ANITA TASKER suggests an easy cake recipe.

This is a lovely cake that is another ‘bung it all in’ mix and if you like coconut and cherries this is the cake for you.

You will need a bowl that will fit into your microwave, or if you don’t have one, a medium pan, and a mixing bowl, wooden spoon, a one-pound loaf tin (or should I say 500g!) or and eight-inch round cake tin. A set of scales for weighing.


Cherry & Coconut Cake

Ingredients:

150g unsalted butter
135g shredded sweet coconut
225g self-raising flour
220g castor sugar
3 large eggs
180 ml full milk
Small tub (125g) of glace cherries (or more if you like your cherries!)

Method:

Grease your tin with margarine and line the base with silicone paper.

Melt butter in the microwave or pan if using one. Careful, you only need to melt it, not cook the butter.

When melted, pour into a bowl and add flour, coconut, milk, sugar but not the cherries yet, add your eggs and beat thoroughly for about a minute until all nicely combined – now add your cherries and don’t beat any more, just stir them into the mixture.

Pour mix into your tin and level off, cook at moderate temperature in your oven for about an hour.

Put a skewer into your cake centre to check it’s dry so you know it’s cooked properly. Leave in tin to cool before turning out. Will keep a treat for about a week – if it lasts that long.

Anita runs Pattacakes, the bakery, tea room and patisserie at Welburn, near Castle Howard