In far-off Minnesota, my favorite blogging baker and bon vivant, Eileen of Passions to Pastry, posted a recipe that called to me: rustic rhubarb – almond cake. (Full disclosure: all of Eileen’s recipes call to me.) But a trip to my over-harvested, under-watered rhubarb patch showed me that a substitution was in order. Dry, stringy, tough rhubarb has little appeal in any recipe or for any palate.
As luck would have it, my friends Beth and Pam had just returned from eastern Washington, where cherry orchards abound and fruit stands are aplenty. When they handed me a 20-pound corrugated treasure chest of organic Rainier cherries, I do believe I teared up. (They say “whimpered.”)
With a fridge full of Rainier cherries at my disposal, a little recipe modification was in order. Rather than rhubarb, Rainier cherries would be the crown jewels in this cake recipe. (Thanks Mom and sis for the fine pitting job!)
Rainier Cherry-Almond Cake
Try this recipe with any seasonal fruit; I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. Oh, and thank you Eileen; bake on, bake on!
Ingredients
• 1 cup (2 sticks) room-temp. unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 pound cherries (Rainier are my favorite, and any fruit works)
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup almond meal/flour (either works)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Butter 10″ springform pan. Pit cherries. (Take your time and later warn guests of possible pits.) Set aside, make batter.
3. Mix dry ingredients flour, almond, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a mixer or mixing bowl, add 1 cup butter and 3/4 cup sugar, beat until light and fluffy, say 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to blend first egg before adding second. Scrap the bowl as you go. Beat until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
5. Reduce speed and slowly add dry ingredients, followed by yogurt. Beat, scrape down the sides of bowl as needed. Fold in half of the cherries into the batter.
6. Smooth batter springform pan, and add remaining cherries on top. Sprinkle with 2-3 Tablespoons of sugar.
7. Bake for about an hour. And check doneness my placing toothpick in the cake to see if it comes out clean.
Let it cool before serving.
Perfection and oh my, how I would love a taste.
Funny you should post this because last week I made a sour pie cherry upside down cake and it was fab.
That looks wonderful. I’m off to find some cherries. Thank you so much!
Hmm… now if I could only find a source for Rainier cherries 😉
We have Rainier Cherries at our grocery store here in Phoenix. Must make this tomorrow!
Tom, in step 3 it calls for baking powder but doesn’t give an amount in the ingredients list. Help!
Sorry Doug, I just corrected that; it should have shown 1 teaspoon.
That looks SO delicious, Tom. The recipe for the batter sounds really good too. Lucky you that you have help with the pitting!
A few years ago I went cherry picking with several women in Tehachapi, CA because a friend had many trees with ripe cherries, so and before the birds ate them all, we were invited to pick them for free. The birds know when they’re ripe, trick is to time it perfectly. Here we were about 6 women with our step stools and ladders filling buckets of cherries at 6 AM on a beautiful day — it was a lot of fun. The downside for me is that I mentioned that I would be making jam, and that’s when I was given extra buckets of surplus cherries the women picked so I could make some jam for them. Keep in mind, I’ve made every jam under the sun, but not cherry jam. I didn’t even own a cherry-pitter, so with just a paring knife I spent hours and hours pitting cherries to make jam. All I could say was, what was I thinking? Boring, tedious and not fun at all.
The jam turned out great but my hands were stained completely black. Funny, because the same group of women went out for brunch two days later and my hands were still black, and they said you can’t go out with black hands, so we had to soak my hands in bleach for about half an hour before going out. Making cherry jam for *other people* is on my top ten list of things I will never do again. 🙂
Funny story Cindy, and I hear you. Most folks don’t know how much time is involved in making a good jam. I hope you were spoiled with some reciprocal goodies or at least lunch out for your labors. Plus cherries don’t have much pectin so it’s hard to get a good set with them.
What a great looking rustic cake. Can’t wait to attempt one with fresh cherries -perhaps even sour cherries if I can find any at the farmer’s Market.
Rob, sour cherries sound like a great option. I’m going to try the cake using apricots, this weekend.
[quote]Thanks for visiting Tall Clover Farm, hopefully my search for beauty, truth, wisdom and good pies will enrich your day or appetite as the case may be. Here’s to the wonder of summer, the gift of sunshine, and the time and good sense to enjoy it all.[/quote]
Hi Tom,
your website is a perfect frame for a lovely summerday like this (here in Austria at least)!
And yes!, your recipies and humor are clearly enriching ones day and appetite… 😉
smiles and sun,
Mica
Thank you Mica. How fun to hear a voice from such a beautiful corner of the world. I, too, am enjoying this sunny day, putting up poultry netting and fencing, watering orchard trees, and sneaking in a siesta in after lunch. Thank you for the kind words and visit!
Just baked this and my New York apartment smells heavenly! Thank you for this!
i have a lot of rainier cherries i would like to make some cherry jam but cain’t fine a recipe using rainier cherry juice can you help me .thank you
Hi Elaine, sure, this is the one I use, but I add raspberries for dark pink jam color:
Place everything in a non-reactive bowl, and let it sit overnight, covered with parchment paper.
Next day simmer contents in thick bottomed stock pot or deep saute’ pan.
Simmer lightly, and stir regularly to precent scorching on pan’s bottom.
After 30 minutes, remove from heat and let cool.
Later return to heat and simmer once again, until jam thickens.
Jar up when as thick as you like.
I’ll do a blog post in the coming months and show everyone this recipe, step by step.
Cheers
Good luck,
Tom
Thanks Tom,do you cand them in a water bath and for how long thanks
Yes, I leave 1/2-inch head space, and water bath boil for 15 minutes.
Hi Tom – would you be able to post this recipe in the body of this page, rather than at a link? This has long been one of our favorite recipes for using summer fruits! I’d love to make it this weekend but I don’t have the recipe written down as I’d usually just gone to the link. Thank you!
Of course Michele, and I’m so sorry the recipe link was broken. It appears the recipe widget I was using is now defunct. I better get to work. 😉 I’ll go find the recipe and write it down and place it on this page. Thank you, and sorry about the lost link.
Cheers, Tom