Ever made a cake with glace cherries in it? If you are like me, then all of those cakes would have had a delightfully chewy cherry base, whilst all of the cake above it would have been cherry No Man's Land.
Why do they do this? Is it to torture us amateur cake makers? Are they scared of heights?
A case in point - a few days ago I made a lovely cherry and almond cake. I dutifully followed all of the instructions in the recipe, folding in the flour and almonds lightly, almost caressing the cherries as I enveloped them in the cake batter.
What came out of the oven after 70 minutes of smelling this lovely cake baking out of the house? Yet another delicious but cherry based -literally- rather than cherry filled cake.
I decided to go to a food forum and find out from the experts how they stop the little red juicy devils from travelling down into the cake basement. The answer? Wash all of the lovely sticky syrup off, and liberally coat in some of the flour to be used in your cake. Fold in to your batter so lightly even butterflies wouldnt be disturbed, and someone suggested putting a few cherries on the top, in the hope that they only make it half way down the cake.
I shall try to make this cake again (as it was actually delicious, if a little imbalanced) and I fully expect those little cherries to literally be floating in the cake.
Here is to hoping those little cherries get over their fear of heights.
For anyone interested in trying this cake (and it is delicious - the toasted almonds give a great flavour) it can be found in 101 Slow cooking recipes
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