Sunken Sour Cherry Nut Cake

Get
70g organic almonds
300g organic hazelnuts
8 tbsp agave nectar
3 eggs separated
125g unsalted butter
about 80g light spelt flour
1 packet Weinstein baking powder (15 - 20 g)
250g fresh dark red sour cherries

Do
Wash and pit the sour cherries. Place in a bowl to save some juice.

Grate the almonds and hazelnuts coarsely.
Preheat the oven to 190°.
Beat the soft butter in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until it is smooth. Beat in alternately the egg yolks and 5 tbsp agave nectar. Beat well into a soft mixture.
Add the flour mixed with the baking powder a tablespoon at a time while beating. Beat well.

Whip the egg whites until stiff, then add the remaining agave nectar and continue beating until very stiff.
Mix some of the egg white under the mixture to keep it soft and moist.

Fold in the nut meal into the mixture gradually.
Fold in the remaining egg whites.

Butter a 28 cm baking form and dust it with a little flour.
Add the mixture to the form and spread it evenly.

Decorate with the cherries. Dribble a little of the juice on the fruit
Bake on the 2nd shelf from the bottom for 25 minutes. Cover it with paper. Turn the oven down and bake for a further 20 minutes at 150°c. It should be golden-brown on top. Test with a thin knife that it is cooked. The knife should come out clean. If it is not clean, return covered to the oven for another 10 minutes and then test again. Turn off the oven. Allow the cake to cool in the oven with the door partly open.
Remove from form onto a cake plate when cool.
Store in a linen cloth.

This sour cherry cake is a good alternative to Black Forest cake. When served with whipped cream it has a similar character, without chocolate but more nutty than the Black Forest cherry cake.

Gooseberry hazelnut cake

Get
70g organic almonds
300g organic hazelnuts
8 tbsp agave nectar
3 eggs separated
125g unsalted butter
about 100g light spelt flour
1 packet Weinstein baking powder (5 level tsp)
250g fresh ripe red gooseberries (or Cape gooseberries)

Do
Grate the almonds and hazelnuts coarsely.
Preheat the oven to 190°.
Beat the soft butter in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until it is smooth. Beat in alternately the egg yolks and 5 tbsp agave nectar. Beat well into a soft mixture.
Add the flour mixed with the baking powder a tablespoon at a time while beating. Beat well.

Whip the egg whites until stiff, then add the remaining agave nectar and continue beating until very stiff.
Mix some of the egg white under the mixture to keep it soft and moist.

Click images to enlarge

Fold in some of the nut meal into the mixture gradually.
Fold in the remaining egg whites. Fold in the remaining nut meal.

Butter a 28 cm baking form and dust it with a little flour.
Add the mixture to the form and spread it evenly.

Decorate with the gooseberries. Dribble a little agave nectar on the fruit
Bake on the 2nd shelf from the bottom for 25 minutes. Cover it with paper. Turn the oven down and bake for a further 30 minutes at 120°c. It should be golden-brown on top. Test with a thin knife that it is cooked. The knife should come out clean. If it is not clean, return covered to the oven for another 10 minutes and then test again. Turn off the oven. Allow the cake to cool in the oven.
Remove from form onto a cake plate when cool.
Store in a linen cloth.

Cape gooseberries dreaming

Tip
The tangy sour gooseberries compliment the sweet nut cake. Cape gooseberries (Physalis peruvian) could be used in the southern hemisphere.

Cherry cheese cake

GET
200g wholemeal spelt flour
1 tbsp agave syrup
1 egg yolk
125g organic butter

1kg organic quark (curd cheese)
5 tbsp organic agave syrup
75g wholemeal spelt flour
3 organic free-range eggs, separated
1 egg white
 ½ untreated lemon
200g dark red cherries, pitted

DO
Grate lemon peel and press out the juice.
Put spelt flour into a large stainless steel bowl.
Mix in agave syrup and egg yolk.
Add butter in flakes and knead to a pastry. Add more flour if it is sticky.

