Monday 29 June 2015

Cherry Crumble Cake

At the weekend I collected my first harvest of cherries, I managed to get about 1lb of them off my 'Stella' cherry tree, which is tons more than then small handful I got last year thanks to the hungry blackbirds babies we had nesting in next doors ivy bush.


Anyway having so many inspired me to grab my cookbooks and hunt through them for a tasty cherry bake, otherwise I'd just end up jaring them and making brandied cherries. As always my trusty Rachel Allen 'bake' book offered up the tastiest idea, Cherry Crumble Cake and I got cracking. 

Recipe

(Cake Base)
350g cherries (pitted weight)
150g self-raising flour
Pinch of ground cinnamon
50g caster sugar 
1 egg 
30ml milk
100ml melted butter

(Crumble Topping) 
25g plain flour 
25g caster sugar 
25g butter 
Pinch of ground cinnamon


Method
  • Preheat your oven to 180oC, butter and line you cake tin (I used a 7" tin with a ready-made cake liner). 
  • Remove the cherry stalks and stones (I used a cherry pitter to keep mine whole).
  • Next sift the flour and cinnamon into a bowl, add the sugar and mix together.
  • Whisk the egg, milk and melted butter together, then add to the dry ingredients and combine (I used my Kitchenaid as it's quicker). 
  • Once it's smooth pour the thick mixture into your tin, spread evenly and then scatter the cherries on top and gently press them in.
  • Next make the topping. Add all the ingredients into a bowl and rub together until crumb-like (again I used my Kitchenaid with the flat beater to do this, it took seconds). Then scatter the crumble topping over the cherries. 
  • You then just bake it in the oven for 30/40 minutes, when done it should be golden brown and if you insert a skewer it should come out clean. 
  • If like me though you decide to double the crumble mixture (Mr H loves extra crumble) it'll need to be baked for roughly 60/70 minutes but keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn. If your worried it's going to burn you can cover it with a loose sheet of baking paper which should protect the surface. 


Have to say I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, and even more pleased that both the girls and Mr H loved it. I can't wait to be able to pick the next batch of cherries, wonder what I'll make next. 

Any suggestions?

x B x