A very swishy cherry cake

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Swish. Yesterday I got my hair cut. It’s been at least three months since I last visited Christie, who makes miracles happen with the wave of a comb and a small pair of scissors. My work timetable is so eratic that often I don’t get round to making an appointment until finally I’m forced to front up to the hairdressers, gasping through hair as wild as a bramble bush, “Cut my hair. Now. Please!” And for the rest of the day, my hair feels like I’ve just stepped out of a Salon Selectives ad. Swish swish. It’s so magical I don’t want to sleep on it that night. B kindly suggests the use of a geisha pillow. Yeah, so the next morning, I’ll have great hair, but a crazy crick in my neck that would force my head to be tilted at a disturbing angle. Hmm.. I might consider that for next time..

Anyhow, it’s day two, and it’s still swishing along as I walk to the shops to pick up some dried fruit for a cake. I had been browsing through this week’s issue of Good Living when I came across a recipe for cherry cake, and suddenly, I had a strong urge to bake a cake. Making a few adjustments according to personal preference (I used dried cherries and raisins instead of figs and apricots, and flaked instead of chopped almonds), this cake was ready in less than the recommended 85 minutes baking time, and a slice of it was devoured in even less time than that. From fork to mouth. Swish swish.

Cherry Cake :
(Helen Whitty adapted this recipe from an issue of AGT)

125g dried apricots, coarsely chopped
125g dried figs, coarsely chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped almonds
1 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
4 egg whites
1 whole egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
60ml Amaretto
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
250g black cherries, drained

Preheat oven to 180’C. Combine dried fruit, almonds, flour and half the sugar in a bowl. Beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until soft peaks form (not as stiff as a meringue), then add the whole egg, oil, Amaretto, vanilla and almond extracts. Stir the egg and dried fruit mixtures together very carefully, add the cherries and mix gently.

Line the base of a buttered loaf tin, spoon in the mixture and bake for 85 minutes (or until cooked when tested with a skewer). Place tin on a wire rack before turning out to cool.

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4 Comments »

  1. Erielle said,

    April 14, 2007 @ 11:17 am

    Mmmmmm….that looks real good! Wow, baked for 85 minutes, it must be so dense!

  2. Y said,

    April 14, 2007 @ 1:45 pm

    Hahaha! Thanks for shooting down my cherry cake, Erielle 😛
    Actually, the cake turned out light (thanks to the self-raising flour) and moist (mmm..juicy cherries), despite the long baking time.

  3. Maree Antoinette said,

    February 2, 2009 @ 7:06 pm

    Hey, i made this cake for about 45 people, and they all loved it!!! thank you so much!
    i have to make it again today.

    i lefted out the figs and apricots, changed the 60ml Amaretto to 60ml of milk and lessened the egg content, made it cook quicker and was sooooo moist 🙂

    again thank you.

  4. Y said,

    February 2, 2009 @ 11:34 pm

    Maree Antoinette – Oh wow. It’s nice to get feedback on a recipe someone else tried. Thanks so much for your comment! 🙂

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