Recipe | Cherry & Coconut Tahini Cake

They may have a hard centre, but summer stone fruits make soft, sweet and sticky cakes that are all heart, says Benjamina Ebuehi

Serves 6-8

120g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
150g light brown sugar
40g tahini
2 eggs
130g plain flour
50g desiccated coconut
1½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp salt
90g cherries, pitted and halved
1 tsp sesame seeds

For the glaze:
40g cherries, pitted and halved
½ tbsp lemon juice
100g icing sugar

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/ Gas 4. Grease and line a 15cm cake pan.

2 Using a stand mixer or electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar together for 4-5 mins until pale and fluffy. Add the tahini and beat for another minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3 In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, coconut, baking powder, ground cardamom and salt. Pour the mixture into the butter mixture and mix on low speed until combined.

4 Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and add the cherries on top, along with the sesame seeds. Bake for 50-55 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

5 To make the glaze, add the cherries and the lemon juice to a small bowl and mash with a fork. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, squeezing and pressing to get out as much juice as possible. Add the icing sugar to the juice and mix until you have a smooth, pourable consistency. Once the cake has cooled, drizzle over the glaze.

Taken from A Good Day to Bake by Benjamina Ebuehi (Quadrille) Photography: Laura Edwards. This is just one of the gorgeous stone fruit recipes from Benjamina that we have featured in our July issue, which is on sale now. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our July issue…

More cake for your tin…

Recipe | Wild blackberry & rose petal sponge

Using Black Forest flavours to delicious effect, this ice-cream cake is a seasonal treat on
a sunny summer’s day

Make the most of early blackberries with this magnificent sponge. An unusual recipe that results in the lightest cake, which both looks and tastes enchanting

WILD BLACKBERRY & ROSE PETAL SPONGE

Serves 6–8
Melted butter, for greasing
140g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
3 organic eggs
225g granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
Pale pink rose petals, fresh or crystallised for the filling
110ml whipping cream
2 tsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
1⁄2 tsp rosewater (optional)
225–350g wild blackberries

1 Preheat oven to 190C/Fan 170C/Gas 5. Brush two 20.5cm cake tins evenly with melted butter and dust with flour (lining the base with a circle of greaseproof paper will make removal easier, too).
2 Separate the eggs. In a food mixer, whisk the yolks with the sugar for 2 mins, then add 75ml water. Whisk for 10 mins until light and fluffy.
3 Sift the flour and baking powder into the mousse in batches. Whisk the egg whites until they hold a stiff peak. Gently fold them into the fluffy base.
4 Pour into the prepared cake tins and bake for about 20 mins until the centre is firm and the edges begin to shrink from the tin edge. Remove the cakes from the tins and cool on a wire rack.
5 Whip the cream, then add the icing sugar and a few drops of rosewater (if using).
6 Sandwich the cold sponges together with the whipped cream and the blackberries. Dust a little icing sugar over the top of the cake. Sprinkle with fresh or crystallised rose petals.

Recipe from Grow, Cook, Nourish by Darina Allen (Kyle Books).

Cake in the House is our monthly recipe feature - get a cake recipe every month in The Simple Things!

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here.

More from the August issue:

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Recipe | Black cherry, chocolate and meringue ice cream cake

Using Black Forest flavours to delicious effect, this ice-cream cake is a seasonal treat on
a sunny summer’s day

BLACK CHERRY, CHOCOLATE & MERINGUE ICE-CREAM CAKE

100g dark chocolate
390g jar black cherries in kirsch or 400g tin black cherries in syrup* 
250g black cherry conserve or jam
600ml double cream
85g meringue nests (5–6)

TO SERVE
Fresh cherries (with stalks)
A handful chopped pistachios
Icing sugar, to dust

1 Line the base of a 23–24cm springform tin with a square piece of baking paper, leaving the excess sticking out from the sides.
2 Melt the chocolate in a small bowl suspended over a pan of boiling water. Drain the cherries in a sieve set over a small pan, and set aside the kirsch or syrup.
3 With a food mixer, roughly blitz the cherries into a chunky, textured pulp. Stir the conserve or jam in a small bowl to loosen.
4 In a food mixer or large mixing bowl, whip the cream until just beginning to thicken and barely holding its shape – the trick is to under-whip. Pour in the conserve or jam, followed by the meringues, breaking and crumbling into irregular shapes and sizes as you go. Fold into the cream very gently, leaving a ripple effect.
5 Spread a scant third of the mixture into the tin. Top with all the blitzed cherries by spooning on in blobs, then joining the blobs.
* If you’re using tinned cherries, 1 tbsp of cherry brandy of amaretto is a nice addition when reducing the syrup.
Spread over half of the remaining cream using the same technique.
6 Dribble over all but 2–3 tbsp of the chocolate and spread to cover the cream. Finally, blob and spread over the last of the cream. Using a spatula or the back of a spoon, gently push the mixture into the tin to get rid of air pockets.
7 Cover with cling film, directly on the surface of the cake, and freeze until solid (overnight is best).
8 Boil the reserved cherry liquid fast until syrupy and reduced to around 2 tbsp. It will thicken up when cold and, if too thick when cold, loosen with a drop of boiling water.
9 Serve the cake straight from the freezer. Unmould onto a large platter. Warm the set-aside tbsps of chocolate and drizzle from a teaspoon, zigzagging over the cake and platter; repeat with some of the syrup. 

Pile the fresh cherries in the middle, scatter with chopped pistachios and dust with icing sugar.

Recipe from The Get-Ahead Cook by Jane Lovett (Apicius Publishing).

Cake in the House is our monthly recipe feature - get a cake recipe every month in The Simple Things!

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here.

More from the July issue:

More Cake in the House recipes: