Yesterday, as I rode my bicycle home from work, I saw amazing flashes of lightning all over the already dark night sky. In their own way, the lightning bugs around me were also performing a natural light show. But tonight it’s time for the human inspired lightning. I can hear small cracks to loud booms coming from every direction as I sit here and write this piece and the smell of gunpowder fills the air. It must be July and that means cherry season is in full swing.
Have you ever gone cherry picking? I have. I lived in a small town on the top of one side of the river valley. Our church building sat on a lot in the next town on the other side of the valley. It had a large grassy lot in the back and on it stood two or three cherry trees. So when the cherries were ripe and before the birds would get to them, we grabbed our biggest Tupperware containers and whatever other large buckets we could find and headed out in the car from our house to the church building. The route took us around a curvy sloping road that turned from blacktop to cobblestone down to the cool and green river valley bottom, and then back up around another bend lined with trees where the surface became blacktop again. We would then be in the next town and make our way to the church building with its parking lot out front. Out we would clamber with our containers and walk around the back to the trees. Back in the days when I was lithe and limber, all I needed was a low branch to swing up on and the cherries were ready for the picking. I liked being up in the tree and looking down on the backyard below. I felt as though I had a bird’s-eye view of the world. Ladders also leaned against the tree trunks so we could reach the branches. The cherries I picked there were not the big ruby juicy cherries that I bought this week at the market. They were yellow cherries with a light red blush. I liked the innumerable colour variations and the feel of the smooth, cool fruit against my fingertips. Of course, as we picked, we would eat our fill and see how many pits we could keep in our mouths at once. We would also use the cherries as earrings if we picked them in strands of two. Slowly but surely, the plink sound would make way to the plunk sound and our tubs would fill up. And just as surely, our bellies would say enough. It was time to go home with our harvest. I don’t remember what we did with those cherries other than eat them on the spot. We knew that for a few short weeks, they would be the best thing on earth.
These days, I do the same thing. I buy some at the market and eat as many as I can, stopping before my belly says enough. But this year, I’m trying out some new recipe ideas with them so that I can enjoy them in more ways than one. My latest idea is for a fresh mozzarella and cherry salad which I’m going to try this week. But meantime, I will give you a recipe for a delicious cake made with cherries and served with cherries. And remember, there’s always the traditional standbys: homemade cherry pie and cherry crumble.
Cherry Sherry Cake
1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 c. Sherry
1/4 c. orange juice
3/4 c. butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
2 large eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. grated lemon peel
4 c. fresh pitted cherries
For topping: 2 T. sugar and 2 T. butter at room temperature
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter 10 inch springform pan. Mix first five ingredients in a bowl to blend. Combine Sherry and orange juice in another bowl. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until blended. Beat in eggs, vanilla and lemon peel. Beat in Sherry mixture in 2 additions alternating with the flour mixture. Transfer to the buttered pan. Sprinkle evenly with 3 c. of fresh cherries.
Bake until cake top is gently set, 20 to 25 minutes. Reduce oven to 375 degrees. Dot top of cake with 2 T. butter and 2 T. sugar. Continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes. Cool in pan. Release pan sides. Once the cake is totally cool, serve in wedges with real whipped cream and the remaining fresh cherries. Serves 8.
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