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 

Planting time in some Spring sunshine

Another day of spring sunshine last week found me pushing my books to one side and heading outside to get some potting and planting done, and can you blame me just look at that lovely clear blue sky.

This barerooted Gooseberry bush 'Hinnonmaki Green' was a complete bargain at just £1 from my local 'the original factory shop', and as I'm currently reorganising my back garden borders, I've planted it into a pot for the time being but I'm hoping to plant it into its final home in the next month once I've cleared a space and it's established alittle more. I know it doesn't look like much right now but I have my fingers and toes crossed that in a year or 2, it'll be thriving and I'll be collecting my first harvest of juicy gooseberries from it. 

The great potato challenge 2015

Every year we have a family growing contest and this year the veg of choice is potatoes, 'Maris Piper' to be exact and the winners are the team to harvest the most potatoes.

Maris Piper potatoes are my absolute favourite, in my opinion they make the best roast potatoes and who doesn't love a nice crispy roasting with their Sunday dinner. As they are a maincrop potato March is the perfect time of year to plant these seed potatoes which have been chitting since early February. 

So last weekend we did just that.. 

Miss K & Mr H's Bag