Cherry Cake

wash the cherries to get rid of all the gunk then dry them on kitchen paper, and roll them in a LITTLE flour. the cherries usually sink to the bottom of the cake because the gunk makes a heavy fruit heavier. at school we were taught to chop them up before washing and when dried pop them in a plastic bag and add a little flour. give the bag a good shake to evenly coat fruit and that should do the trick.

I don't have a recipe handy but here are some tips:

- Fruit preserved in syrup can slip through the batter. To prevent this rinse the fruit and dry it thoroughly.

- Dust the fruit with flour before folding it into the batter. Just a fine coating of flour a with help the fruit remain suspended in the batter.

If you have the oven at the right temperature (not too low) and have the correct amount of leavening agent everything should work out okay. If it still does not, get a good thermometer and make sure the oven temperature is accurate.