Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until softened. You'll need your butter to be soft for this, so make sure it's not straight from the fridge. It will massively affect how your cake turns out. When it says “creamed”, it literally means it looks like a thickened cream.

2. Gently add in your whisked eggs, stage by stage. If it splits a little, that's okay, but hopefully it won't, due to the fact that you've used soft butter.

3. Add in your vanilla extract and lemon zest, then stir through your ground almonds and baking powder.

4. Stir through half of your cherries, and reserve the rest for the top.

5. Line a baking tin approximately 15cm wide with nonstick baking parchment, then oil and butter the tin.

6. Place your mix into the tin and into the oven at 200°C, and cook for 40 to 45 minutes, until a skewer or sharp knife inserted comes out clean.

7. Allow to cool completely.

8. When cooled, dust with icing sugar and serve with crème fraîche.