As yesterday was Father's Day I decided to treat my Dad to this gorgeous rich bundt cake, coffee flavoured with sweet cherries nestling in the batter and more decorating the top. He loved it so much he had several slices for tea, then we each had another slice sat at our beach hut by the seaside, along with a glass of bubbly, before ending the evening with a fish and chip supper. We're such gluttons in my family it's a good thing for our waistlines that Father's Day only comes once a year!
Recipe
My own. Inspired by the cappucino bundt recipe given by Chrysta Wilson in her lovely book Kiss My Bundt. Buy the book on Amazon here.
Serves 10-12
325g gluten free plain flour (Dove's Farm or M&S recommended)
50g ground almonds
185g caster sugar
2 and a half teaspoons gluten free baking powder (Barkart recommended)
3 large eggs, room temperature
165g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 and a half teaspoons vanilla extract
360ml whole milk, room temperature
5 tablespoons instant coffee granules
200g fresh cherries, pitted
1. Heat oven to 180 (160C Fan) and thoroughly grease a 25cm bundt tin. It can be hard to release cakes from bundt tins, but I've discovered that spraying the tin with Lakeland's 'Cake Release' lets them slip smoothly.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, for about 3 minutes.
3. Add the first egg, and beat well before adding the second and then the third into the mixture. Beat again, before throwing in the ground almonds and vanilla extract.
4. Next sieve in half the flour and baking powder, and stir gently with a metal spoon until combined. Then sift in the rest of the flour, and stir again.
5. Mix the milk with the coffee granules in a measuring jug, stirring until the coffee has disolved.
6. Gently stir the coffee milk into the cake batter, until just combined.
7. Pour half the batter over the base of the greased bundt tin, before placing the pitted cherries evenly over the top. Then add the rest of the batter ontop, spread and smooth down with a spatula. Make sure that all the cherries are covered by the batter.
8. Put in the oven to bake for approx 40 minutes. You'll know it's done when a skewer comes out clean.
9. Leave to cool in the bundt tin for at least 10 minutes, before gently and carefully turning the cake out on to a wire rack or plate to cool further.
for the coffee icing:
250g icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons hot water
approx 80g fresh cherries, with stalks and stones intact
10. Sift the icing sugar into a mixing bowl.
11. Combine the coffee with the hot water, and stir until dissolved and cooled a little.
12. Then add a tablespoon of the liquid to the icing sugar, beating it in before adding enough to create a firm but runny consistency. I added a little more liquid than you may wish to, because I really love a runny glace icing!
13. When the cake is cool, spoon the coffee icing over the top of it, letting it drip down the sides, and quickly, while the icing is still wet on the cake, place fresh cherries over the cake, pressing them into the icing to keep them in place. Put the bundt in the fridge to allow the icing to harden for about 20 minutes.
14. Serve with coffee and perhaps a little cream.
This bundt cake was idly baked whilst listening to Portico Quartet's album Knee Deep in the North Sea
