Need ideas of how to put cherries to use

Dee,

check out

- Tuesday's paper always has a foodie section and today's had "what to do with cherries" - how to eat and drink them. The recipes are always fairly simple but usually pretty good.

cheers Viviane

Another idea might be my recipe below for a chocolate cherry pound cake...I usually get good reviews when I make it:

Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter, room temperature

250g sugar

4 large eggs (250g)

180g plain flour

60g unsweetened cocoa (Valrhona)

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 Tablespoons Kirsch

@ 1 cup milk or buttermilk*

1 ? 2 cups fresh pitted cherries

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Line a 22cm springform (or plain) cake tin with baking paper and butter & flour as normal.

Beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy and sugar is completely incorporated.

Whisk together the eggs, add to the sugar and butter mixture and beat on medium speed until smooth.

Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking powder.

Add half the dry ingredients to butter mixture and beat on low speed until smooth.

Add the Kirsch and milk/buttermilk followed by the remaining flour mixture.

Fold in the cherries.

Pour the batter into the greased and lined cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 ? 1.25 hours or until a cake skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Decorate dusted with cocoa or icing sugar.

Alternatively, melt a little white couverture and pipe in a criss-cross pattern on the top of the cake.

Serve plain or with Kirsch flavoured whipped cream.

• If using buttermilk, you could substitute 1 teaspoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon baking soda for the baking powder in the recipe.

Wow, that recipe for Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake looks like it's to die for!! Before I make it, could you let us know if the texture of that pound cake is slightly fluffy, dense, or very dense? From the baking powder, it looks like it's slightly fluffy?

Thanks!

Lorena,

it's not super light and fluffy but it's not dense and heavy either. The texture is reasonably light but is quite rich and buttery as you'd expect a pound cake to be. It is quite yummy, I must say. Very nice served with a little cream or vanilla yoghurt for dessert (oh yeah, chocolate sauce flavoured with cherry brandy doesn't hurt either).

cheers Viviane

Make perogis! There are a ton of recipes out there for basic pirohi/pyrohi/pierogi doughs. Just put a couple of cherries in the dumplings and boil. Serve with a reduction of the juice from the preserves and sour cream. Yum.

-Jay