Upside-Down Sour Cherry Cake
I am beyond excited with my latest find, a cookbook, a baking cookbook, to be more precise. Shocking, I know, another cookbook. Trust me though, this one truly stands out and besides, books are never enough regardless of how many you already own.
This has been a somewhat strange and difficult time for me. Certain things happen sometimes, things that are a bit more than what we can handle. They leave us empty, uninspired and enervated. We all have this feeling when we lose someone we love, like we’ve lost the ground under our feet. In times like this, I need a hard push to start functioning again.
The book I’m holding, “The Artful Baker”, is truly one of a kind, a work of art even. The author of one of the best baking cookbooks I have ever laid eyes on is a self-taught, obsessive home baker –as he describes himself-, Cenk Sönmezsoy, a photographer, food stylist and food blogger, hence the exceptional quality of this book. His food blog, “Cafe Fernando” ( cafefernando ), is cited as one of the world’s 50 best food blogs.
All recipes are just incredible. I can already see myself spending quite some time with this book in the near future, as each page reveals a new temptation. But it’s not just the recipes, the food styling and photography are just as impressive. What a gem! It’s rare that a book impresses me that much. For now, it’s definitely the table book that inspires me the most.
As I was flipping through this super inspiring book, I thought of a basket filled with sour cherries that came back with me from our weekend in the mountains. I absolutely love sour cherries! Deep red, juicy, fresh sour cherries. I always like to honour our sour cherry trees with a dessert every summer and this time I instantly thought of a stunning sour cherry cake I found in Cenk’s book. Perfect timing, perfect book to draw inspiration from!
This is such an incredible dessert, so flavourful and appetising. An almond flavoured buttery cake covered with a thick layer of refreshing –almost like spoon sweet- sour cherries; a simply irresistible combination. This dish is so elegant and inviting, definitely one of the best cakes I have ever tried.
If you happen to find fresh sour cherries, don’t think twice, this recipe is an absolute summer must-try. And one last important detail.. It’s super easy to make!
Ingredients
Fruit Layer & Glaze:
750g pitted fresh sour cherries
150g granulated sugar
Cake:
10tbsp plus 2 tsp unsalted butter, cut into large pieces and softened, plus more for pan
3 large eggs, at room temperature
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
100g blanched almond flour
150g all-purpose flour
150g granulated sugar
8g tsp baking powder
2g tsp fine sea salt
Method
1. Fruit layer and glaze: Cook the cherries and sugar in a large, high-sided pan over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the sugar dissolves and blends with the juices released from the cherries, stirring gently without breaking up the cherries. Continue cooking to medium-high heat for about 15 to 20 minutes until thickened, stirring occasionally. Transfer the cherries and juice into a mesh strainer over a medium bowl and drain. Set the juices aside to use later for the glazing of the cake.
2. Cake: Preheat the oven to 160C (with the rack set in the middle of the oven).
3. Butter a 20cm round cake tin with removable sides and line with baking paper.
4. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla until blended.
5. In a bowl of a food processor, blend the almond flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt for about 1 minute. Add the butter pieces and continue blending until the dough gathers around the blade, for about 1 minute. Add the egg mixture and blend, for about 15 seconds. Your batter will be very thick.
6. Arrange the drained sour cherries evenly on the bottom of the pan creating a tight fruit layer. Pour the batter over the cherries and spread it evenly with a spatula.
7. Bake for about 55 to 60 minutes. The cake is ready when a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Wait until the pan has cooled down completely. Press firmly against the pan, run a small knife around the edges and invert onto a serving plate.
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