Sour Cream Cherry Cake

Sour Cream Cherry Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups self raising flour

1 ¼ cups caster sugar

1 cup sour cream ( soured cream if you are in the UK)

2 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup cherries (pitted and sliced in half)

Directions:

mix the dried ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate bowl mix the sour cream vanilla and eggs. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix thoroughly .

fold in the cherries.

spook the mix into a cake pan (grease and flour if needed. I used a non-stick pan)

bake for 40 - 50 min at 350 F (180 C )

cook's notes: the cake turned out great for being a lazy stir in sort of cake... by lazy I mean that it was cold out and I was out of butter and I have made muffins before with yogurt/sour cream so I googled around to find some recipes to read through then did my own thing. I do that rather a lot. Everyone enjoyed the cake so it worked out great... but I'm really going to have to do the shopping today. The cherries did sink but that didn't bother me or anyone else that had a slice. :o)

I best go get some house cleaning done before lunch and cooking Thanksgiving dinner... its a chicken this year as it was lurking in the freezer as we are having a low key holiday season this year... its been a long year and everyone needs a break.

Shirley Temples (Day 21)

When I was a kid whenever we would go out to dinner (and it wasn't Vietnamese, Japanese, or Mexican) I would always order Shirley Temples to drink. Every time we visit the states and go out to dinner I still order Shirley Temples and so far nobody has told me I'm too old to order a kid's drink. A few days ago while doing the shopping it occurred to me that I could make my own Shirley Temples, so I wandered round till I found grenadine and 7up and had a stupid grin on my face when Matt asked why I was buying red syrup.


ingredients:
• 7up or any lime flavoured pop/soda
• Dash or two of grenadine
• Maraschino (cocktail) cherries
• ice

Directions:
Fill a glass with ice.
Pour 7up (lime soda) over the ice.
Add a dash or two of grenadine and stir.
Garnish with the maraschino cherries.

enjoy!

cook's notes: some recipes call for ginger ale but to me the simplest thing is the best, plain 7up. For a more adult drink you can add vodka, but I'm not a big drinker and the kid in me wants sugar and cherries. H wont drink any but he likes making them with me and always steals a cherry or two, the jar is almost empty!

basil leaves optional, I thought they added a bit of contasting colour!

Morello Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes

Morello Cherry Bakewell cupcake

Morello Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes recipe (a work in progress)
ingredients
1 1/4 cups self raising flour
1 cup ground almonds
1 ½ cup caster (white) sugar
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (softened)
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoons almond extract

1 jar morello cherry conserve (or other cherry jam)
½ cup flaked almonds
Paper muffin cases

Put the flour, ground almonds, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl. In another bowl mix the vanilla and milk together.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl.

Add half the flour mixture and beat until well blended.

Add half the milk and the vanilla and beat until well mixed.

Add the eggs one at a time mixing well between additions.

Add the remainder of the flour mixture and blend thoroughly.

Add the remainder of the milk and vanilla.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases, filling them ¾ full, put a spoonful of morello cherry conserve (jam) on top of the cake batter (it will sink down) and sprinkling a few almonds on top of the cherry conserve.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180 C until it springs back when you touch them.

Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes, then turn out of pan and onto a rack to finish cooling completely. Serve with custard, cream or ice cream.


cook's notes: the recipe is a work in progress, I have been playing about with it, as my first attempt the batter was too thin and the jam sunk to the bottom of the cake, but this recipe it only nearly sunk to the bottom (as you can see in the photo) there is just enough cake to keep the bottom dry. I could have tired the easy way and baked the cakes without the jam and then cut them to add the jam to the top but that wouldn't have nearly been as much fun. I'll keep you posted on any further baking experiments...

p.s. I know I'm terribly behind on blog posts, but I will make it up to you I promise, there will be another giveaway soon, and there is also a sale on in my etsy shop if anyone is interested to have a look round before I close the shop down for awhile.