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.
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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
Audrey says
Sounds and looks delicious. Just wish that English measures were used.
Charlotte Oates says
Can you confirm which measurements you’d like to use? The post is written in grams and there’s a button at the top of the ingredients list marked “US Cups/Ounces) to covert to either US cups or oz.
Karen White says
Absolutely delish and follow along easy!
Chris Craigie says
I loved everything about this very tasty, moist cake, will make it again and again, so good.
Linda says
Just delicious! Easily my favourite cake.
Julia says
I’m a complete amateur at cake making, but even I managed to make a delicious cake using this recipe. I will definitely make it again. Thank you!
Angie says
You mentioned in recipe above to only cut half of the cherries in half and keep the other half whole… I’m not sure what I am supposed to do with the whole glace cherries that are left over … Forgive me if I have overlooked something please let me know ASAP as I would like to make this for someone in the next couple of days thank you so much for a lovely recipe
Charlotte Oates says
When you add the cherries in step 9 of the recipe, you should add the whole and half cherries. Only half are cut to give a variance in size and texture in the finished cake.
Sue says
Thank you Charlotte. I was worried when my cake started to sink in the middle after 5 mins out of oven. It carried on sinking as well! It was delicious and there was no problem with the texture once cool and cut. It was easy to make and I will make it again.
Gillian Kedgley says
Thank you for sharing your gorgeous recipe. I too have made this cake several times now and it’s always is loved.
Susan says
Just taken came out of oven and it looks lovely. Very easy to prepare. I will let you know how it tastes and rates with family tomorrow!
Margot Norris says
Delicious AND works with gluten free from flour.
Gillian White says
Just made this cake. Love Almonds/cherries/& marzipan
This cake is delicious.
Thank you for sharing your recipe with me.
Family loved this. So I made 2 more, one for my son & family, & 1 for daughter & family.
5 stars xxxxx