep creaming the mix. Add the zest, the vanilla seeds and the Kirsch. Fold the flour in three batches, keeping all the air in the mix. Make sure your cake mix is very thoroughly mixed.
4. Butter and line a 24 cm. Teflon springform cake tin. You can use Baking Parchment or you can use BakeOGlide. Scatter the cherry pieces on the base of the cake tin, making sure they are spread around as evenly as possible. Pour the cake mix on top of the cherry pieces. Even the mix evenly with a spatula, and give the cake tin a few sharp taps on the work surface, to make sure that all the mix is evenly settled. Place the cake tin on top of a baking tray.
5. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes. When the cake is ready it should feel firm and springy to the touch. Do not attempt to remove the cake from its tin for at least 5 minutes, as it might crack. Then turn the cake out of the tin, and leave to cool completely on a wire rack, so that the cherry pieces are now facing the top. When cool, dust with icing sugar. This cake can be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days. It is wonderful for picnics.
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