Oh my gosh, it feels amazing to be cooking and baking again! I can’t even begin to explain this change that has come over me. Our last house was such a blessing to us at the time, and yet, there were things about it that I always hated. One was the kitchen. I never liked it from the beginning. And the other thing I absolutely hated was the lack of sunshine. There was literally none. So many trees in the yard around the house, few south facing windows, and awnings over the windows kept the sunshine out. (And since moving, they’ve planted even MORE trees in that yard if you can believe it!) This house has my absolute favorite things. I have a south facing kitchen and dining room with a glass patio door! And secondly, the kitchen is painted red AND has a gas stove. The kitchen is still under re-construction (and will be for some time), but it’s at least workable, and some day I will abosolutely be in love with that space.
I blame the lack of sunshine on my lack of motivation these last three years. Since moving here just over a month ago, I’m finding tons of motivation. I get up in the morning, do my computing, and by 8:00 in the morning I’m looking for something to do. Cooking and baking has become pure pleasure. This morning, as it happens, I’m baking up some delicious smelling Oatmeal Bread in my brand new toaster oven- recipe to come for that one, I hope! A few days ago, though, I had just pitted the last of our pie cherries and wanted to do something with them. There weren’t quite enough to fill a quart freezer bag, so I determined that I was going to bake with them. Cake or muffins, that was the big decision. Cake won the coin toss, and it was truly delicious.
This is a simple buttery vanilla cake into which I’d folded 2 cups or so of chopped pie cherries. Honestly, it needed nuts. Chopped walnuts would have taken this cake from delicious to spectacular, but I was out of nuts, and Zander doesn’t really care for nuts in baked goods.
I baked it up in an 8-inch square cake and cut it into 9 pieces. The kids each ate two pieces right off the bat, topped with a bit of Cool Whip (which I don’t ever have on hand, but I’d bought it for something else that never happened, so there you go). We all enjoyed this cake very much. It’s fast enough that you can make it on a weekday and serve it warm out of the pan to dress up a plain old weekday. Or whip up some real cream and serve it to company- it’s good enough for that too. By all means, in this cake you can absolutely use sweet cherries as well if that is what you prefer.
Sour Cherry Cake
1/3 cup butter, softened 2/3 cup white sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup milk 1 1/2 cups sour cherries, coarsely chopped (drained of excess juice) 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)Directions:
Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with butter or cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix thoroughly. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until completely combined. Beat in the milk next, followed by the remaining flour mixture. Beat only until completely incorporated.
Fold in the cherries, and the nuts if using. Spread into prepared pan and bake at 350º F for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean.