Cherry and almond sponge

I’ve now made this a few times, and haven’t repeated the success of the first. It’s still pretty good. The first one had a really great boozy taste off it, despite the fact that there is none in it.

Cherry and almond sponge

500g cherries, stoned (this is head wreakingly time consuming. Stick with it). I also used peaches for version #2.

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

85g castor sugar

The zest and most of the juice of an orange

For the sponge

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons of castor sugar

A lot of almond essence. This is where my recreation problems lie as I didn’t measure how much I put in. Try 2 dessertspoons and hope.

The rest of the orange juice – say a teaspoon or so

75ml of cream

3 tablespoons of flour

Turn the oven onto 180°.

In a hot frying pan, cook the cherries, lemon juice and sugar for about 5 minutes until the cherries release their juice.

I poured these into an oblong dish, about 20x13cm.

Beat the eggs and the sugar for about 5 minutes until they are light and fluffy. Pour in the almond essence towards the end of the beating. Whisk in the cream and then fold in the sifted flour with a metal spoon.

Pour this over the cherries and bake for about 20 mins until browned. If anything, I think that the first version of this was a little under cooked. Sprinkle a little icing sugar on top to make it look pretty.

This is the peach and almond sponge - I think I could have
cooked the fruit off a little more to get more juice

When I made the peach version, I doubled the sponge mixture, but it was too much. The glory of this dessert is the fruit! Also, make sure you cook the fruit enough in the pan to get the juices released. This one was a little dry. 

I served this with a little freshly whipped cream.