Saturday 22 October 2022

Amarena Cherry Cake - À La Alice Zaslavsky

I met the lovely Alice recently!  I made two of these cakes for her book launch at our wonderful new local indie bookshop The Quick Brown Fox.  Phew, that's a lot of adjectives.  Alice was a Masterchef Aus contestant some years ago, and now writes cookbooks, is on tv and radio, and so on.  Her cheery smile is ubiquitous.  

I love cherries - so luscious, so round and sweet.  They remind me of our backpacking travels through Europe; of buying huge bags of them in Belgrade, a city full of young soldiers in uniform, carrying rifles.  Of our many times in Tasmania, picking them off our friends' tree in their backyard overlooking the Derwent River.  Of happy summer feasts, enjoying them in their short season.  Cherries make me think of Christmas, 'cos that's when we see them in the shops.  Don't buy those imported ones, my friends!  Stick to the season.



oh so moist and delicious

Recipe by Alice Zaslavsky:

Serves 8-10:

ingredients:

180g./6.3 oz almond meal (ground almonds)

60g./2 big ounces dessicated coconut

1/2 tsp sea salt

250g./9 oz caster sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp amaretto (optional)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract (see Notes) 

200g./7 oz butter, melted and cooled 

Nicely rounded handful of flaked almonds

240g./8.5 oz jar of amarena cherries, drained (see Notes)

icing sugar for dusting (optional)

extra fruit and mascarpone for serving (optional)


Method:

Turn on your oven to heat to 180C/355F

Grease a 20 cm/8 inch springform cake tin, and line with baking paper - see Notes


Whisk the almond meal, coconut, salt and caster sugar together in a medium bowl

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs together, add the extracts and whisk them in well

Pour the cooled butter into the egg mixture, and whisk till everything is well combined 

Now scatter the dry ingredients over the wet mixture, and whisk in well - Alice says this makes a very runny batter, but I didn't really find this, so I think you'll be fine whether it's super runny or just a  normal batter

Bake for 20 minutes, then take out of the oven, cast the almond flakes and cherries over the top of the cake, and back into the oven for another 20-25 minutes (mine took the extra 25 mins. both times)

Let it cool in the tin, sitting on a wire rack, then serve with icing sugar and extra cherries if desired


Notes:

Alice suggests 1/8 tsp bitter almond aroma but honestly, who has that in the pantry? :=)  Not me!  And she does say it's optional ...  

I bought a tub of Amarena cherries at our local deli, which I think were better than the jarred ones.  I drained them, and kept the syrup as a cordial

I used a regular cake tin, with lots of baking paper up the sides so I could just pull the cake out of the tin - it worked fine

I made this cake two separate times, and neither time was the batter very runny; the first time in fact it was rather dry, and the second time just a normal batter - perhaps it depends on the freshness (or not) of your almond meal and coconut :=)


ingredients gathered

whisk your eggs

whisking dry into wet

et voilà - a lovely batter for cake number 1

the second cake batter - a bit runnier than the first time

first one ready for the oven

second batch heading to the oven

and ... baked

enjoy with fruit and cream to increase the joy


the lovely Theresa with my cakes for the book launch/morning tea



almonds and cherries

47 comments:

  1. The cake looks rich and incredibly moist and delicious! I would love mine with lots of macarpone please :-))

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lovely way to celebrate a book launch!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Sherry, gosh this looks so delicious! I think this would be a good one for me to try at Christmas when cherries are plentiful. I'm hosting Christmas lunch this year too! Loving all the beautiful tea cups too. I love to paint (draw) tea cups!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Min. I wonder if you could use fresh cherries? An interesting idea. Tea cups are things of beauty :)

