Delicious almond sponge with cherries and a layer of gooey marzipan in the centre.
Tomorrow there is a coffee morning at my son’s school, as at many other places around the country, to raise money for Macmillan. I’ll be going along to support the school and this brilliant charity and I’ll be doing my bit by drinking lots of tea and coffee and sampling lots of cake!! This year I’m taking this marzipan and cherry cake as my contribution to the baking.
I’m really hoping my cake this year is more successful than last year’s effort – coffee cake with white chocolate icing. The cake tasted delicious, the problem was that I didn’t put the tin lid on properly. That combined with the fact that I tripped as I was walking out of the front door meant that the cake ended up all over my hall floor rather than in the school hall where it should have been (actually there were three pieces that managed to stay in the tin, but I wasn’t sure I could turn up with three pieces of slightly battered looking cake so I ate them at home!).
Since then I’ve invested in a much sturdier cake tin and I’ll be wearing sensible shoes, so fingers crossed no mishaps tomorrow.
I hope you enjoy it.
Marzipan and Cherry Cake
INGREDIENTS
- 150 g unsalted butter - softened
- 2 large eggs
- 150 g caster sugar
- 150 g self raising flour + a little extra for dusting the cherries
- 150 g ground almonds
- 25 g flaked almonds
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 150 g glacé cherries
- 150 g marzipan
- A little icing sugar – to help roll out the marzipan
RECIPE VIDEO
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan
- Butter and line a deep 18cm cake tin – alternatively I use Delia Bake-O-Glide reusable cake tine liners which don’t need to be buttered
- Beat the butter (150g) and caster sugar (150g) until light and fluffy
- Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after after adding the first egg before adding the second.
- Add the almond extract (1 tsp)
- Fold in the self-raising flour (150g) and ground almonds (150g)
- Prepare the cherries by cutting half (75g) in half, keeping the other half (75g) whole
- In a seperate bowl, sprinkle a little flour over the cherries and mix to lightly coat the cherries – coating the cherries in flour will help to stop them sinking to the bottom of the cake when it bakes
- Fold the cherries into the cake mixture
- Roll out the marzipan (150g) into a circle roughly the same size as the tin – sprinkle a little icing sugar on the worktop and rolling pin to prevent the marzipan from sticking
- Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin and even out the top
- Lay the marzipan on top of the mixture in the cake tin then add the other half of the mixture and even out the top.
- Scatter over the flaked almond (25g)
- Bake for approximately 50 minutes – You can use a skewer to check if it’s done, however a little of the marzipan may stick to the skewer meaning it doesn’t come out clean even when the cake is cooked.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes, remove from the tin and transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely (although the cake tastes delicious eaten warm.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Peanut-Free (contains Tree Nuts)
- Sesame-Free
- Soya-Free
- Fish-Free
- Crustacean-Free
- Mollusc-Free
- Celery-Free
- Mustard-Free
- Lupin-Free
Simon Hayes says
I made this last weekend, but, rather than lasting for 12 portions, I greedily ate it all over the course of just four days. It was very very nice, and I would definitely make it again. Next time though, I would probably add more marzipan in a thicker layer or, as somebody else suggested, I might cut the marzipan into small pieces and mix it into the cake batter.
Kirsteen says
A gear hit with my marzipan loving husban & other guests
David young says
Used this recipe with spare home made marzipan everybody loved it and will use again.
Rosie Webb says
Used this recipe heaps – especially for work morning teas – and had loads of compliments and requests for the recipe. I tell them “I can tell you but then … ”