Name: Morello cherry & almond traybake
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: Cuts into 24
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 300g butter softened, plus extra for greasing; 300g golden caster sugar; 375g self-raising flour plus extra for dusting; zest 1 lemon (save the juice for the icing); 85g ground rice or ground almonds; 4 eggs lightly beaten; 25g marzipan chilled until firm, then grated; 2 tsp almond extract; 1 tsp baking powder; 3 tbsp whole milk; 200g morello glacé cherries washed, dried and quartered; 500g fondant icing sugar; juice 1 lemon (from the lemon above); 50g marzipan; red and green food colouring gels (we used Dr Oetker)

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Morello cherry & almond traybake

Morello cherry & almond traybake

Nancy Birtwhistle

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Cuts into 24

More effort

Prep: 40 mins

Cook: 35 mins

A star rating of 4.7 out of 5.6 ratingsRate

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This fruity cake uses ground rice and almond extract for a cheaper bake - perfect for a cake sale or as a teatime treat

Freezable (un-iced)

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Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

300g butter

softened, plus extra for greasing
300g golden caster sugar
375g self-raising flour

plus extra for dusting
zest 1 lemon

(save the juice for the icing)
85g ground rice

or ground almonds
4 eggs

lightly beaten
25g marzipan

chilled until firm, then grated
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp whole milk
200g morello glacé cherries

washed, dried and quartered

For the icing and decoration

500g fondant icing sugar
juice 1 lemon

(from the lemon above)
50g marzipan
red and green food colouring

gels (we used Dr Oetker)

Keep the screen awake with cook mode on the Good Food app.

Nutrition: per piece

kcal334
fat14g
saturates7g
carbs48g
sugars36g
fibre1g
protein4g
salt0.4g

Method

step 1

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line a large square traybake tin, about 28 x 28cm, with baking parchment. Put all the cake ingredients (apart from the cherries) in a large mixing bowl or tabletop mixer and beat together until thoroughly combined. Toss the cherries in a little flour, then fold them into the cake mixture using a spatula. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 mins until the cake is golden brown, springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin.
step 2

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then add the lemon juice and enough water to make a thick yet fairly fluid icing. Transfer 3 tbsp of the icing to a small bowl and set aside. Spoon the remaining icing over the cooled cake – it should be liquid enough to level itself out; if not, use a knife to smooth it. Knead the marzipan to soften it, then incorporate enough red food colouring to turn it bright red. Roll into 48 cherry balls.
step 3

When the icing is almost set, place 2 balls directly next to each other on the icing, in rows of 4, with enough space between each to cut 24 equal pieces. Colour the reserved icing with green food colouring, then transfer to a piping bag fitted with a very fine nozzle, or simply snip off the end, and pipe cherry stalks next to the marzipan balls. When all the icing is completely set, take the cake out of the tin and cut into 24 pieces.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, February 2015

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A star rating of 4.7 out of 5.6 ratings

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