MIDNIGHT FEAST‑WORTHY CHERRY CAKE 
If you grew up loving storybooks filled with midnight feasts, secret adventures, and tuck boxes brimming with treats, this cake will take you right back there. It’s the kind of old‑fashioned, buttery cherry loaf that feels like it stepped straight out of an Enid Blyton adventure — the perfect slice to sneak away with after everyone’s gone to bed.
This beauty is moist, rich, and absolutely stogged full of glace cherries — rinsed, dried, and folded into the batter so they sparkle like little ruby jewels throughout the cake . Some stay suspended, some sink (as they always do), but that only adds to the charm. Those sticky, sunken cherries make the bottom bites the very best ones.
Once baked, the loaf is crowned with a thick drizzle of sweet icing and a scattering of toasted flaked almonds that make it look — and taste — utterly irresistible . Cut into generous slices, it’s buttery, nostalgic, and moreishly decadent… the kind of cake you nibble slowly, saving the cherry‑rich bites for last.
Why you’ll love this cherry cake:
• Buttery, moist crumb
• Packed with plenty of glace cherries
• Sweet drizzle icing + toasted almonds
• Perfect for teatime, picnics, or a cozy midnight feast
• A slice of pure childhood nostalgia
If you only bake one cake this weekend, let it be this one — a gorgeously old‑fashioned cherry loaf that tastes like comfort, adventure, and a little bit of mischief all at once.
ingredients:
For the cake:
- 225g self raising flour (1 1/2 cups + 2 TBS)
- 100g ground almonds (1 1/4 cups)
- the finely grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
- 275g glace cherries, preferably undyed or a mix (scant 3 cups)
- 225g butter, softened (1 cup)
- 225g granulated sugar (1 cup plus 2 TBS)
- 3 laarge free-range eggs
- a few drops of almond extract
- 2 TBS milk
For the glaze and decoration:
- 65g icing sugar, sifted (1/2 cup)
- milk to thin
- a handful of toasted flaked almonds
instructions:
- Preheat oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4. Lighty butter a 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf tin. Line with baking paper. Set aside.
- Rinse the glace cherries in hot water to remove all of the syrup and sugar. Dry well and then cut in half. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a bowl. Whisk in the lemon zest and almonds. Stir in the halved cherries.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at at time. Stir in the almond extract. Fold in the flour mixture and milk, making sure the cherries are well dispersed.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf tin. Smooth the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes. Check at about 45 minutes and if you think it is getting too dark, cover loosely with a double sheet of aluminium foil. It is done when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. (Today mine took about 15 minutes extra.) Leave cake in the tin to cool completely.
- Tip out onto a wire rack. Whisk together the icing sugar, a few drops of almond extract and just enough milk to give you a thick drizzle. Flick over the cake and scatter with toasted almonds. Cut into thick slices to serve.