This is such an easy cake to make and so light and spongy, too! I love serving it with afternoon tea, but with a scoop of chocolate ice cream, it would make a lovely dessert. You can use fresh cherries or as I did, frozen cherries…
Gâteau aux cerises
250g frozen cherries (defrost them on a plate double-lined with kitchen paper)
50g grated coconut
75g ground almonds
150g caster sugar
1 egg white
3 eggs
100g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
80g butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 210°C. Butter and flour a shallow tart pan, making sure you shake off any excess flour. In a large bowl, mix the grated coconut, ground almonds and sugar. Add the egg white and stir well with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour and the melted butter and stir again.
Put the cherries in the prepared tart pan and pour the batter over them.
Bake the cake for ten minutes. Reduce the temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 15-20 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool and serve with a dusting of grated coconut.
Paola Westbeek is a food, wine and travel writer with a good dose of joie de vivre. She is passionate about French cooking, old-fashioned chansons, Rembrandt and life. Paola is available for all kinds of recipe development, food and wine writing, and culinary advice. For more information visit: inmylife-paola.blogspot.com, Twitter @la_douce_vie
