Cherry Almond Cake

When I am invited to people's homes for dinner often I get asked to bring dessert, and I eagerly do so. If I have time I use it as an excuse to try something new so if the recipe works I can add it to my growing collection of tested recipes. Eager to finally cook a dessert containing fruit other than apples, I decided to try a cherry dessert, so when I saw this recipe I knew it was the one to try.


I also wanted to try this cake because it looked like I could easily make it gluten free since it already contains almond flour. I got used to eating gluten free, but my big sweet tooth really suffers from the lack of an occasional slice of cake or piece of cookie. With this cake I can eat all I want!


This cake could be made with different fruits, and some of the almond flour could be substituted with pistachio meal. To make it with regular flour, omit the tapioca and use all purpose flour in place of the rice flour. I will bring lemon verbena ice cream to the dinner party as well.


The original recipe comes from Sigrid's blog, Cavoletto di Bruxelles, who got the recipe from Annalisa Barbagli, a contributor of the Italian food forum Il gambero rosso.

Torta di Ciliege

500 gr cherries, pitted
100 gr brown rice flour
100 gr almond meal
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
80 gr butter, at room temperature
100 gr granulated sugar
2 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a cake pan (I used an 8" pan). Spread some granulated sugar to the bottom and sides. Sift together the dry ingredients. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, add one egg at the time, clearing the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Spread the batter at the bottom of the prepared cake pan. Add the pitted cherries pressing them a little into the batter. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a cake taster comes out clean.