This is my favourite variation yet on the traybake recipe!
It started as just another experiment. It has become a new favourite and was devoured at the latest Parents’ Association cake sale. Of course, when you put chocolate and cherries together, you can’t go far wrong. This recipe has a delicious gooeyness which complements the flavours superbly. You can eat it when it’s only just cooled, while the chocolate is still only barely set and it’s almost a pudding. (Cherries still warm, molten chocolate to lick off your fingers, mmmm…) Or you can eat it when it’s completely cold and it’s equally delicious as a proper cake.
OK enough raving: here’s the recipe.
Recipe: Chocolate Cherry Traybake
Ingredients
9oz/250g Pure (sunflower)
8oz/220g self-raising flour
1oz/30g cocoa
1¼ oz/35g ground almonds
9oz/250g caster sugar
½tsp baking powder
4 eggs
5floz/140ml Alpro Vanilla Soya Yoghurt
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp almond extract
4oz/115g chopped Kinnerton’s chocolate
4oz/115g chopped glace cherries
1oz/30g flaked almonds
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C(160°C for fan ovens) /350°F/Gas Mark 4.
Line a roasting tin with silicone baking paper, tucking the corner pleats out of the way behind the sides so that you don’t have corners poking into your cake.
Toast the flaked almonds under the grill for about 5 minutes. Keep an eye on them: they go from pale to black and crispy in nothing flat!
Put all the remaining ingredients apart from the chopped chocolate and cherries into a large mixing bowl and mix until smooth.
Pour into the lined baking tray and smooth out the surface with the back of a spoon.
Pop it into the middle of the oven and bake it for 10 minutes. I know this next bit sounds really weird, but trust me: I’ve done it many times and it works!
Remove from the oven and put the tin on something heatproof. I put it on my hob. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate and cherries all over the top, then sprinkle the toasted almonds over everything.
Return the tray to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. You can do the skewer thing if you wish. I tend to use my finger tips and test the surface. If it is just firm and slightly springy, it’s done.
Allow to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes then lift the bake out, using the paper round the edges, and let it cool on a rack.
Leave to cool, then slice up into squares.
Quick Notes
This so delicious warmish, that it rarely lasts long enough to be completely cold in our house!
Variations
There are other variations of this recipe on the site. Explore and enjoy!!
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 30 minute(s)
Diet type: Dairy-free
Number of servings (yield): 16-20 (depending on how generous you want your pieces to be!)
Culinary tradition: English
Copyright © Sian Mackey.
This is delicious!