There's something about those recipes from childhood that fill us with nostalgia. If you're a mom, know that your cooking is making an indelible mark on your children regardless of your cooking skills.
One of the recipes that takes me back to childhood is my mom's Cherry Cake. It was just one of many, many treats she would make. A firm vanilla loaf with sweet hits of candied cherries. It's old school for sure -- right out of a Mad Men episode. I understand if you take issue with the dye in the cherries. I do. But I don't eat it everyday -- and they're so pretty.
This recipe is a little more challenging than most loaves, but worth the effort. Because it's so light -- only a half cup of butter -- I like to serve each slice with a little butter. Hope you try it.
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup butter - room temp
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk (whole or 2% is best, but skim works too)
- 1 cup glazed cherries cut in half
Directions:
- Grease and flour a 5" x 9" loaf pan.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
- Sift flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together.
- Cream butter and sugar well.
- Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat well.
- Add 1 1/4 cups of the flour alternately with the milk beginning and ending with flour and beating smooth after each addition.
- Beat egg whites in separate bowl to stiff peaks and fold into batter.
- Sprinkle half of the remaining flour over the batter, then sprinkle cherries over, then remaining flour.
- Fold gently until blended. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 1/4 hours until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan before turning out.
