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Cherry and almond Easter cake
Serves: 12
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Toby Scott
Cherry and almond Easter cake
Recipe by Sarah Cook
This delicious sponge makes a change from the classic simnel cake. See our tip to make it gluten free
Serves: 12
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time:
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
559Kcal
Fat
25gr
Saturates
9gr
Carbs
73gr
Sugars
52gr
Fibre
2gr
Protein
9gr
Salt
0.5gr
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Ingredients
- 16 glacé cherries, halved
- 150g soft unsalted butter
- 150g golden caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- zest and juice of 1½-2 oranges
- 225g self-raising flour, plus 1 tbsp
- 125g ground almonds
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 150g soured cream
- 85g marzipan from a 454g pack, cut into 1cm chunks
- 25g flaked almonds, toasted
To decorate
- 200g icing sugar, sifted
- the rest of the 454g pack of marzipan
- 5-6 extra glacé cherries
Step by step
Get ahead
The cake keeps for 4-5 days in an airtight container. The undecorated sponge can be frozen for up to a month.
- Put the glacé cherries in a sieve and rinse off the syrup with boiling water (this stops them sinking). Pat dry with kitchen paper.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4, and grease and line a deep 20cm round cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl, then beat in the eggs with the vanilla and almond extracts and the zest of 1 orange. Tip in the 225g flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt, and stir in. Finally, stir in 3 tablespoons of orange juice and the soured cream.
- Toss the cherries and marzipan chunks with the extra flour (again, this stops them sinking). Fold into the cake batter with the flaked almonds, then spoon into the prepared tin and level the top.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes on a middle shelf, until a skewer poked into the cake’s centre comes out clean. Poke a few more holes all over the top and drizzle over 3 tablespoons of orange juice. Cool in the tin.
- Weigh out 250g from the remaining marzipan and roll out to a rough round. Cut out a 17-18cm disc, using a plate as a template. Mix 2 teaspoons of icing sugar with a dribble of water to make a thin, runny icing. Brush over the top of the cake, then press the marzipan on top.
- Roll some of the rest of the marzipan into 6 balls of a similar size to a glacé cherry.
- Mix the rest of the icing sugar with 5-6 teaspoons of water (or orange juice) to make a thick but runny icing. Spoon over the marzipan, letting it drip down the sides.
-
Alternate marzipan balls and glacé cherries around the edge of the marzipan disc, until you have 11 or 12 in total. Sprinkle on the remaining orange zest, then leave to set for 20-30 minutes.TipMAKE IT GLUTEN FREE
Use gluten-free flour and baking powder, adding 3⁄4 tsp xanthan gum with the dry ingredients. Add an extra 3 tbsp orange juice to the cake batter as well.