'tis the season to be cherry! - Cherry Tea Cake

The corny title aside, cherries are in season! Yay! The cherries we get here are not the best honestly speaking, but they are not all that bad either. I love in-season fruits in my baked goodies and the memory of a deliciously yellow cherry tea cake has been on my mind since the Turkey trip 'cos they served one of the softest yellow cakes with what i thought was the most flavorful cherries on board one of the flights we took. So with that as my aim, these turned out not too bad. The not-as-robust cherries were the only things hampering the cause, but it IS a fabulous tea cake and tastes best when eaten the same day. or warm the next day. it does not last beyond that so i can't tell. :)

 

Recipe adapted from here with slight changes.
-50 grams unsalted butter
-175 grams fresh cherries, pitted
-3/4 cup all purpose flour
-3/4 teaspoon baking powder
-pinch of salt
-1 large egg
-70 grams granulated white sugar
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-40 ml milk

How to go about it:
-Rinse, dry and pit the cherries first. Leave them to dry on a paper towel, cut side down.
-Preheat oven to 185 C and butter and line baking tray.
-Melt the butter in the microwave and set aside to cool to room temperature.
-Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.
-With a blender, mix the egg and sugar till pale and thick. Add the vanilla extract and blend again.
-Fold in the butter and milk until just incorporated. Add the flour mix. In last
, fold in all the cherries save for a few (for arranging on top of the batter) and make sure you do not over beat the mix. Pour into the prepared tin and make sure you arrange the reserved cherries on top of the batter. Bake for 20 minutes or till it passes the skewer test.
-Let cool on rack for fifteen minutes and then serve warm.