Cherry Bundt Cake

The "red season" is alternating between strawberries and cherries at the moment.
While I love the first very much, I have a great difficulty finding good quality ones, the ones that really taste like strawberries, sweet and not gum-like fruit that vaguely resemble what I remember eating as a child.
With cherries I'm a bit luckier.
You see, there are about 150 varietis of cherries cultivated in Italy, and the absolutely best ones are grown here where I've lived for the past six years, in the area between Modena and Bologna, more specifically the small town of Vignola, a few kilometers from Modena. There are several famous varieties (Durone, Mora, Bigarreau are some of them) that are their peak at different moments so that we'll probably be blessed with them for the whole month of June as well.

Cherries are excellent fruit from my point of view. I consider them contagious, like eating nuts or pop corn, only healthier, once I start, I can't stop until all that's left in front of me is an empty bowl.
Besides that, they have detoxicating, depurative and diuretic effect on our body, at the same hydrating it because they contain lots of water. At the same time they're low in calories.

This is not the first recipe I prepared with cherries this year, but it's the one I already made twice, and I guess that says it all.
It's very tasty, dense and moist, and yet tasting so light and fresh. It stays moist for days and keeps pretty well.
I reduced the sugar compared to the original recipe (that was 1 and 1/2 cups - 300 g), because it seemed a bit too sweet when I made it the first time. But, of course, everyone's free to suit their taste.
Don't wait until the cherry season is over, you'll be sorry  ^__^

Cherry Bundt Cake

* 3 eggs
* 1 cup (200 g) sugar
* 1 vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable oil
* 2 cups (250 g) flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 200 g greek style yogurt
* 400-500 g cherries
* a little ground cinnamon

Turn the oven on to 180°C.
Wash and pit the cherries. Cut them in half, and set aside while preparing the cake batter.
Put the whole eggs into the bowl of an electric mixer, add sugar and the vanilla extract and beat well on high speed, until foamy and pale.
Add the oil while continuing to mix on low speed, and then the flour sifted together with the baking powder and a little cinnamon, and in the end the yogurt. Mix shortly in this phase, just until everything comes together into a homogeneous batter.
Grease and flour a 26-cm bundt pan.
Pour half of the batter into the pan, distribute half of the cherries over it. Cover the cherries with the remaining batter and then the rest of the cherries. Push the cherries lightly in.
Bake the cake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
Take the cake out of the pan and let it cool on a cooling rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar once it's cold.
Serve with a cup of tea or coffee

Ciambella con ciliegie

* 3 uova

* 200 g zucchero

* 1 cucchiaino di estratto di vaniglia o 1 bustina di vanillina

* 120 ml di olio (di girasole o arachidi)

* 250 g farina

* 2 cucchiaini di lievito per i dolci

* 200 g yogurt greco

* 400-500 g ciliegie

* un po' di cannella

Accendete il forno a 180°C.

Lavate e denocciolate le ciliege. Tagliatele a metà.

Mettete le uova sgusciate in una ciotola insieme allo zucchero e la vaniglia. Sbatterle molto bene con la frusta elettrica fino a farle diventare chiare e spumose.

Continuando a mescolare a bassa velocità aggiungete prima l'olio, poi la farina setacciata con il lievito e un po' di cannella, e infine lo yogurt.

Versate metà del composto in uno stampo per ciambelle, imburrato e infarinato. Cospargete metà delle ciliegie, coprite con il restante composto e le ciliege, premendole leggermente per farle affondare.

Cuocete la ciambella nel forno caldo per circa 45 minuti. Verificate la cottura con uno stecchino.

Sfornate il dolce e lasciatelo raffreddare, cospargetelo con lo zucchero a velo prima di servirlo.

Vjenčić s trešnjama


* 3 jaja
* 200 g šećera
* 1 žličica ekstrakta vanilije (ili vanilin šećer)
* 120 ml ulja
* 250 g brašna
* 2 žličice praška za pecivo
* 200 g grčkog jogurta
* 400-500 g trešanja
* malo cimeta


Stavite jaja, šećer i vaniliju u zdjelu i mutite mikserom dok ne dobijeto lijepu, pjenastu smjesu.
Miješajući i dalje mikserom, ali na najnižoj brzini,dodajte ostale sastojke slijedećim redoslijedom: ulje, brašno prosijano s praškom za pecivo i cimetom, na kraju jogurt.
Namažite okrugli kalup u obliku vijenca (s rupom u sredini) maslacem i pospite brašnom.
Uspite polovicu tijesta, preko njega rasporedite polovicu trešanja (otkoštenih i izrezanih na pola). Ulijte ostatak tijesta u kalup i na vrh rasporedite preostale trešnje i lagano ih utisnite u tijesto.
Pecite u pećnici zagrijanoj na 180°C oko 45 minuta.
Izvadite kolač iz kalupa i ostavite da se ohladi na rešetki.
Prije posluživanja pospite ga šećerom u prahu.

(originalni recept)

This recipe is linked to / Questa ricetta partecipa a / Ovaj je recept povezan s:

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