The annual cherry battle

From now until the tree is bare,we will be in daily battle with the pigeons for the harvest of our cherry tree.  I, being small, pick the ones on the lower branches. The pigeons, having wings, have free access to the top branches and I rely on #1 son's vertical superiority and tree climbing skills to gather all the fruit on the branches in between.

Some of the harvest will find its way into a bottle of vodka, some will end up in ice cream, a great deal will be eaten fresh and, if there is enough, there may be a pot of jam or a bag for the freezer.

Handfuls will be added to dishes sweet and savoury, such as this light and luscious dessert, which, incidentally happens to be be gluten free.

120g butter, melted
2 eggs
120g sugar
60g sour cream
60g ground almonds
100g stoned weight of fresh cherries

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC
Grease a cake tin and dust with flour, tipping out the excess (use rice flour if you want to make this gluten free).

Whisk the eggs with the sugar until the mixture leaves a ribbon trail when you lift out the whisk.
Add the melted butter and the sour cream and continue whisking.
Fold in the ground almonds and carefully pour the batter into the prepared tin.
place in the oven for 25 minutes.  Turn off the heat and leave the tin in the oven for a further 10 minutes.
Leave to cool to room temperature.
This is a fragile thing, delicate as a beeswing, so it's better to serve it straight from the tin, rather than attempting to turn it out.

If you are being posh, do this away from the table, dust each plate with icing sugar, put a couple of stoned, fresh cherries on the side and serve with creme fraiche and an ice cold tot of cherry vodka.

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www.netherton-foundry.co.uk