Tag: Almond

Cherry cake

This is adapted from a basic recipe in ‘The complete farmhouse kitchen cookbook’ – now a very old and rebound book with stains on the pages. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 175g margarine or butter – room temperature
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 125g self-raising flour
  • 75g plain flour
  • 50g ground almonds or almond flour
  • 175g glace cherries, washed, dried and cut into halves and quarters

METHOD:

  • Set the oven to 160C, and grease a 18cm square tin or 20cm round tin, and line with baking paper. I have also used a large loaf tin in an emergency, but the square tin works the best
  • Beat the fat and the sugar together to form a cream
  • Beat in the eggs one at a time
  • Sift the flours together and mix in the cherries so they are well coated (this keeps them apart in the cake) then stir in the ground almonds
  • Add the flour/almond/cherry mix to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, and fold until well mixed, and pour into the tin
  • Bake for 1 1/4 hours until firm and slightly shrinking from the sides of the tin

As a PS – if you sprinkle a little demerara sugar on the top just before putting into the oven…

 

 

Frangipane tart

This recipe came to me from my aunt Gill, and I am passing it on at the request of the knitting crew. I am going to have another go at it soon, as I don’t think I have got a proper grip of my current (and new to me) oven. 

You can vary the jam to taste, something slightly tangy works well, such as apricot, raspberry and lemon, rhubarb and fig, cherry, blackberry and apple etcetera. 

PASTRY INGREDIENTS:

  • 60g icing sugar
  • 270g plain flour
  • 135g soft butter
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 to 2 tbsp cream

FRANGIPANE AND JAM FILLING

  • 240g soft butter
  • 240g caster sugar
  • 240g ground almonds
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tbsp + cream
  • 200g jam of your choice
  • flaked almonds
  • icing sugar to dust at the end. 

METHOD

  • Preheat the oven to 200C
  • Mix the flour and icing sugar together and rub in the butter, OR put these ingredients into a food processer and whiz until you have fine breadcrumb texture. Mix in the egg yolk and enough cream to make a very soft dough. Do not over-work, as this will affect the texture of the pastry. 
  • On a well-floured board, roll the dough out to around 1/2 cm thick. Use this to line a 27cm flan dish. The pastry will tear, but it is so soft you can just squish it back together again. 
  • Bake blind: Prick the base with a fork, and then weigh it down with baking beans on a layer of baking paper. Bake for 20 minutes, until the pastry is crisp. I took the beans out after 15 minutes. (I wish I had the silicon bag that I have seen on the television, but not available when I look online).
  • Remove from the oven and allow to cool. The base should be dry and the edges almost crisp. 
  • Make the frangipane filling. Start by whisking the soft butter and the sugar together, then add the ground almonds and the beaten eggs and stir well to combine. 
  • Turn the oven down to 190C. Spread the jam over the pastry case, then pour the frangipane mixture over the jam. Sprinkle with plenty of flaked almonds, and bake for 25 minutes. The filling should be firm and golden brown and the nuts should look slightly toasted. 
  • Cool the tart, and dust with a little icing sugar. 

This is best served with cream.