Bake Off Bake Along: Week 8 - Cherry, Marzipan & Pistachio Cake

If you haven't already guessed I wasn't entirely enamoured with Tudor week. I didn't fancy making a pie, knotted biscuits or fussing around with twiddling some marzipan over a cake. So I took it upon myself to boycott Henry VII and made a cake instead, with marzipan baked in. Sorry Henry. But...this cake is super moist as it uses ground almonds, and is the perfect balance to the cherries and pistachio. 

I couldn't find any fresh cherries in my local supermarket so opted for frozen ones and left them to defrost and dry out, before a good flour coating in a bid to stop them from sinking to the bottom of the cake as much as possible. I even added some on the very top, but they still sunk a little. Any tips to stop this baking experts?

C H E R R Y,   M A R Z I P A N   &   P I S T A C H I O   C A K E
(Recipe adapted from Delicious, serves 12)

300g cherries, pitted and finely chopped

150g marzipan, chopped into small chunks

150g self raising flour, plus 1tbsp extra

225g unsalted butter, softened

185g caster sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1tsp almond extract

4 eggs

100g ground almonds

1tsp baking powder

50g pistachios, roughly chopped

icing sugar to dust

1. Heat the oven to 170 degrees and grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin.
2. Mix both the marzipan and cherries with the 1tbsp of flour, this will help them to not sink in the cake during baking. Set aside.
3. Beat the butter, sugar and zest together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Gently fold in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Fold in half of the cherries and marzipan and pour into the prepared springform tin. Add the remaining cherries and marzipan on the top and gently press into the top of the mixture.
5. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes before turning down the heat to 160 degrees and baking for a further 50 minutes. Once cooked, a skewer inserted into the middle will come out clean.
6. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning out and leaving to cool fully.
7. Top with chopped pistachios and dust with icing sugar to finish.

F O L L O W   M Y   B A K E   O F F   B A K E   A L O N G...

     

Week 1 - Jaffa Cakes
Week 2 - Iced Doughnut Biscuits
Week 3 - Chocolate Twist Babka
Week 4 - Giant Churros
Week 5 - Cherry Bakewell Tart
Week 6 - Brownie Bottomed Coffee Mousse Cake
Week 8 - Cherry, Marzipan and Cherry Cake

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