Cherry bakewell French fancies recipe

These cherry bakewell French fancies are gorgeously sweet with a delightfully fluffy texture, the ideal pick me up on a hazy lazy summer’s afternoon.

To make our cherry bakewell French fancies there are number of steps involved, but they’re honesty worth the effort. However, if you would prefer a speedy cake (opens in new tab) with the same flavours, bake the batter in a loaf tin instead. Mix icing sugar with kirsh and drizzle over while warm to create a boozy cherry drizzle! A delicious alternative to lemon drizzle! (opens in new tab) Fondant icing sugar is available from most supermarkets in the baking aisle. Fondant icing sugar is regular icing sugar with added glucose. It will give your cakes a lovely sheen and has an ever so slightly chewy texture. Don’t fret if you can’t find any, regular icing sugar will also work. You could also try our hack for marshmallow fondant. (opens in new tab)

Ingredients

• 200g toasted flaked almonds
• 50g cornflour
• 200g caster sugar
• 200g unsalted butter, softened
• 1tbsp kirsh
• 4 medium organic eggs, separated
• 1tsp gluten free baking powder
• 100g glace cherries, washed and dried
• 500g box fondant icing sugar
• 3 food colourings, we used pink, purple and green
• 250g marzipan

You will need

• 20cm square cake tin lined with baking parchment
• Cupcake cases, optional

Method

1. Heat the over to 200C/Gas 6. Blitz the toasted flaked almonds to a fine crumb.
2. Beat the sugar, butter, kirsh and egg yolk until light and fluffy.
3. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold a third at a time into the mixture.
4. Pick out the eight plumpest cherries, cut in half and set aside. Chop the rest into pieces. Fold the almonds, cornflour, baking powder and chopped cherry through the mixture. Pour into a lined tin smoothing the top so flat, bake for 1hr.
5. Transfer onto a cooling rack, once completely cool cut into 16 squares. Place half a cherry on each.
6. Roll out the marzipan on a sheet of baking parchment until it’s a mm thick. Cut out squares the same size as the top of each cake, place on top and press down around the cherry. Re-roll and cut the remaining marzipan, cut strips to wrap around the edges of each cake.
7. Sieve the fondant icing sugar, add 75ml hot water and mix until smooth. The icing should be the consistency of a thick honey, you may need to sparingly add a little more water to reach the desired consistency. Reserve a tablespoon of the icing and divide the remainder into three bowls, mix a couple of drops of food colour into each.
8. Place the cakes back onto the cooling rack with a plate or clean baking tray underneath, spoon the icing over each allowing the excess to drip off. Finally drizzle the white icing over. Allow to set for 1hr, once set place into cupcake cases if using.