Cherry & almond cake

Cherry & almond cake

Not just for Easter, this delicious cake makes a good centre piece all year round

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Cuts into 12 slices

Preperation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook min 1 hr 20 mins

Method

  1. Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3 and butter and line a 20cm round, loose-bottomed deep cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar together with electric beaters or a tabletop mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 250g flour, baking powder, orange zest and juice and beat well till thick, creamy and evenly mixed.
  2. Toss cherries in the extra 2 tbsp flour and fold into the batter along with grated marzipan and almond essence (if using). Spoon into the prepared tin, level and bake for 1 hr 30 mins, or until well risen and golden. A skewer will come out clean when ready. Leave to cool in tin for 10 mins, then turn onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
  3. Mix the icing sugar with just over 1 tbsp water to make a loose but not-too-runny icing. Scatter the almonds over the top of the cake and position the 12 glace cherries around the edge, using a dot of the icing to fix. Drizzle the icing over the cake and finish with a scattering of orange zest.
Try

Cherries

We've used cherries instead of marzipan, which is traditionally rolled into balls to top simnel cakes. Most people top their cake with 12 balls, which represent the 12 apostles minus Judas, plus Jesus. Others use 11 - it's up to you.

Per slice

515 kcalories, protein 7g, carbohydrate 69g, fat 25 g, saturated fat 12g, fibre 2g, salt 0.76 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, April 2006.

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Taste team comment

'Very tasty with an unusual texture due to slightly uneven distribution of marzipan. You need to take care to mix the grated marzipan in the mixture.'

Latest comments and suggestions

  • 23 November 2007

    Glenys rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I made this for a friend who loves the cherry / almond combination and it was stunning. One of the best cherry cakes I ahve ever tasted!

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  • 21 March 2008

    caramacgirl commented on this recipe

    I have made these as the cup cake version illustrated on the front cover of the April 06 mag. I have now made them three times and they are really good. Very easy recipe - and the children love them - especially with the icing and mini eggs on top! I found the recipe makes more than the 24 suggested - easily 26 or 28 if you don't overfill the cases - and leave room for the icing and eggs!) I have actually frozen them without any problems (no icing or eggs) - even though the freeze logo is crossed through on the recipe. These are becoming our traditional easter cake instead of Simnel cake.

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  • 21 March 2008

    caramacgirl rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 30 March 2008

    MissChief commented on this recipe

    Is it just me or is this recipe missing half of the ingredients on the "ingredients list". It doesn't tell me what type of flour to use or how much baking powder to use. Fortunately I have the magazine recipe, but this version is poor. BTW it's self raising flour and 1tsp of baking powder. It makes a lovely cake

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  • 06 May 2008

    Khadija commented on this recipe

    Can't wait to bake this cake, but I agree with MissChief some ingredients are missing on the ingrediensts list. Besides the self-raising flower and baking powder the orange zest and juice are not mentioned on the list. Can anyone tell me how much orange juice is used in the original recipe, and is 250 g natural marzipan the correct quantity???

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  • 05 August 2008

    Claire1968 commented on this recipe

    I was just about to make this cake when I realised not all the ingredients are listed. Can you tell me how much flour, baking powder etc I need please. Thank you. Claire Sherman

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  • 22 August 2008

    Khadija commented on this recipe

    I've bought the BBC Easy Cook magazine today and found the complete recipe. The missing ingrediensts are: 250 g self-raising flower, 1 tsp baking powder, grated rind of 2 oranges plus 2 tbsp juice.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Cuts into 12 slices

Preperation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook min 1 hr 20 mins

Simple twist on simnel

Ingredients

  • 250g butter , softened, plus extra for greasing
  • 175g golden caster sugar
  • 5 eggs , beaten
  • 250g natural marzipan , coarsely grated, (easiest if chilled beforehand)
  • ½ tsp almonds essence, optional
  • 200g glacé cherries , halved

FOR THE DECORATION

  • 100g icing sugar , sifted
  • 50g toasted flaked almonds
  • 12 natural glacé cherries
  • zest 1 orange
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Per slice

515 kcalories, protein 7g, carbohydrate 69g, fat 25 g, saturated fat 12g, fibre 2g, salt 0.76 g

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