Cherry Cake

Use up the ingredients at the back of your storecupboard with this simple but tasty bake. It only needs 10 minutes of hands-on time – then the oven does the rest of the work.

Ingredients

200g glacé cherries, roughly chopped
225g self-raising flour, plus 1 tbsp
175g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the tin
175g soft light brown sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
100g ground almonds
2 tbsp flaked almonds

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180c/160c fan/gas 4. Butter and line a 900g loaf tin. Put the cherries in a bowl and toss well with 1 tbsp of flour. Set aside.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little flour in between to stop the mixture curdling. Stir in the remaining flour and ground almonds before combining with the cherries.
3. Spoon into the loaf tin before sprinkling over the flaked almonds. Bake for 1 hr or until golden and a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before slicing to serve.