sour cherry cake

I know I know....where have I been?  A bit absent...I admit!  Unfortunately, why is it, when life gets a little busier it's the blogging that suffers.  But I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, and by way of redeeming myself, here is a little sweetener! This cake was made to take to a dear friends lunch.  She cooked an amazing slow cooked lamb shoulder (oh my!) and this was our dessert.  We both have a penchant for the sour taste of lemons, and with the morello cherries, this cake is great if you enjoy your sweets not too sweet.

Here is what you need....

720g jar morello pitted cherries (although I think my jar was 690g)
125g butter
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind (I added more!)
165g (¾ cup) caster sugar
2 eggs
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour
75g (½ cup) plain flour
½ cup sour cream
60ml (¼ cup) milk

How to make it -

1. Grease a 20cm baba* or ring pan, sprinkle with flour, shake out excess flour.
2. Drain cherries well then place on absorbent paper to drain further. Combine butter, rind and sugar in a small bowl, beat with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beat until combined. Transfer mixture to large bowl, stir in sifted flours and combined sour cream and milk.
4. Spread half of mixture into prepared pan, scatter cherries evenly over top and carefully spread remaining mixture over cherries.
5. Bake at 160°C for about 1 hour 10 minutes or until cooked. Stand for 10 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool. If desired, dust cold cake with sifted icing sugar.

Serves 8.

Recipe hint: For a smooth exterior on cakes, chill tin before greasing. Butter or margarine will form a more even coating and adhere better.

* Mine was a little bigger, but I used it anyway...it just meant that it was a little flatter...but you could easily use a normal cake tin...just check the cake regularly as mine only took about 40 minutes.

I'll be blog hopping soon to see what been happening in your world.

How do you manage blogging when life gets busy?  Is it one of the first things that goes to the bottom of the priority list?


xx