Think bakewell tart, but better.
Rainy days mean baking days, no?
Our car has been sitting in the car park at our local garage waiting to be looked at for over a week now – the little circle on the dashboard with the exclamation point is staying illuminated while driving and the last time I drove a vehicle and ignored that light I cracked the cylinder in two and we needed to get a new car – oops. Lesson learned!
Our village garage is understaffed as the oil and gas plant up here attracts all the mechanics with better pay. Small businesses can’t compete with them so they’ve lost workers and their workload is high. Still, loyalty means I won’t take the car elsewhere so we just have to sit and wait until they get a chance to look at it.
It also means we’re stuck in the village for the foreseeable future.
Yesterday was the last day of the school summer holiday.
It rained.
We were stuck indoors.
I baked.
I also made a slow cooker roast beef with all the trimmings, a loaf of fresh bread (as all three children have decided they want packed lunches this term) and I pottered about and tidied the house. It was a rather uneventful day, but there was cake, cake made with free range Shetland-grown eggs given to my husband by one of his customers, which was really nice. The vibrant colour of those yolks – it’s just something you don’t get in a supermarket egg. The colour of those yolks shines through in the colour of the sponge layer of these squares.
I’m going through a ‘use everything up in the cupboard before you buy new stuff’ cooking phase, and this recipe was borne out of that. A bag of cherries in syrup was best before the day before, and loads of tail ends of bags were cluttering up space, so inspired by this recipe, I baked a batch of Cherry & Almond Crumble Cake Squares.
They are so good!
A shortbread base is topped with a layer of cherry jam (or in my case, the last four tablespoons out of the bottom of a jar of mixed fruit jam) before having a ground almond cake batter dropped all over it. The soft golden batter is sprinkled with a layer of cherries and then finished off with a knobbly almond and cinnamon crumble topping and baked for an hour or so until a skewer, inserted in the centre, comes out clean.
Just the perfect bake for a rainy day.
Cherry & Almond Crumble Cake Squares
Ingredients
For the shortbread base
- 125 grams plain flour
- 100 grams unsalted butter
- 40 grams caster sugar (or icing sugar)
- pinch salt
- 4 tbsp cherry jam (or mixed fruit with cherry)
For the crumble topping
- 50 grams raw almonds coarsely chopped
- 50 grams dark brown soft sugar
- 40 grams plain flour
- 25 grams unsalted butter melted
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
For the cake batter
- 125 grams unsalted butter
- 125 grams golden caster sugar
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100 grams ground almonds
- 75 grams plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 2 tbsp full fat milk
- 200 grams whole cherries in syrup pitted weight
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C/ gas mark 4/ 160 C fan and grease and line the base of a 9 inch square cake tin with a removable base.
- Prepare the shortbread base by processing the flour, butter, sugar and salt in a food processor until it forms clumps. Press into a thin layer in the bottom of the cake tin and bake for 12 minutes until golden. Set aside to cool.
- Prepare the crumble topping by mixing the almonds, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together. Pour over the melted butter and stir until combined. Set aside.
- Prepare the cake batter by creaming the butter and golden caster sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract.
- Stir in the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and salt and combine well with a wooden spoon. Add the milk to make a soft dropping consistency.
- When the shortbread base has cooled, spread over the cherry jam leaving a 1 cm gap around the edges of the pan so the jam doesn't burn to the pan.
- Gently spoon the cake batter over the top of the jam and smooth over the top.
- Drop the cherries all over the top of the cake batter and then sprinkle with the crumble topping.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes, covering with foil towards the end of baking if you feel the top is browning too much.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cut into 16 squares and store in an airtight container.
LINKING UP WITH A FEW FOOD BLOGGING CHALLENGES
Love Cake by Jibber Jabber UK – theme: picnics
No Waste Food Challenge by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
Simply Eggcellent by Belleau Kitchen
OTHER CRUMBLE CAKE RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE
Banana Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake by Little Sunny Kitchen
Blueberry Cheesecake Crumb Cake by Supergolden Bakes
Rhubarb & Maple Syrup Crumble Muffins by Lancashire Food
Raspberry & Apple Crumble Cake by Foodiequine
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Mum of three, daydream adventurer, OU Life Sciences graduate, occasional crafter, ex-pat Canadian & quite possibly Britain's most northerly food blogger.
Andrew Petrie says
Has the look of Bakewell tart about it – I would guess it’s about as sweet as a cake can get !
Andrew Petrie says
If there is a sweeter dessert than this I haven’t seen it. Definitely one for the kids.
Debbie says
These look delish! could use as an afternoon tea treat or if they are a day old (if they last) serve with custard. mmm
sandra ralph says
oh they look delicious, i am bookmarking this page to try these ones out
Herbert Appleby says
this is an amazing cake
Sarah Cooper says
This looks lovely
Heather Haigh says
Cherry and almonds is one of my favourite combinations, with the crumbly topping those look absulutely gorgeous. mmmm
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
Yummmm! Love the crumble on top.
Anne says
Ooohh!! I love crumble cakes! Every layer looks so delicious, definitely adding to my bake list!!
Food Glorious Food says
Gorgeous and difficult x
Elizabeth says
It’s not difficult at all, I assure you – I’m really quite a lazy baker. I don’t do difficult. 😉
Dom says
rainy day baking always produces the best results!… schools back early no? thesauri stunners i love those cherries, they look like stained glass A lovely link to Simply Eggcellent, thank you x
Alice says
I love this recipe, the look of the cake and especially the shot with the piano in the background – so cool! 🙂
Ness says
I love anything with cherries and almonds so this is right up my street!
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life says
Yum! I could definitely go for a slice of this right now! I love the taste of almond in my baked goods! And cherries are always delicious!
Laura @ KneadWhine says
Goodness me – these look SO delicious. I know a five year old boy who would LOVE it if I made these with him.
Laura says
I love almond cakes. And I love cherries baked into cakes so I would have been fighting your children again for this. It might have been induced by miserable weather but your baking day is attractive in the yummiest of ways 🙂
Bob says
Oh these look lovely! If I was to make them, not how long they would last!
Emily says
As you may know I LOVE anything Bakewell or cherry flavoured. These look and sound amazing x
Choclette says
Ooh that looks so good Elizabeth. The layers give an air of sophistication to the humble traybake. What a shame for the kids that their last day of holidays was a wet one. Luckily they have had a few good adventures this summer.
Jo of Jo's Kitchen says
These look delicious. I love cherries so I might give them ago
Ciara (My Fussy Eater) says
These look delicious. Love the three different layers. And cherries… yummy! Have yummed and pinned!
Sophie (@ Sophie Loves Food) says
The crumble topping sounds great! Such a great idea to use up stuff in the cupboards 🙂
Kristina says
Just showed the photos to my boyfriend and he said we need to try and make some haha
Kristina says
WOW these look delicious!