This Madeira cake with glace cherries and almonds is light and moist & very easy to make. Enjoy it with a cup of tea, coffee or a glass of Madeira wine!
Rinse the glace cherries under running water, and pat dry with a table cloth. (Skip this step if using frozen cherries!)
Line a loaf tin with baking (parchment) paper. Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/338F/Gas mark 3.5.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together eggs and sugar and whisk until smooth. Add vanilla extract.
Place a sieve on top of the mixing bowl and sift through flour and baking powder. Using a spatula, fold it all together until the batter is smooth and thick.
Add ground (or chopped) almonds and oil and mix thoroughly until all of the oil is absorbed in the batter.
Cut cherries in half and roll them in 1 tablespoon of flour so they are fully coated.
Transfer ⅔ of the batter into the baking tin. Sprinkle with half of the cherries. Cover with the remaining batter and sprinkle with the rest of the cherries and flaked almonds. Bake for 45-55 minutes. Test with a wooden skewer after 45 minutes of baking. The cake is ready when the skewer comes out clean. Leave for another 5-10 minutes if there are bits of dough sticking to it. Repeat this test before turning off the oven.
Leave to cool down, dust with some icing sugar and serve as it is or with a scoop of ice cream. Enjoy!
Notes
Possible ingredient swaps:
lemon zest (from ½ unwaxed lemon) instead of vanilla extract;
plain (all-purpose) flour and baking powder instead of self-raising flour (mix together 180 g of plain flour and 2 teaspoon of baking powder)
swap baking soda for baking powder (use ⅓ of bicarbonate soda compared to the total amount of baking powder needed)