• Preheat the oven to 160C. I have used 2 6 inch pans for baking this cherry almond cake. Grease the pans generously with butter or line it with parchment. I prefer butter.
• Measure and keep all the listed ingredients ready and at room temperature.
• In a wide bowl, take flour, baking powder, baking soda and almond meal. Whisk them all together to get an uniform flour mix.
• To this dry flour mix, add the chopped cherries. Toss them well. Set aside.
• In another wide bowl, empty the can of condensed milk, to this add butter and vanilla essence. Add ½ cup water to this and whisk well to get a nice liquid.
• To this wet mix, now add the dry flour mix in batches. I added ½ cup flour at a time and used a whisk to mix to get a smooth batter.
• After adding all the dry into the wet, use a spatula and mix everything together gently in one direction.
• Now divide the batter into the two prepared cake tins. Garnish the tops with silvered almonds, this is purely optional. Gently tap them to release any trapped air
• Bake the cakes in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Mine was done by 35 minutes.
• Oven temperature and baking time differs from model to model, so keep an eye after 30 minutes.
• Once done, remove the cake from the oven, let it sit on the counter for 5 minutes to cool. Then slowly unmold it from the cake pan on to a wire rack and let it cool completely.
• Allowing the cake to rest is very important before removing the cake from the tin. Been there and done that, be patience or you will end up with half the cake in the pan and half in your hand.
• Let the cake cool completely. You can either frost it with your favorite frosting or can serve it as such.

Store & Serve

• Cake can be stored on the kitchen counter for a day or two. If storing more it is better to refrigerate in an air-tight container.
• While serving cold cakes from the refrigerator, reheat the slice for 20 seconds and serve warm.