Shallow and Satisfying: Hungarian Sour Cherry Cake

To finish out my tart cherry supply this year, I decided to try a Hungarian Sour Cherry Cake recipe from Saveur. It's a snap to make. You beat together softened butter, sugar, kirsch, and vanilla; add an egg; and alternately add in the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt) and milk. I spread the batter into a parchment-lined half-sheet pan and sprinkled over cherries tossed with flour. The batter was very shallow and the cherries were sticking up from the batter, which concerned me a little because I thought that the exposed portions of the cherries might end up with a flour crust baked on them.

After baking, the tops of the cherries did look a bit odd because of the flour coating. Fortunately, the fruit tasted fine and I really liked this cake. Because it was thin, the ratio of cherries to cake in each bite was high. And if anything, I think the cake tasted better on days two and three. This homey and simple cake was very satisfying.

Recipe: "Hungarian Sour Cherry Cake" from Saveur.