Retro cherry tea cake

When it comes to sitting down with a cuppa and a slice of cake it doesn’t get much more old-school than this! This delicious cake was all the rage in the 60s and 70s, but hasn’t been that popular of late – and what a shame that is! The beautiful almond and cherry combination is a classic and one that works so well with this lovely sponge. You can top it with a few sliced almonds if you like or just leave it as is. It goes great with a cup of Earl Grey or a nice strong coffee!

Ingredients

• 200g glacé cherries
• 175g block butter, at room temperature
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs, whisked lightly
• 175g plain flour
• ½ level teaspoon baking powder
• 75g ground almonds
• 2-4 drops of almond extract
• 2 teaspoons milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Grease a loaf tin with butter and line with baking paper. Slice cherries into quarters then set them aside. Cream the butter and sugar together until light, pale and fluffy, then gradually beat in whisked eggs a little at a time.

2. Sift flour and baking powder together, then carefully fold into the creamed butter mixture using a metal spoon. Toss two-thirds of the cherries together with the ground almonds and carefully fold these into the cake, adding one or two drops of almond extract and the milk.

3. Spoon cake mix into the prepared tin, level off the top with the back of a spoon, then sprinkle over the remaining third of the cherries and poke them just under the surface with a teaspoon. Bake cake near the centre of the oven for 50 minutes, then cover with foil and continue cooking for a further 10 minutes, or until the centre is springy to touch.

4. Cool the cake in the tin for 15 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight tin.