Hello Y’all!! I hope you’re doing amazingly well in your corner of the globe. The heat wave is on and there’s no getting away from the mugginess and hell-ish atmosphere we are going to be stuck with for the next couple of months.  Trust me when I say we have it ‘nicer’ in North Texas – I had to be in McAllen, Texas (a small town near the Gulf of Mexico)and when I stepped off the plane, I was welcomed with a wave of heat, a tight vacuum of hot air and beautiful palm trees. 🙂 The sunlight over there is pretty intense. Its almost too bright that at certain angles, it can be blinding. But I survived it….and that’s all that matters.  The weekend was all things ’90 Day Fiancé – Happily Ever After Reunion Part 1. And yes, I said PART ONE… hehe. If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, please do so. I promise you it will be worth your while…ahem (fake cough), that is if you love reality TV and all the craziness that comes with it!

On a brighter note, Summer is here and there’s fresh fruit every where!! I have been so occupied that I marvel at the time I find in my schedule to bake. I liken it to therapy – but with rewards LOL!  There’s fresh produce everywhere and I cannot do without trying at least one cake recipe that has fruit in it. The only ‘Disclaimer’ I’ll add is that you increase your workout sessions as you enjoy these recipes because the scale don’t lie; and after a while all those ‘placing on carpet versus tile or shaking it immensely coupled with undressing down and even removing your plastic teeth aligners will not save you…LOL!

Recently, I went grocery shopping over the weekend and came upon a deal that was too good to pass on. I got a big bag of lush organic cherries for 1/3 of the price.  I only realized a couple of days later that I had to figure out what I was going to do with them before they started going bad. Something easy and quick is my go to motto for recipes unless I REALLY want to go all out. So I finally decided on a Cherry Cake Recipe in the end, so Cherry cake it was! I wasn’t planning on blogging about it until I was halfway through and it occurred to me that it would be something y’all might like to try so I hope you enjoy the photos however few they might be.

Ingredients:  2 cups fresh cherries (pitted), 1 1/4 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 lemon zest, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup regular yoghurt, 1/4 cup milk.

Toppings: Whipped cream, melted chocolate.

Instructions: Pre-heat oven to 350F, grease  and flour 8 inch cake pan. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Ina separate bowl, beat egg and sugar until fluffy (2-3 mins), add zest and vanilla and beat for one minute. Slowly add oil. Add yoghurt and milk and keep mixing. Slowly add flour a little at a time. Fold half the cherries into the batter and pour into the pan. Top with remaining cherries and lightly press down using a spatula. Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar on top (if you wish). Bake for 40-45 minutes.

The Results Are In!!

This is such a scrumptious cake that you would probably need a fork to eat. Its very moist with bursts of juice from the cherries in literally E-V-E-R-Y bite.

After folding the cherries, its best to mix ever so gently, we dont want to squish the cherries.

You’re almost done, sprinkle the remaining pitted cherries and its ready to go in the oven!

Let the timer begin!

Let it cool down…5-10 minutes tops

Voila!!

So until I come your way again, be safe, stay healthy and have fun!!

Periwinkle Starr