ANITA TASKER shares her recipe for cherry and chocolate cake.

WE make this in a loaf tin and it cuts nicely and keeps very well. You will need a large bowl, wooden spoon, set of scales and a cooling rack, a measuring jug and a tablespoon.

This cake can be mixed by hand but if you like an easy life, treat yourself to an electric hand-whisk, or better still, one of those posh stand-alone mixers!

Grease and line your tin. If using a round tin, just line the bottom and grease and flour as well, the loaf tin needs to be lined completely after greasing.

Pre heat your oven moderate heat: 180C/gas4

Ingredients for one loaf tin size 14cm x 21 cm ( or 20cm round cake tin):

125g unsalted butter chopped and soft
100g dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
75g plain flour
150g self-raising flour (sieve together)
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon cocoa
60ml sour cream (I use natural yoghurt if we don’t have sour cream in fridge)
95g chocolate chips
210g red glace cherries

Put all ingredients apart from cherries and chocolate chips into your bowl and beat until smooth and light in colour. Add your choc bits and cherries and just cover them in the mixture.

Pour mix into your tin and bake in oven for approx. 1½ hrs. Leave to cool for 20 minutes before turning out. We dust this loaf with icing sugar and leave to cool then eat. Enjoy.

Anita Tasker runs Pattacakes, the café, bakery and patisserie at Welburn, near Castle Howard