Cherry Traybake with Liz Fielding

 

In Murder Among the Roses, there is a character who supplies my heroine and her children with cakes – in particular, the best cherry cake you have ever tasted.

I was on "tea" duty at my local WI a few weeks ago and I had to make a cake and I went for a cherry traybake. It's not fancy but I promise you it is luscious and if the even if the cherries do sink to the bottom it's still a treat. Here's the recipe... 

Ingredients

CHERRY TRAYBAKE

225g (8oz) red or natural glacé cherries (I use the lovely dark red natural morello ones) You can use fresh cherries. I never have but I suspect they will sink to the bottom but be delicious.

275g (10oz) self-raising flour

2 level tsp baking powder

225g (8oz) softened butter

225g (8oz) caster sugar

Finely grated rind of 2 lemons

75g (3oz) ground almonds

5 large eggs

25g (1oz) flaked almonds

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4.

Grease a 30 x 23cm (12 x 9in) traybake or roasting tin then line the base with baking parchment.

Cut the cherries into quarters, rinse under running water and dry thoroughly. (I wash mine in hot water the day before to make sure I've got rid of the all the sticky stuff and ensure they are really dry.) 

Weigh all the rest of the ingredients, except the flaked almonds, into a large bowl and beat until you have a creamy mixture. Fold in the cherries as lightly as you can.

Put the mix into the prepared tin and sprinkle over the flaked almonds.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes or until the cake has shrunk from the sides of the tin. It should spring back when pressed in the centre with your fingertips.

Leave it to cool in the tin.

I confess that my cherries sank to the bottom, but it was a delicious buttery moist cake.

Liz Fieding 

Liz Fielding met her husband when they were both working in Zambia and were keen members of the Lusaka Theatre Club. He was playing John de Stogumber in St Joan, and she was the pageboy to the Earl of Warwick. He swore it was the purple tights that got him. Years spent in Africa and the Middle East provided the background to many of Liz's romances. Her first, An Image of You, was set in Kenya, in a place where they had spent many happy weekends on safari. It was plucked from the slush pile because the feisty feminist heroine made her editor laugh. Emotion touched with humour has been the hallmark of her work ever since.

 

After writing 70 books for Harlequin Mills and Boon, Liz has now turned to crime, signing with Joffe Books for three "Maybridge Mysteries", the first of which, Murder Among the Roses, is published on 18th April.

 

 Liz Fielding on the web:

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Liz Fielding has a new book out:

MEET ABBY FINCH. SHE’S THE BUSY MUM OF THREE, AN EXPERT GARDENER AND THE STAR OF YOUR NEW FAVOURITE COZY MURDER MYSTERY.

In the peaceful Cotswolds village of Maybridge, you wouldn’t expect to find a dead body in the rose garden. And certainly not two.

Abby is horrified to discover the bones of a baby buried under a rose bush. It’s in the garden of her soon-to-be ex-husband Howard’s family home.

She immediately calls the police. But she can’t get hold of Howard. He’s off on a jolly with the woman he’s got pregnant.

And then, just two days later, Abby finds Howard himself.
Lying dead in the very same rose garden.
Throat slashed with her own garden spade.

Now Abby is the prime suspect . . .

Fans of Faith Martin, Jane Adams, Frances Evesham, M.C. Beaton, Clare Chase or Jeanne M. Dams will love this addictive cozy mystery!

MEET THE DETECTIVE
Brilliant gardener and the busy mum of three, Abby Finch’s dreams of winning gold at Chelsea Flower Show were put on hold by an unplanned pregnancy and marriage. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. These days she’s kept on her toes looking by her beloved family, running her own business and dealing with her imminent divorce. In an effort to keep things cordial, she’s allowed her ex to bully her into restoring the garden of his family home. Thankfully she’s surrounded herself with a great group of friends to lean on.

THE SETTING
Pretty Maybridge is a charming village set in the sheep-dotted Cotswolds hills, with a long history stretching back to Tudor times. It’s the type of place where everyone knows each other, but there's a wonderful bookshop on the corner of the bridge, a popular riverside café and a bustling market at Christmastime. And with Bristol nearby and a big supermarket round the corner.

Buy on:

Amazon Kindle            Amazon UK           Amazon Aust

Watch the trailer...