Crunchy Cherry Cake

I'm afraid this was snaffled before any pictures could be taken as I made it for an afternoon tea party. However, you can rest assured that it was delicious and looked wonderful! It's a basic cake recipes with added cherries and ground rice for the crunch. I find it best if you have an electric beater to beat the sugar and butter in the first instance and beat for about 5 minutes. It sounds like a lot, but it's an easier way of knowing you've done it long enough than just looking out for it being "light and fluffy".


Crunchy Cherry Cake

Serves 10-12

Time taken around an hour


175g butter, softened

175g caster sugar

175g self-raising flour, sieved (or you can seive it directly into the cake bowl later)

3 medium eggs

25g ground rice

Juice of small lemon (or use just over half of a bigger one)

125g glace cherries, chopped


Preheat oven to 180C


* First thing to do is wash and dry your cherries. This is supposed to help against them sinking. Mine invariably still do, but your mileage may vary!

* Beat the butter and caster sugar for 5 minutes

* Add the eggs one at a time and beat a little in between each one

* Fold in the flour and ground rice with a spoon, a third of the ingredients at a time

* Add the lemon juice and cherries and mix them all together with the spoon

* Put into a tin (I used a loaf tin) and level the surface with the spoon

* Bake in the oven. Time varies hugely depending on the type of tin you use; mine took 45 minutes, which I think is a good standard time. That said, I did put some of the mixture into extra muffin tins because I had too much. Start with 45 minutes and go from there.

* Leave to cool for a few mintes before turning out onto a wire rack for it to cool completely.