Moment of truth(hours later) ….

Yes, they would always say’ the proof of the pudding is in the eating’. Well the”eating” can wait at least for now as it looks too pretty to mess up the cake . I am just as excited and delighted that I baked this cherry cake successfully after watching “The British Bake Off” just the other day. I did it and will taste the cake  in the next few hours and let you know if the cherries sink to the bottom ya. And it s so simple to bake. Just put all the ingredients into a big bowl, beat well and straight into a baking tin. Moment of truth, the cake is moist and delicious. The cherries are acceptable and did not sink to the bottom entirely. YUM!

Ingredients

• 200g glace cherries
• 225 self raising flour
• 175g soften butter, plus extra for greasing
• 175g caster sugar
• 1 lemon, finely grated zest only
• 50g ground almonds
• 3 large free range eggs

For decoration

• 175g icing sugar
• 1 lemon juice only
• 15g flaked almond, toasted lightly
• 5 glace cherries, quartered

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180’C. Grease a 23cm bundt tin or savarin mould with butter. Alternatively you can  use a round cake tin.
2. Cut the cherries into quarters. Set aside five of the quartered cherries for the decoration later. Put the rest of the quartered cherries in a sieve and rinse under running water. Drain well then dry thoroughly on kitchen paper and toss in 2 tbsp of the flour.
3. Measure all the remaining ingredients into a large bowl and beat well for 2 minutes to mix thoroughly. Lightly fold in the cherries. Turn into the prepared tin.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until well risen, golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
5. For the icing, mix the icing sugar together with the lemon juice to a thick paste. Drizzle over the cooled cake using the back of a spoon, sprinkle over the toasted almonds and reserved cherries. Voila ! Happy Days!