Cherry Cake with Chocolate

Last week I baked this cherry cake for the first time. It turned out pretty good I must say. Just before shooting I decided to make it a little bit more fancy. My initial plan was to sift the cake with some powdered sugar. I guess I thought I’m too skilled for using my sifter so I tried to do it with a spoon instead. My application got a bit messy and at the end my whole cake was white. The kitchen was a disaster, powdered sugar everywhere. Not only did I create a big mess, but I also ended up with no photos and an overly sweet cake.

As they say every cloud has a silver lining. Today I baked the cake again, changed a recipe a bit and it turned out even better.

Basically you can make this cake with whatever fruit you have. You can also substitute almond flour with all-purpose or spelt flour, but I think the cake has a nice mild texture and nutty flavour thanks to almonds. If you know that you have a sweet tooth, go ahead and add more sugar to the batter. Serve it with greek yogurt or a dollop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup / 100 g almond flour (or ground almonds)
• 1/2 cup / 50 g oat flour (or ground oats, use gluten-free if intolerant)
• 5 tbsp coconut or cane sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 3 eggs, separated
• 3 tbsp hot water
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• a pinch of salt
• 2.8 oz / 80 g good quality chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 1 cup cherries, pitted
• a handful of almond flakes

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 374 F/ 190°C. Line a 20 cm x 25 cm (7.8 inch x 9.8 inch) cake pan with a sheet of parchment paper.
2. Place the egg whites in a separate bowl, add a pinch of salt and beat with a hand mixer until stiff.
3. In a large bowl with a hand mixer, whisk together egg yolks, hot water, vanilla and sugar. Once well mixed, add almond flour, oat flour, baking powder and continue whisking for another 2 minutes.
4. Mix in the chocolate pieces. Then using a spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter until just combined, making sure not to over mix.
5. Pour the cake batter into the tray. Sprinkle with cherries and almond flakes. Bake for about 30-35 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely before serving. Serve with yogurt or vanilla ice-cream.