My Norwegian grandparents’ neighbour had a cherry tree in their garden and once (only once) they let me sit in it for a whole day and eat as many as I wanted. Naturally I ate so many I made myself sick. I have retained similar levels of self-control and if I ever buy a box of frozen cherries I tend to eat them all in one sitting, still frozen, grimacing through the pain in my teeth. This time I managed to put them to good use in a really tasty cake, inspired by the twin flavours of those fistfuls of scrumped cherries and the (probably imagined) smell my grandmother’s cardamom buns wafting through the window. I also put white chocolate in because, well why the hell not?

Recipe

• 180g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 180g softened butter
• 160g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 120g cherries, quartered.
• 75g white chocolate, chopped into small pieces.

Line a 23cm diameter cake tin with baking parchment and heat the oven to 180 degrees. Sift the flour, spices and baking powder into a bowl. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat the eggs in one at a time. Gently fold in the flour and add half a cup of water to make a slightly runny, smooth batter. Add the cherries and white chocolate, leaving behind a handful of each to sprinkle on the top. Don’t be alarmed if it turns a horrible grey colour, it will be transformed when it gets in the oven! Spoon into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.