Sunday, May 10, 2009

Sour Cherry Cake

Spring is in the air, so says Meeta and so, we listened. A is ever-ready to bake. Always. Every night. And when I mentioned that Meeta had an event and we had to bake a cake. A sprang (no pun intended :D) upon the idea and raided the Farmer's Market for berries. While we went looking for berries, we came back with some cherries. We initially thought of baking Mahanandi's Chocolate Cherry cake- a winner of a recipe which has been tried and eaten umpteen number of times by me. A, very obviously, wanted to try out something else and also use our hardly used bundt/tube cake pan (I'm not even sure if that is what it is!)

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The cake was moist, speckled with cherries, made for a great dessert after an Enchilada meal :D Here is the recipe. Its as easy as a cake can be!

Ingredients

1 c AP flour (set aside 2 tbsp separately to coat the cherries)
1/2 c chopped cherries
1/2 c + 2 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c sour cream
1/4 c milk
5 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp b.soda
1/2 tsp b.powder

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1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Melt the butter and allow it to cool. In a separate bowl, toss the cherries with 2 tbsp of flour.

3. In the meantime, beat the eggs, one at a time with an electric beater. After adding the third egg, add the sugar gradually and beat well at medium speed until creamy.

4. Add the melted butter slowly. Beat for another two minutes.

5. Whisk the sour cream and milk in a bowl. Sift the leavening agents and the flour alternately with sour cream/milk. If you still see lumps, take a whisk and beat the batter until they disappear.

6. Fold in the cherries gently. Do not beat.

7. Pour the batter into the fluted pan and bake for about 25 mins. or until a skewer comes out clean. Take it out of the oven immediately. Invert it on to a flat plate and let it cool completely.

8. Run a knife along the edges and try to pry it if it doesn't want to come out. This is exactly what happened with ours as the cherries sank to the bottom. But well, it still tasted good ;)

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However, we had a couple of problems. One, the cake was REALLY soft and was tough to take out without breaking it! And two, though we dusted the cherries with flour per popular baking advice, they still sank to the bottom. There were a few in the middle of the cake too, but nothing on the top! We do realize that the more liquidy the batter is, the more the cherries sink. And thicker the batter, lesser they sink. But, still, we'd like to know if we should know something else about sinking berries or cherries!

Oh, like we mentioned, this goes to Meeta of What's for Lunch, Honey? for Monthly Mingle # 32. This month, we are celebrating the season's offerings! And this cake is a great cake for any and all sorts of berries. Do let us know if you try it! And hey, try it!

41 comments:

Indhu said...

cool cake.. I have been meaning to bake something for Meeta's challenge... should buy something from the farmer's market soon :)

Archana said...

This cake looks so soft and so moist and so ready to be eaten up...yummmmmm...

Manju said...

nice n moist!!

Parita said...

Lovely moist cake..looks very inviting..perfect dessert :)

Savi-Ruchi said...

Boy!!, this looks so soft & absolutely delicious. Great job A & N

Deeba PAB said...

Love it...& yes, it's a bundt pan! Looks wonderful. Yes, a thicker batter means better distribution. Very YUM!!

SJ said...

YYAAAYY!! big pictures!! No way I am showing this to J - the man won't leave me in peace!! It looks soo good!!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

LOL! I spring for Spring too! love blueberries and this is perfect of the mingle!

Soma said...

The Cherry in the cake sounds really good. I don't care where the cherries sunk as long as i find them :-D

chef and her kitchen said...

Lovely cake...Just perfect for spring...

The Caked Crusader said...

Cake looks yummy!
It doesn't matter if the cherries sink as any cake in a Bundt is flipped for serving - hence, as your photos show, the lovely cherries are visible (and looking extremely delicious!).

Lisa Turner said...

That cake looks just gorgeous. I adore cherries. In fact, I just got finished pitting a bunch of them. Messy and tedious job, but worth the effort. Mine are going into a berry soup.

Jaime said...

those cherries are just calling my name! yum

Cham said...

Your cake is super moist and sink or or not I love those cheeries :)

Shreya said...

looks delicious! love the second pic.. an oven is all i need to start baking:-(

Bong Mom said...

wants to bake every day ? What is he, domestic diva ? Great cake, let cherries sink, this is fab

samahita said...

This is a great recipe. The cake looks delectable. I have blogrolled you. Hope you do the same.

bee said...

i've found that dusting with flour does not prevent things from sinking to the bottom. it's the consistency of the batter that determines that. if it's a thinner batter, it will sink.

that is a bundt pan. remember "my big fat greek wedding" where the lady sticks a flower pot in the cake because "it has a hole"? lol.

Pooja said...

Yummy cake..Look soft and lovely..

Bianca said...

Wow! That looks freakin' delish! Seriously. I just ate a slice a vegan bundt cake that someone brought to work today and this reminds of it. It had coconut instead of cherries...but I can imagine the taste was very similar. Yummmy!

veggievixen said...

yum! this sounds so good! i love the idea of sour cherries in sweet things.

Varsha Vipins said...

Oh..n am lovvvvving the look of it..so good..:)

amna said...

This. Looks. So. Good. I couldn't care less about the sinking cherries cuz look how pretty the cake looks upside down :)

Sharmi said...

very beautiful looking cake! I wish I could have a bite:)

suvi said...

oh such a yum looking cake...and hey I 'd never have guess that the cherruies sank, I can see plenty of them!

Elle said...

Lovely cake..delicate looking, too. The only thing you might try with the cherries is to cut them in halves or quarters before flouring...makes each piece of cherry lighter, so less likely to sink to the bottom. I think it looks pretty with the cherries around the Bundt top.

Vegetarian Zest said...

I just love the picture of it. I'm sure the cake would have tasted delicious.

AnuSriram said...

Looks so nice and delicious! Just love it!

Deepthi Shankar said...

that looks sooo good

Rahin said...

looks very very moist n soft n delicious :D

Chef Jeena said...

Looks really tasty I love the light dusting of powdered sugar. :-)

Indian Khana said...

Your cake still looks nice...and yum...nice entry

♥Rosie♥ said...

Oh I love this cake - any chance of a slice ;0) The sinking cherries, you'd never know looking at these wonderul pics.

Yep its a bundt pan too.

Rosie x

Anonymous said...

yumm! I think I would call this "Pucker up" cake! haha!

anudivya said...

A&N... got roasted carob powder in the flour/baking section. The place where they have the small Bob Mills packages.
If you can't find them, it is totally okay to use regular unsweetened coco powder.

The cake is very light and pretty awesome.

Bharti said...

lovely cake! I've never baked using cherries before.

TBC said...

That is a very pretty looking cake and the pics are lovely too.:)

Cakelaw said...

This looks spectacular! I love a cherry cake. Sadly, fresh cherry season has passed us by, so we are back to their frozen cousins.

Sujatha said...

Bread looks so good, especially the last picture is so soft and am tempted to take a bite of it!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Great job, A! I love the photo of the turned out bundt cake!
~ingrid

A_and_N said...

Wow, thanks so much for taking the time to comment! We certainly enjoyed this cake :)