Cherry & Almond Cake

Recipe for: CHERRY & ALMOND CAKE

Ingredients:

• 200g butter, softened
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• ½ tsp almond extract
• 175g self-raising flour
• 85g ground almonds
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 300g glace cherries
• 100ml milk
• 2 tblsp flaked almonds

 Method:

1. heat the oven to 160C/ 140C fan/ gas 3
2. line the base & sides of a 20cm deep cake tin with grease-proof & butter it
3. beat together the butter & sugar until light & fluffy, then beat in the eggs one by one, ensuring that each is well incorporated before adding the next
4. fold in the almond extract, flour, ground almonds and baking powder, followed by the cherries (see below) and milk
5. scrape the mixture into the prepared tin & scatter over the flaked almonds on the top
6. bake for 1 hour to 75 minutes, or until the cake has risen with a golden-brown top, and a skewer comes out cleanly
7. cool the cake on a wire rack before serving

 What else you need to know:

1. if you want the cherries to be distributed throughout the cake, cut them up a bit.  If you leave them whole, they will tend to gather towards the bottom