Every Romanian family I know has their own best recipe for a summery and refreshing cherry cake. I think this cake was my favorite while growing up, and my Grandma used to make it just perfect. The problem is that all my Grandma’s recipes were lost when she passed away, long before I started showing interest in baking. For years I’ve been longing for this cake, and also made some tries to recreate it. What can you do, the taste (and smell, for that matter) sense has a very long memory, and thank God for that!

So after trying several recipes that were close but not the real deal, until this one. This one is not only the best recipe I’ve tasted yet for the classic Romanian cherry cake, but also a great base recipe for a simple pound cake. The original recipe is my aunt’s, Suzy, the woman that cooks the closest to how my Grandma used to, and sometimes even better (but don’t you tell anyone!). Oh, the happiness on my face the first moment I’ve tasted it… A stranger (= for that matter, a non-foodie) would never understand…

The original version of this cake, however, was a bit dense and lacked a bit of moist in my opinion, so I tweaked with it a little, replacing half of the butter with oil (an ingredient that gives a great moisture to cakes) and milk. Now I think the recipe is just perfect. The cake has a very rich flavor, due to the egg yolks it contains (continue reading in the tips section how you can use the egg whites) and also due to the lemon zest and juice, that contribute their great aroma to the cake.

Some notes and tips about this cake:

* In this kind of cakes we’re looking for them to be airy and moist. From the moment flour comes in contact with fluid, the mixing action causes a gluten net to evolve, this in turn, will cause our cake’s texture to be elastic. This is definitely a texture we are looking for in yeast cakes, but certainly not in this cake. So you need to pay attention and mix the batter as little as possible.

* When you move the batter into the pan, it will be very short. No worries, it doubles its height while baking.

* Instead of cherries you can use peaches, nectarines or apricots.

* If you want to use also the 4 egg whites that are left after preparing this cake, you can prepare a foam frosting: a little before the cake has finished baking, beat the egg whites with 4-5 Tbsp sugar (I used 4.5) until soft peaks. When the cake is ready, get it out of the oven, evenly spread the foam over it, and place back into the oven for about 8 more minutes, until the foam becomes golden.
If you don’t feel like foam-frosting your cake, you can freeze the egg whites for later use. Don’t forget to mark the number of whites you are freezing and the freezing date. You can use them later for making yummy financiers or cute little meringue kisses.

* If you’re in a miniature mood, you can also make this cake as muffins. The baking time will then be about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out with moist crumbs on it.

Cherry cake / Adapted from my aunt Suzy’s recipe
For a 20X25 cm pan

Ingredients:
100 gr butter, soft
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
juice + zest from one lemon
10 grams vanillated sugar (can be replaced with 1 tsp vanilla extract)
2 cups self raising flour
350 gr cherries, pitted

Directions:
1. If you’re using canned cherries, place them in a strainer for about 1/2 hour, until the liquid drains out of them.
2. Preheat your oven to 356F (180C).
3. In a bowl place butter, oil, milk, sugar, yolks, lemon and vanillated sugar. Mix well until a uniform mixture forms.
4. Gradually add in the flour, while mixing.
5. Grease the pan, scatter some sugar on its sides (to make the crust a bit crunchy) and move the batter into the pan. The batter will be quite low, don’t worry, it’s ok, it will rise while baking.
6. Spread the cherries evenly over the batter, you can give them a little push into the batter, using your fingers. Don’t worry, this cake is strong enoough to hold the fruit on its surface, and it won’t let them fall to the bottom.
7. Bake for about 45 mins, or until a wood toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with moist crumbs on it.

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