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Ingredients:

Cherry Pound Cake:

1 cup (200 grams) candied red and/or green cherries, rinsed of syrup, patted dry, and cut into small pieces

1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon (4 grams) baking powder

1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) kosher salt

3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature (cut into chunks)

3 large eggs (150 grams out of shell), at room temperature

3 tablespoons (40 grams) milk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) pure almond extract

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Instructions:

Cherry Pound Cake: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3 inch (21 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 7.5 cm) loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter or spray the paper.

Place the candied cherries in a bowl, and toss with about 1 tablespoon of the flour.

Then, in the bowl of your electric stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), place the remaining flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed until combined. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened and have a mealy consistency (looks and feels like wet sand). (Batter will start to form clumps.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix (on low speed) until batter is smooth. Then increase the mixer speed to medium high and beat for one minute to aerate and develop the cake's structure. Add the milk, vanilla extract, almond extract, and candied cherries and mix to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for about 60 to 65 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Rotate your loaf pan front to back about halfway through baking. (The cake will crack down the center.) If you find the cake browning too much as it bakes, cover with a piece of foil.

Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 - 15 minutes. Then remove the cake from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

The Pound Cake can be covered and stored for several days at room temperature, for one week when refrigerated, or it can be frozen for two months.


Description:

Full of red and green candied cherries, this Cherry Pound Cake is perfect for the Christmas season. It has a moist and dense texture, a soft and tender crumb, and tastes buttery sweet. Serve it in thin slices with a hot cup of tea or coffee.

This Pound Cake recipe uses a slightly different method to mix the batter. Instead of the more common 'creaming' method where the butter and sugar are beaten together first and then the eggs, followed by the flour and milk are added, this recipe uses what we call the 'one bowl' or 'quick method' (also known as a 'dump' cake). The most important thing to remember when using this 'one bowl' method is to have all the ingredients at room temperature. This method first mixes all the dry ingredients together and the butter, along with the liquid ingredients, are beaten into the batter. This method reduces the gluten formation in the flour thereby producing a dense textured cake with a soft and tender crumb. The important thing is to follow the mixing instructions and don't over mix the batter as this will cause the cake to rise too much during baking and then collapse while cooling, producing a gummy layer.

Candied cherries are also called glacé cherries, and they are cherries that have been dipped in a sugar syrup which gives them a sweet flavor and chewy texture. You can use either red or green candied cherries or a combination of the two. Or, if you prefer, you could use the natural colored candied cherries. Before adding them to the cake batter, I like to rinse the cherries to remove excess sugar syrup. Then pat dry and cut them into small pieces. Toss the cherries with about 1 tablespoon of flour from the recipe to help prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pan during baking.