Almond cake with glacé cherries

This cake is simply wonderful. It’s not light and fluffy, but beautifully soft, rich and satisfying. Fragrant with cinnamon crumble and almonds, it’s perfect with a cup of coffee or for serving to guests. It’s worth making in advance, as it takes quite a while to bake. Highly recommended!

Ingredients for almond cake with glacé cherries:

• 250 g butter, softened
• 4 large eggs
• 150 g caster sugar
• 200 g plain flour
• 200 g ground almonds
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 80 ml buttermilk
• 250 g glacé cherries, roughly chopped

All the ingredients should be at room temperature.

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition until fully incorporated. Sift the flour and baking powder directly over the mixture, then add the ground almonds and buttermilk. Fold everything together with a spatula until just combined. Finally, gently fold in the chopped glacé cherries.

Line the base of a 22 cm round cake tin with baking paper. Transfer the thick batter to the tin and level the surface. Sprinkle evenly with the almond crumble (recipe below).

Bake at 180°C for about 1–1½ hours, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Ingredients for almond crumble:

• 70 g butter
• ½ cup ground almonds
• ½ cup plain flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 5 tablespoons demerara sugar

Place all the ingredients into a bowl. Rub them together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the cake before baking.

Enjoy!