Happy New year to you all ! Of course by Happy new year i mean, Happy new cake. For me, diets do not exist in January, to aid the ‘back to work’ routine i feel comfort foods could be in full flow. February, if anything is when you should gradually start to ease in a diet. Pfft. Diets.

I believe in eating healthily of course, and i have planned to wean myself off sugar, caffeine, yeast and alcohol for a good few weeks (in Feb) to get back on track along with starting to take up tennis again. For now i will be content with a slice of cake and a cup of tea whilst i plunge into the work 7am routine, thank you very much.

Welcome back to Wuthering Bites 2013! I had a little interview with Crumbs Magazine and it goes through some of the ways i’ll approach things this year, as well as other things you may well like to know about me. I have a feeling this year may be a busy one! 🙂

I’d been approached before Christmas to write and test a recipe for a new Bristol Harbourside bistro, Cherry Duck. And as they are pro gluten free ( see their gluten free pancake willingness in the brunch menu for one example), i was well up for the challenge.

I’d been doodling a kind of poppy seed cake, since i had never made one before yet absolutely love the combination of Lemon and Poppy seed. Also, poppy seeds look pretty scattered about in a cake, unless you’re one of those relatives that does a bad joke about ants in a cake or something. Eww.Those of you who know me, will know that i am quite partial to sour cherries. They are truly my favourite thing to bake with aside chocolate, so i will go to any attempt to put them into a pudding or dessert when i have visitors; mainly brownies. And to want to think of a better excuse of using cherries in a cake for a bistro named Cherry Duck…it really was a no brainer!

This is my favourite type of cake, as i have said in previous blog posts, simple, fragrant and traditional sticky icing is my weakness.

( Gluten Free ) Sour Cherry and Poppy Seed Tea Cake with Orange Blossom icing.

200g Unsalted Butter

200g Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

100g Dried Sour Cherries chopped or whole

30g Poppy Seeds

100g Ground Almonds

60g Gluten Free Plain Flour

1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Powder

½ Teaspoon of xanthan gum

Icing

1 Tablespoon of Orange Blossom Water

1 Tablespoon of Freshly Squeezed Orange juice

1 Tablespoon of hot water

200g Icing Sugar

Zest of Orange (for decoration)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees and line a 22cm loose bottomed cake tin with greaseproof paper.

Put the butter and sugar into a stand mixer and beat until combined, add in the 3 eggs, one egg at a time until fully beated together.

Mix in the Ground Almonds by hand.

Fold in carefully the baking powder, gum and gluten free plain flour.

Fold in the poppy seeds and sour cherries and make sure they are evenly distributed.

Dollop the mixture into the cake tin and flatten out with a spatula.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 mins. Then put a layer of tin foil on top and cook for a further 10-15 mins until cooked.

Take the cake out and leave to completely cool until icing.

For the icing, combine all the ingredients aside the orange zest into a bowl and mix well- test to see if your orange blossom is strong enough, if not add a teaspoon more, along with another teaspoon of icing sugar.

Ice roughly all over and decorate with cherries and orange zest!