Cherry beer cake
Ingredients:
400 g cherries
230 g plain flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, at room temperature
450 g granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3,5 dl cherry-beer (or wheat-beer), plus 2 tbsp extra (see tips below)
2 tbsp butter, melted
125 g icing sugar
Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Grease and flour a 24-cm cake pan.
2. Arrange cherries in the bottom of cake pan Reserve a few chopped cherries to decorate the cake at the end.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs on high speed for about 3 minutes, until thick and light in colour. Beat in the sugar, one-quarter a time, until combined, then add the vanilla extract. Using a large spatula, fold the flour mixture into the egg and sugar mixture.
5. Heat the beer just until bubbles begin to rise around the edge of the pan. Add the warm beer to the batter, along with melted butter, stirring gently to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, being careful not to dislodge cherries. (The batter will appear to be thin.) Sprinkle the reserved cherries over the top of the batter (they will sink to the bottom).
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Do not over-bake. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, and loosen cake around the inner and outer edges of the pan with a thin spatula. Invert onto a large platter and let cool to room temperature.
7. Whisk together the icing sugar and the 2 extra tablespoons of beer until smooth. Scrape the icing into a zip-lock bag and squeeze out the air. Snip a tiny corner from the bottom of the bag and drizzle the icing in between the rows of cherries.