Amarena Cherry Dream Cake

Hi!

As a Dane I grew up believing dream cake was a part of our national fabric. It was a Danish invention, a little piece of national pride. A few years ago I learned it was in fact an American cake originating sometimes in the 1930’s and not in northern Denmark in the 1950s… The horror!

Anyway, the simple sheet cake is delicious no matter its nationality and - see a pattern here? - can be endlessly adapted! Add cocoa powder to the sponge, citrus zests, spices or pieces of fruit that pair with the caramelised coconut filling. Or add another layer of flavour to the goo by mixing in a splash of booze, citrus zests, finely chopped herbs, tea or coffee or a pinch of spices.

This particular recipe was a happy accident. Or not really an accident, more like “what do I do with the open jar of Amarena cherries I have leftover from making ice cream” and then that quickly spiralled to “coconut and cherries are amazing together, and oh man now I really want dream cake”…

I folded pieces of chopped amarena cherries through the batter and tossed a few into the goo with a generous splash of the syrup. I didn’t add any other spices to the mix, but in the future I might be tempted to play around with some lemon or orange zest to add a bright note to the sweet cake.

Amarena Cherry Dream Cake

Makes one 20cm / 8” cake or six 7,5cm / 3” mini cakes

3 eggs
225g sugar
190g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
150ml whole milk
40g butter
200g amarena cherries, roughly chopped

Grease a 20cm cake pan

Whisk the eggs and sugar in s bowl over a Bain Marie until very light and airy, 4-5 min

Bring milk and butter to a simmer, remove from heat and set aside.

Sieve together flour, salt and bp and fold into the egg mixture followed by the hot milk. Fold the chopped amarena cherries into the batter. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes at 180c fan. If using mini cake pans bake for 7 minutes)

Meanwhile prepare the topping

150g butter
150g unsweetened shredded coconut
250g brown sugar
60ml whole milk
60ml amarena cherry syrup

Bring everything to a simmer and cook on low heat for 10 minutes

Pour the hot mixture over the cake and use a spatula to even it out. Return to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes at 200C or until the cake is baked through