Cherry and almond loaf (gluten free, dairy free)

This is a good loaf cake for using up any leftover glacé cherries you may have lurking after your Christmas cake/pudding/mincemeat baking. Of course it you have no leftover cherries go by some because this is an amazing cake!

You may notice that the weights are in ounces, except the ground almonds which are in grams, this is because I stole the recipe from my mum.

I took this cake into work to celebrate the fact I passed my viva... 4 years of work but I am now a Dr. Finally I can have a break from reading about science and get baking and blogging.

As always if you do not have an issue with butter or gluten feel free to substitute the DF and GF components with their regular counterparts.

Cherry and almond loaf

6oz dairy free spread (I use pure)
6oz golden caster sugar
3 eggs
tsp almond extract
6oz GF plain flour (I use dove farm)
1/2 tsp xantham gum
4tsp GF baking powder
100g glacé cherries, chopped into 1/2 or 1/4 depending on their size
75g ground almonds

First preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin. Beat the DF spread and sugar until creamy then beat in the eggs one at a time,  followed by the almond extract. Beat in the flour, xantham gum and baking powder until it is just combined. Rinse the cherries and dry on kitchen paper, this prevents them from sinking to the bottom of your cake. Toss the cherries in the ground almonds, this also helps them stop sinking. then fold the cherries and almond into your cake mix until the cherries are evenly distributed.

Transfer the cake mix to your prepared tin and smooth with a spatula. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes (mine took just over 40) until golden and a skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

I took a little mix out of the big loaf tin to make a baby cake for the two of us to eat as a tester before I took the big one to work! Sorry for the dark photo, it was evening. I really need to work on my camera skills, if anyone has any tips do let me know!

Cherry and almond tray bake

It's national baking day, so I had to bake, and looking at my books it was clear which one I had to choose a recipe from, after all Mary Berry is the queen of baking!

I decided on a traybake, simple, uncomplicated, quick and delicious. The traybake I decided on was cherry and almond, a classic flavour combination.

 Now I did make a few tweaks, normally I would not tweak Mary's recipes but I am on a budget at the moment (3 weddings to go to in 1 month is expensive!) so I used what I had in the cupboards and did not buy extras apart from the cherries. I think Mary would approve of my thrifty-ness. 

Cherry and almond traybake

225g glacé cherries, my pack was 200g, I used 200g.

225g soft butter

225g caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla paste or extract

Tsp almond extract

4 eggs

50g ground almonds

250g self raising flour

Tablespoon of milk

Flaked almonds for topping, I had none but chopped up a few whole almonds

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN, and grease and line a traybake tin.

Chop the cherries into quarters, rinse well with cold water before draining and drying on kitchen paper (or clean tea towel), set aside.

Add all the other ingredients to a bowl except the almonds and mix for a minute until well combined, fold through the cherries.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and level the top. Scatter over the almonds. Bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes until golden and beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tin.

Yum, a classic flavour combination and a delicious cake, happy world baking day!

Almond bakewell cookies

I enjoy reading the alpha bakes round up each month and often get inspiration from it. This month I high-tailed it straight over to Liv a little bakery after seeing her almond cookies.

They looked amazing. I made them a day later. I did not change the recipe apart from to add a handful of chopped glace cherries and omit the cinnamon. Oh and I made 24 instead of 12, as no matter how big the cookie I will ALWAYS go back for a second, and so at least if I make them a little smaller it is not so bad. The recipe can be found here.

These cookies are delightful. The texture is light with a slight chew in the centre and the flavour is just the right amount of almond. They are lovely with a cup of tea, be warned they will not last long, even if you do decide to make them smaller!

Cherry pie with streusal topping

Confession time, I wanted dessert, but I was supremely tired, that, combined with the fact that the supermarket had ready rolled pastry on offer, forced my hand. I bought my shortcrust, even though I can make it quickly I wanted desert quicker!

This recipe was inspired by The Bakery Girls by Florence Ditlow, this months cupcake book club read.

I used two mini tart tins to make to individual pies. The fridge is literally fit to bursting, there is no way I could store leftover pie if I had made a large one.

Mini cherry pies

makes 2


Shortcrust pastry, homemade or shop bought
200g of cherries
2 tablespoons of cherry jam (I actually used plum jam that needed using)
15g plain flour
1/2 tsp cinamon
10g butter
20g light brown sugar


Preheat the oven to 200C/180C FAN. De stone the cherries.

Line the tins with the pastry and bake for 10 minutes, There is no need to blind bake, just pop the tins in as they are. 


While the pastry is in the oven put the jam into a pan with 1 tablespoon of water and stir until the jam is meted. Add the cherries and cook for a few minutes.


For the streusal topping combine the flour and cinnamon in a bowl . Cut the butter into the flour using a knife, or rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the sugar.


To assemble the pies place spoonfuls of the cherries into the pie cases , topping with the syrupy jam.

 Sprinkle a good handful of the topping onto each pie.

Bake in the oven for  further 15-20 minutes, until the topping is golden and crunchy.
Serve immediately with plenty of ice cream!

If you wanted to make 1 big pie I would multiply the recipe by 4. 


This pie was lovely, comfort dessert at its best. I particularly loved the warm syrupy cherries with crunchy topping.