Cool

Preheat oven to 175°c.
Roll out pastry into a 28cm buttered round baking form with sides about 3 cm high. Pierce the bottom with a fork in several places. Cover with baking paper and place light weights on it (e.g. tea spoons)
Bake pastry shell for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from oven.

Beat quark, 3 egg yolks, 3 tbsp agave syrup, flour.
Add lemon and mix.

Beat 4 egg whites and add 2 tbsp agave syrup. Continue beating until stiff.
Fold in the egg white mixture.

Add a little filling to pastry shell to cover the bottom. Arrange cherries evenly on it. Add the remaining filling to pastry shell covering the cherries.
Bake at 175°c for 30 minutes. Then turn oven down to 140° and bake for a further 35 minutes.
Turn off oven and leave the cake in it for another 20 minutes.
Remove from form.

Best eaten when cool especially on the second day and thereafter.

Jostaberry Dessert Sauce

Jostaberries (Ribes nidigrolaria) are a cross between black currants and gooseberries. The name Jostaberry combines the German words for blackcurrant (Johannisbeere) and gooseberry (Stachelbeere). They are much larger than black currants and have a tangy-sweet flavor.


GET
400 g of Jostaberries
1 cup of water
Agave nectar

DO
Boil water, add cleaned and washed berries. The fruit should be almost covered in water. Turn down the heat very low and add the lid for 3 min. Add the agave nectar. Take the pot off the stove and let it stand for another 3 min. Press content through a sieve. Refrigerate and serve with a white dessert like yogurt, ice cream, semolina or milk rice pudding.

Hazelnut and cherry cake

Get
100g organic almonds
200g organic hazelnuts
8 tbsp agave nectar
4 eggs separated
150g unsalted butter
about 100g light spelt flour
1 packet Weinstein baking powder (5 level tsp)
20 large dark cherries, pitted

Do
Grate the almonds and hazelnuts coarsely.
Preheat the oven to 190°.
Beat the soft butter in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until it is smooth. Beat in alternately the egg yolks and 5 tbsp agave nectar. Beat well into a soft mixture.
Add the flour mixed with the baking powder a tablespoon at a time while beating. Beat well.

Whip the egg whites until stiff, then add the remaining agave nectar and continue beating until very stiff.
Mix some of the egg white under the mixture to keep it soft and moist.

Fold in some of the nut meal into the mixture gradually.
Fold in the remaining egg whites. Fold in the remaining nut meal.

Butter a baking form and dust it with a little flour.
Add the mixture to the form and spread it evenly.
Decorate with the cherries and press them lightly into the mixture.
Bake on the 2nd shelf from the bottom for 25 minutes. Cover it with paper. Turn the oven down and bake for a further 10 minutes at 120°c. It should be golden. Test with a thin knife that it is cooked. The knife should come out clean. If it is not clean, return covered to the oven for another 10 minutes and test again. Turn off the oven.

Cool in form in the open oven.
Remove from form when cool.
Store in a linen cloth.

Note
This cake can also be made with other fruit such as black currents or plums.
Coarsely grated nuts give it a good texture but finely grated is also good.

Cold Sour Cherry Fruit Soup

Fruit soups are customary in the northern hemisphere in summer. They can be made with any edible fruit, but sour cherries are the best seasonal option. There is no other cherry that has such a distinct flavour like this variety. Tart cherries or dwarf cherries also have many health benefits.


GET
600 g sour cherries (Prunus cerasus)
1 lemon
1 vanilla pod
1 cinnamon stick
Some agave syrup
600 ml of water or orange/cherry juice
(beware of sugar in fruit juices)
all organic


DO
Wash, pluck and pit the cherries. Remove vanilla from pod. Wash lemon and peel the rind very thinly. Squeeze out juice and remove pits. Boil water/juice and add, the vanilla /pod, cinnamon and lemon rind. Boil and immediately reduce the heat. Simmer for 5-7 min. Remove the lemon rind, the cinnamon stick and the vanilla pod. Add the agave, stir and let it cool. Refrigerate and serve cooled with yoghurt or ice cream.

The Australian 'sour cherry' (Syzygium corynanthum) might be an 'equivalent' from the southern hemisphere. I would add a lot of Davidson plum as well for tartness.