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soon as sweet cherries are in season, I can't resist making this cherry polka
dot cake
with its beautiful golden brown crust. This recipe comes from Patricia Well's "The Provence Cookbook"
and although similar to a Clafoutis, instead of a thin pancake-like batter, the
cherries are suspended in a cake batter. Now, any time you add a heavy
ingredient (like cherries) to a batter, there is no way to prevent their sinking
to the bottom of the pan during baking. While this in no way affects
the flavor of the cake, it does not allow us to appreciate the cherry's full
beauty. Luckily for us, Patricia Well's came up with a great idea; instead
of adding all the pitted cherries when we mix the cake batter, she tells us to
put some aside. Then, about halfway through the baking time, we pull the
cake from the oven and quickly place the leftover cherries, that have been cut
in half, on top of the partially baked cake. This step, while a little
more time consuming, keeps the cherries floating on the top of the cake
producing that wonderful polka dot pattern.
As always, it is important to choose our fruit carefully. Look for
cherries that are bright dark red, shiny, plump, and quite firm and make sure
there is no browning around the stems. Once we have the cherries, we need to
remove the pits. Pitting of cherries is always a tedious job
and the task is made easier if you have a cherry pitter. However, if you
do not own such a tool, than you need to do it by hand. The easiest way
I have found to do this, is to
make a small slit in the cherry, with a small sharp knife, from the stem end to
the bottom of the cherry. Then, using the tip of the knife or your thumbnail,
remove the pit. This process is best done over a bowl so any dripping
juice will fall into the bowl and not stain your countertop.
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