Tangy Cherry and Lemon Cake

Back to a lovely, large cake recipe for this month's blog with a tangy cherry and lemon cake made with yoghurt. This is a wonderfully moist and not oversweet classic for cherry lovers, doused with a lemon drizzle. Using less eggs than an standard Victoria or pound cake recipe and with more yoghurt to add to the tangy flavours. Wonderful for an afternoon tea and the secret to it's success; don't be mean with the cherries!

And when I say mean, I mean 'mean' ....! I had severely underestimated the amount I needed to purchase in a previous cake. I favour 'placing the cherries in the batter' as opposed to mixing them in which is meant to guarantee you getting a bite of the cherry; it was disappointing and you were lucky to get one in a slice. 

So this for friends who love cherries, especially the glacé kind and want a lot please and have been know to pick through fruit cake to hunt them out. I shall not be naming names but you know who you are and I'm glad  you enjoyed this one.

This recipe bakes two loaf style cakes or one large bundt/ring cake.

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

250g   Butter

250g   Caster sugar 

2 Large eggs

180-200g  Plain yoghurt*

260g   Self raising flour

2 large lemons

1 tbsp caster sugar for the lemon drizzle

300 g glacé cherries** (about 1 and half large containers)

*I have used Yeo Valley Yogurt which has a reasonable thick consistency but other yogurts I have used are thinner so you may need to adjust by a few spoonfuls accordingly.

**Glacé cherries- I have tried to be generous with the cherries here and I would encourage you do to the same but again it is personal preference so please adjust if you would prefer.

Method:

Preheat oven 160c/140c Fan/325F/Gas Mark 3.

Cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.  Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Fold in half the flour . Gently stir in the yoghurt and zest of the two lemons. Fold in the rest of the flour. Batter should not be too runny but fall gently off the spoon - adjust with slightly more yoghurt or milk as needed.

Place a layer of the batter in the tin and start to add the cherries; evenly spaced out and repeat this with another layer of batter and more cherries. The batter will rise up over the last layer of cherries so don't worry about pushing them too far in.

Still not enough cherries , imagine a slice and see how many cherries you would get in it !

Bake in the centre of the oven until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. Check after 20 minutes and depending on the type of tin you have chosen lower the oven temperature to 120c if it looks like it is browning too quickly on top. Check with a skewer again if necessary in the centre and leave to cool in tin for 15 mins. 

Make drizzle topping by juicing the 2 lemons- put juice in microwave with a tbsp of caster sugar and heat for a minute. Stir and heat for another minute. Cool slightly . Prick tip of cakes lightly with a fork and brush drizzle generously over cake. Wrap cake in foil/film to maintain moistness.

Strawberry Crusha Cupcakes

The Crusha Cat, Errol, has been spotted with his tongue out by a strawberry bunny cupcake; flavoured with Crusha Milkshake Mix . Who can blame him ? Strawberry  flavour is the next favourite to chocolate in both shakes and cakes in our house.  It's really easy to flavour the cakes and icing with Crusha and as a bonus it gives you a nice moist cake. Simply add 2 to 3 tablespoons of Crusha to the batter and icing and a little bit of food colouring to deepen the colour, so easy and so yummy bunny!

So cute bunny chocolate moulds from ebay. I like these ones with the paws !

Your favourite cupcake recipe, I've posted mine below, plus your Crusha.

Suddenly you may have a lot of bunnies on your plate.....

If strawberry isn't your favourite then lime and raspberry work really well in cupcakes too.

Check the end of the recipe!

Ingredients:

250g   Butter

250g   Caster sugar 

4 Large eggs

260g   Self raising flour

3 - 4 tbsp Crusha Strawberry Mixa

A few drops of  red colouring

Optional inside filling

1 Jar Strawberry Conserve

1 Jar Marshmallow Fluff

500g Icing sugar
250g Butter 

3 - 4 tbsp Crusha Strawberry Mixa

A few drops of strawberry red colouring 

Decorations 

Chocolate bunnies or straws

Method:

Preheat oven 160c/140c Fan/325F/Gas Mark 3.

This makes 18 large muffin type cupcakes.

Cream the sugar and butter together. Beat in the milkshake mix. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the flour . Add colouring to achieve a light red batter. Batter should not be runny but fall off the spoon or ice-cream scoop gently into the cake cases.

Bake in the centre of the oven until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. Check after 20 minutes.

Optional extra: Remove centre and fill with 1/2 tsp  jam or a 1/4 tsp of strawberry marshmallow fluff and a 1/4 tsp jam. Replace cake centres.

Mix simple buttercream, beat butter until soft and creamy and then add icing sugar gradually. If it gets too stiff add some milkshake mix a tbsp at a time. Finally add the colour. Spoon into piping bags and pipe onto cakes, decorate.

No time for chocolate decorations ? Then add a straw along with your Crusha milkshake.

Sweet Bacon and Maple Cupcakes

Cybercandy have been responsible for supplying  some weird and wonderful candy and this sweet bacon is one of their best 'Unusuals'. Well, some people might be happy with a packet of the real stuff but if you're looking for an excuse for cake for breakfast, this could be for you ! Did I tell you  it's not really bacon ?

Despite the fashion for real bits of porky on top of a chocolate cake this is just a nod in that direction; it's actually a strawberry flavoured gummy sweetie - Gummy Bacon. Put it on top of some maple frosting cupcakes and it certainly fooled a few folk. The texture is pretty convincing too and the kids ( including grown up kids) were keen to try. However, Cybercandy have more bacon goodies in store and I found another which may prove a real challenge for some....................

It's gone inside this cute looking cupcake but would you buy it ?

I couldn't resist trying Bacon Frosting but again it's only bacon flavouring in a sweet  frosting. It was a bit overwhelmed by the maple I had already drizzled in the centre. I can't say I'm really a fan compared to the gummy sweet bacon but if curiosity gets  you to try it ; put a bit on a spoon first to taste the subtle bacon flavour. 

Maybe I should have purchased the Bacon Cotton Candy as well ? Not for you ? Try the maple syrup and pour a teaspoon in the centre of your favourite vanilla cupcake recipe  and frost with maple flavoured frosting. Of course, you may like to stick with any sort of cake for breakfast, who am I to argue and in fact, I may have posted this little ditty before for you to sing.