Last week a massive crate of cherries came our way courtesy of a local farmer. Never one to waste food, let alone free food, we set to work planning how best to use the fruit. "Mmmm cherry crumble or my favourite cherry pie" the family cried out, but as designated chef I don't like cooked fruit, so to cook or not to cook? That was the question...
Oh the joys of the internet, a quick flick through the blogging world and I came across a lovely recipe for Cherry Crumble Cake by The English Kitchen. A few tweaks to the recipe later (I seriously dislike cinnamon!) and I had whipped up a new favourite cake for the family; so good that we thought we should share.
I have included my version of the recipe below, the only slight changes I have made are to the quantity of cherries (the original 350g wasn't enough even in my smaller tin)
For the cake:
400-450g of pitted fresh cherries
150g self raising flour
50g sugar
1 large free range egg
30ml milk
100g melted butter
For the crumble:
30g plain flour
30g sugar
30g butter (room temperature)
Handful of almond flakes
Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350°F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch cake tin with removable bottom and line with baking parchment.
Gently melt butter, take off heat and whisk in the milk and egg. In a separate bowl sift the flour and sugar, make a well in the centre and pour in the milk/butter/egg mixture.
Whisk all the ingredients together to form a smooth thick batter. Pour into your prepared cake tin.
Feeling all fancy I went for an organised pattern for my cherries but as you can see the 350g just didn't go far enough for me (and my tin is smaller than 8 inches). Next time I would cram as many in as I can which is why I have suggested using 400-450grams of cherries. Always better to have too many then you can eat the left overs!
In another bowl sift your flour and sugar for your crumble topping, add the butter and using your fingers rub the mixture together until you have a crumbly breadcrumb consistency. I added flaked almonds to my topping to add extra crunch, I judged the amount by the look and feel of my crumble topping - more almonds = more crunch!
When the topping has a fine breadcrumb look sprinkle over your cake and pop it in the oven. Bake for 30 -35 minutes until risen and golden brown on top. If your unsure insert a toothpick in the centre of your cake and if cooked it will come out clean.
Leave to stand for at least 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to completely cool. Now reader I have to share with you my mistake, I didn't have a removable bottom cake tin to hand so I opted for a normal cake tin; BIG mistake. I had to flip my cake out losing lots of valuable crumbly topping. Lesson learned - I shall invest in a new cake tin.
Slice and enjoy!
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