      Delete
  4. Since so many bookshops have disappeared and I don't work in libraries anymore I really do miss book launches. Apparently we were in Sydney CBD shopping when Alice was launching her new book at Dymocks I think? Anyway I missed it, but just a train ride away. So disappointing, this cake looks amazing Sherry. How can two batters from the same recipe be so different, could it be the eggs? Anyway, looks delicious. I'm not eating nuts anymore, only walnuts, so I would have to work around that. I must try to get to this bookshop one day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. we are lucky in brissie to have lots of bookshops, and wonderful indie ones. and now we have the quick brown fox in walking distance! It's terrific! why no nuts?:)

      Delete
  5. Hi Sherry, I tried to post using my name and URL but your site doesn't want to do that. So, it's Ron at Lost in a Pot commenting.
    This is my kind of cake, I love cherries so this will be a great cake to cook next summer when our local cherries appear. Oh, and it will be served with plenty of extra fruit and mascarpone...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh sorry Ron. bloody blogger! thanks for persevering. I'm not sure if this will work with fresh cherries but give it a go!

      Delete
  6. This was such a superb cake, and well done from a lucky Mr P!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am bookmarking this for cherry season here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happily the cake calls for Amarena cherries (fruit in syrup) so you can make it any time :)

      Delete
  8. All those people at your new book shop launch were very lucky to get a slice of this! I probably would have had 2! Anything with cherries in and you've got me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i was so happy the cakes turned out well. Yes i am a big cherry fan too!

      Delete
  9. Sounds delicious! Why does it look like there are two kinds of cherries on your slice of cake?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you're right mimi. I served it with some morello cherries :)

      Delete
  10. That cake looks super delicious Sherry - I love cherries! xox

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm not familiar with amarena cherries. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. they are in syrup. you can buy them in jars or bottles.

      Delete
  12. The cake looks delicious. I love the photo of all the slices of cake ready for the booksters!

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow, what a gorgeous spread! That's so fun that you got to meet Alice at your local bookstore, too. I know I would love this cake - the cherries, almond and coconut combination sounds absolutely delicious! And amarena cherries really are the way to go when you want to highlight that cherry flavor. Love this recipe!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it was all tremendous fun david! and the cake was so good.

      Delete
  14. Love cherry desserts - noticed you used a whale bowl - mine arrived last week. Can't wait to use them! I will probably order again :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that's great about the whale bowls judi. i love mine! and now i want them all plus the spoon :=)

      Delete
  15. You are certainly ambitious . That cake looks fabulous and I can only imagine how good it tastes. Love the teacups !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks judee. it worked out well thank goodness. I didn't want to mess it up with the actual cook/author eating it :)

      Delete
  16. I cannot wait for cherry season, which is about 5 weeks away. The best part is Dave does not like them so I can keep them all to myself :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh yes i love cherry season too. They are so bloody expensive tho that we rarely buy them.

      Delete
  17. Beautiful, Sherry! I hate glace and maraschino cherries, but love real cherries. Lovely cake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sorry to say this recipes uses cherries in syrup, Jean. but i guess you could try using fresh cherries.

      Delete
  18. I love cherry desserts. Right now on this side of the world I can only get canned or frozen cherries. Trader Joe's ( a German owned grocery store) used to carry Morello cherries in a glass container. They were perfect for baking but unfortunately they are no longer available. Your cake looks wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that's a shame about the morello cherries ANon. so useful in baking as you say.

      Delete
  19. What a lovely tribute to Alice. I think she'd be very happy with this! I have to admit I'm not a huge amarena cherry person but I love all other kinds so I could easily sub them in :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. she was wonderful - full of life and good thoughts.

      Delete
  20. You are right. We absolutely have to eat fruits while they are in season.

    And that pie looks fabulous-o!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Cherry desserts are among my favorites and this cake looks fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I have never seen a recipe like this, Sherry - I love almonds and cherries together (and I DO have bitter almond extract in my cubby...). I have added this to my recipes to make for the holidays!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that's great. i'd love to try it with the bitter almond sometime. Hope you make and enjoy this one.

      Delete

I would love to hear from you. Please leave your comment and I will reply as soon as I can. If you have problems commenting, please try without your WordPress profile. You can try Anonymous (add your name in the text) or your Google account if you have one.