Cherry Cornmeal Cake

Finally there are cherries! I got too many (of course). I'm saving the Queen Anne cherries for eating, but the Bings I wanted to bake into a not-too-sweet kind of cake. This is a good cake (though not photogenic) -- crumbly, interesting-tasting, studded with cherries. Some people might think it was too close to cornbread to be called cake, but I disagree. The crumbliness does make it difficult to transfer out of the pan -- take care when inverting it!



Cherry Cornmeal Cake

1.5 - 2 cups pitted Bing cherries
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 oz. bourbon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup oil (half olive and half canola is good; all olive was too pronounced an olive flavor)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
about 1/4 cup skim milk

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and sugar together. Add the cherries and bourbon; boil two minutes. Strain out and reserve the liquid.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8 inch square cake pan.

Pour the reserved cherry liquid into a measuring cup and add enough milk to equal 1/2 cup. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, sugar, and milk/cherry liquid mixture. Fold in flour, baking powder, and cornmeal; mix just until blended.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and sprinkle the cherries evenly over. Bake until lightly browned, 25-30 minutes.