Sour Cherry Cake (Kolač sa višnjama)

This summer, it is all about sour cherries. I've been making a lot of different cakes and pies with this fruit and I even found fresh sour cherries on farmers' market for the first time since I had moved to the U.S, and that was almost seven years ago. In my older post Sour Cherry Pie I talked about how hard is to find them fresh and what alternatives are available on the market.



This is actually very popular summer cake in Serbia but I baked it to look similar to French clafoutis. Differences in recipes are not too big - Serbian version has vegetable oil, baking powder and the batter is thicker than the French one. Traditionally, in Serbia, the cake is baked in rectangle-shaped baking pan and then cut into bars. I made it round. Powdered sugar sprinkled on the top gives the cake nice look.

First fresh sour cherries found in the U.S.

You need:

3 cups pitted fresh sour (tart) cherries (alternatively, use canned or frozen)

1 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder

4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

9-inch diameter baking dish


Steps:

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).

Sift flour and mix it with salt and baking powder.

Mix eggs and sugar with hand mixer on high speed until it triples in size. Add gradually flour using kitchen spatula, then milk, vanilla extract and oil.

Pour the batter in the baking dish. Spread the cherries evenly on the top. Bake it for 1 hour.

Before serving, sprinkle the top of the cake with powdered sugar.