Whilst doing my occasional purge of ancient condiments and out of date foods in the fridge I found a part used jar of bottled cherries. These things are very sweet but delicious on ice cream or with chocolate cake. This time my thoughts turned to "cherry cake" swiftly followed by "coconut"!
I used one of my favourite coconut recipes from the Waitrose website which you can see here. I've previously adapted it to make a delicious coconut and lemon cake which you can see here.
I rinsed, dried and quartered the cherries, a process which I find a bit tedious which is why I've given the cake two stars for the faffing about. It’s not hard to do, just always takes longer than you think!
The mixture turned out stiffer than I remember so I had to add a splash of milk if I was ever going to get it into the tin. The good bit about that is that the cherries didn't all sink to the bottom of the cake!
Anyway, it turned out really well, was a lovely cake, with a good coconut flavour, a crisp crust, moist with a Madeira-like texture and little hits of the very sweet cherries. Perfect for a "not quite Spring yet" cup of tea in the warm afternoon sunshine.
It was very much appreciated in my watercolour class where we were painting snowdrops and everyone had a second slice!
Ingredients
175g unsalted butter, softened
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
1/4 tsp coconut flavouring (optional)
175g self raising flour
100g dessiccated coconut
100g bottled or glacé cherries
a splash of milk if needed
Method
Butter and line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin or use a paper liner. Preheat the oven to 180°C /160°Fan / gas mk 4.
Rinse the cherries well and pat dry with kitchen paper. Cut into quarters. Put about a tablespoon of the measured flour into a small bowl and tip the cherries in. Roll them around in the flour with a spoon so that they are well coated in flour. This should help to avoid them all sinking to the bottom of the cake (although sometimes they do even though I have done this step!).
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar using a hand mixer, until light and fluffy.
In a jug, beat the eggs with the coconut flavouring and then add a dribble at a time to the creamed mixture along with a little flour, beating well with each addition.
Fold in the remaining flour, then the coconut and cherries. If the mixture seems very stiff, mix in a splash of milk to loosen it. Spoon into the tin and level the top.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, covering with foil after 30 minutes, until done.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Cuts into 8-10 generous slices.
(Leftover slices are nice served warm as a pudding with custard!)
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