Warm Almond Cherry Cake Martha Stewart Recipes

ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place sliced almonds on a baking sheet, and toast until golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
• Coat an 8-inch-round pan (2 inches high) with butter. Line with parchment paper, butter, and flour; set aside.
• Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl; set aside. Place almond paste, sugar, and 5 tablespoons butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and Grand Marnier, if using; process until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl; fold in flour and baking powder.
• Pour batter into prepared pan; bake 40 minutes, until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Place on a rack to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn cake out of pan onto rack; cool completely.
• Heat marmalade with 1 tablespoon water in a small saucepan. Arrange apricot slices on top of cake; brush with apricot marmalade. Garnish with toasted almonds.

WARM ALMOND-CHERRY CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate (4-cup capacity); set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in almond extract. With mixer on low, blend in flour mixture (do not overmix).
• Transfer batter to prepared pie plate; scatter cherries and almonds on top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

EASY BROWN-SUGAR CHERRY CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 12-cup standard nonstick muffin tin. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
• With an electric mixer, cream butter and 2/3 cup brown sugar until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time; beat until combined. Beat in buttermilk and vanilla, then flour mixture.
• Spoon batter into prepared tin, filling cups about 1/3 full. Place 5 cherries on top of each; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
• Bake until cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes in tin. Run a knife around edges; turn out of pan, cherry sides up. Serve warm, with ice cream, if desired.

CHERRY ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line the bottom of a buttered 9- by 2-inch round cake pan with a round of wax paper, butter the paper, and dust the pan with flour, knocking out the excess. Working over a bowl pit 1 pound of the cherries, reserving any juice.
• In a food processor grind fine the almonds with the flour, the baking powder, and the salt. In a bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter with 3/4 cup of the granulated sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, add the egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and stir in the flour mixture, the vanilla, the almond extract, and the reserved cherry juice.
• In another bowl with the electric mixer, beaters cleaned, beat the egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks, stir one fourth of them into the batter to lighten it, and fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Turn the batter into the pan, smoothing the top, arrange the cherries evenly on it, pressing them into the batter slightly, and sprinkle them with the remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Bake the cake in the middle of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean, and let it cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack, invert a cake plate over it, and invert the cake onto the plate. Dust the cake with the confectioners' sugar and garnish it with the additional cherries. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.

CHOCOLATE CHERRY CAKE

Steps:

• Whisk together 1/3 cup sugar, kirsch, and cornstarch in a medium pot. Add cherries and any juices. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high until thickened, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch metal baking pan. Line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the long sides of the pan. Butter parchment.
• Whisk cocoa with hot water in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk in sour cream and melted chocolate; let cool. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in another medium bowl.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 1 2/3 cups sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to combine after each and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the cocoa mixture and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined. Fold in 1 1/4 cups cherry filling; reserve remaining filling for topping.
• Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Remove cake from pan.
• Transfer cake to a serving platter. In a small saucepan over low, heat gelatin and 2 tablespoons water over low, stirring constantly, just until gelatin melts, about 3 minutes. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk heavy cream and remaining 1/4 cup sugar on medium-high. Once soft peaks form, slowly add gelatin mixture with the mixer running until combined. Frost top of cooled cake and top with remaining cherry filling.

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE-ALMOND TORTE WITH CHERRY PRESERVES AND KIRSCH MERINGUE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the cake: Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Whisk together cocoa and boiling water until cocoa dissolves and mixture is smooth. Stir in kirsch.
• Beat butter and 1 cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, 1 at a time, scraping down sides of bowl between additions. Add cocoa mixture and almonds, and beat until combined. Transfer to a large bowl.
• Whisk egg whites and 1/2 teaspoon salt in the clean bowl of a mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With machine running, add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, and whisk until stiff peaks form. Fold one-quarter of the whites into batter, then fold in remaining whites.
• Pour batter into pan, and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and cover cake with parchment-lined foil. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes more. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for 45 minutes. Run a knife or an offset spatula around edge of cake to loosen, and release sides of pan to remove.
• Make the meringue: Whisk egg whites and sugar in a clean heatproof bowl of a mixer set over a pan of simmering water until sugar dissolves and mixture is hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. Whisk on medium speed until soft peaks form. Whisk in kirsch. Whisk until stiff peaks form.
• Spread cherry preserves on top of cake. Spread meringue over preserves using an offset spatula, making decorative swirls. Caramelize peaks of meringue using a handheld kitchen torch or under the broiler.