Cherry Cake British Bake Off Technical Challenge

Mary Berry's Cherry Cake was the first Technical Bake Challenge of the latest series 

The Great British Bake Off. I decided to bake the Technical Challenge Recipe set out each week, and to serve them at Fancy.

One of the main aims for this technical challenge was to ensure your glace cherries are evenly suspended in the sponge and not sunken to the bottom !

I am not a big fan of glace cherries, think it goes back to my childhood when my mum was baking I kept asking for a cherry, in the end she gave me the whole tub,  I was then sick from eating too many of them.  Bit like the Witches of Eastwick Cherry Scene Jack Nicholson.

I have modified Mary Berry's Cherry Cake Recipe to fit my larger Savarin mould of 10 inch diameter.

Ingredients
300g glacé cherries
340g/8oz self-raising flour
265g/6oz softened butter, plus extra for greasing
265g caster sugar
2 lemons, finely grated zest only
75g ground almonds
6 medium free-range eggs

For the decoration
175g  icing sugar
1 lemon, juice only
flaked almonds, toasted
5 glacé cherries, quartered

Preparation method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease a 10 inch savarin mould with butter.

Cut the cherries into quarters place in a sieve and rinse under running water. Drain well then dry thoroughly on kitchen paper and toss in 3 tablespoons of the flour.

Measure all the remaining ingredients into a large bowl and beat well for two minutes to mix thoroughly. Lightly fold in the cherries. Turn into the prepared tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until well risen, golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out and cool on a wire rack.

For the icing, mix the icing sugar together with the lemon juice to a thick paste. Drizzle over the cooled cake using the back of a spoon, sprinkle over the toasted almonds and reserved cherries.