among the cherry orchards + chocolate, cherry & almond loaf
Home Baked: A Year of Seasonal Baking - Summer
Welcome to summer! I know in some countries each season begins at the solstice. In Australia, we stick to calendar dates, so 1 December marks the beginning of summer and the start of the summer chapter of Home Baked.
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I’ve been nurturing two small cherry trees in our home orchard. The trees have only been in the ground for a couple of years, so any meaningful harvest is some time away. Last year, despite its diminutive size, one of the cherry trees produced six cherries. I watched them as they grew into small, rosy orbs until one morning, all that remained were the pips hanging on the ends of the stalks. I should begrudge the birds their small feast, but really, I just hope they enjoyed them. This year both trees have fruit, albeit not many more than last year and I expect the same fate awaits them. I sometimes question the wisdom of attempting to grow cherries when we’re surrounded by them, but I guess the same could be said of most homegrown fruits and vegetables.
In the Huon Valley, the beginning of summer marks the start of the local cherry harvest. The farmers spend the weeks prior watching the cherries turn from a light cherry red to a glossy, deep burgundy. The cherry lugs, the boxes filled by the pickers, are moved into the orchards in anticipation. The cherry packing facility on the main highway, which is closed for much of the year, shows signs of activity - open roller doors, forklifts, vehicles moving in and out. The local backpacker's accommodation fills as the pickers arrive, mostly from neighbouring Pacific islands. The farmers know to the day when harvesting will start. And so, seemingly overnight, the valley bustles with harvest activity.
If you live in an agricultural area, the entire community participates in the rhythm of growing and harvesting. Not necessarily directly, but it's almost impossible to avoid the activity that comes with growing commercial crops. You notice when the trees are in flower, when the harvest begins, the tractors on the road, the refrigerated semi-trailers transporting the picked fruit, and the signage directing you to the roadside stalls. These activities are woven into everyday life, creating a collective purpose that seems missing in the city.
Cherries are a commercial export crop. The best fruit sent on its way to far-flung markets. The locals make do with the seconds, generally just slightly smaller fruit, but otherwise with no discernable difference. There’s no need to buy cherries from the shops; there are plenty of roadside stalls where you can be confident that the cherries were still on the trees the previous day and that they have travelled just a few hundred metres before you purchased them.
The first cherries of the season are the ones you gorge on. I drive home with the bag on the passenger seat and a steadily growing pile of cherry pips in the drink holder. After the initial frenzy, I start to think more strategically about how I might use them. Fresh cherries find their way into salads and onto cheese boards. I always plan to bottle some and set them aside for winter baking and desserts. There’s nothing easier than putting them pip and all into bottles, covering them with a light sugar syrup, and water bathing them. Clafoutis (of course), cakes, pies, jam, compote, and frangipane, are all great things with fresh cherries. Pickled cherries are a fabulous cheese or charcuterie board inclusion. I prefer my pickles on the sweeter side, and the addition of a single coffee bean in the jar, something I learned from Cassy, our local pickling expert, adds just a hint of flavour. If you’re left mulling over what to do with the pips after you’ve painstakingly extracted them in an effort to make pie or jam, toss them into a clean jar, cover them with apple cider vinegar, a couple of spoons of sugar and a few peppercorns and leave to infuse for a few weeks. Once you’re happy with the flavour, strain and bottle and use your cherry pip vinegar for a salad dressing.
Cherry Chocolate & Almond Loaf
I like to bake with fresh cherries and then make the same cakes later in the year with the ones I’ve bottled. If you’re using bottled cherries (home-bottled or bought), remove the excess liquid by sitting them on a piece of kitchen towel and patting them dry. This loaf cake is a wonderful terrazzo of cherries, chocolate and almonds, flavours that are made for one another. It can be dressed up with a drizzle of icing and some extra cherries on top but is equally good without.
Makes 1, 11 x 21 cm loaf. Serves 8-10.
140 g plain flour, plus 1 tablespoon extra
75 g almond meal
1½ teaspoons baking powder
140 g fresh cherries, pitted and quartered
150 g butter
200 g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon almond essence
40 ml milk
100 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
100 g icing sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon flaked almonds, toasted
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line an 11 x 21 cm loaf tin.
Put the flour, almond meal and baking powder into a bowl and use a balloon whisk to give it a good mix and to break up any lumps.
Toss the cherries with the extra tablespoon of flour.
Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until light, fluffy and changed in colour. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure to mix well before adding the next. Add the essences and mix again. Tip in the flour mixture and the milk and mix gently until the batter is smooth. Use a spatula to fold in the cherries and chocolate.
Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour, or until the cake is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and cooling completely on a wire rack.
To make the icing, put the icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon juice a little at a time, mixing well, until it is drizzling consistency. Drizzle the icing over the top of the cooled cake and sprinkle with the toasted almonds. The cake will keep in an airtight container for about 4 days.
Next week: the rhubarb patch + rhubarb & hibiscus upside-down cake
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