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Siberian Bird Cherry Cake

Siberian Bird Cherry Cake is a traditional Russian (from Siberia) recipe for a classic sponge-style cake made with a blend of bird cherry flour and plain flour and covered with a cream cheese icing flavoured with cherry gastrique. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Russian version of: Siberian Bird Cherry Cake.

prep time

30 minutes

cook time

30 minutes

Total Time:

60 minutes

Additional Time:

(+2 hours cooling)

Serves:

16

Rating:

Tags : Wild FoodVegetarian RecipesCheese RecipesBaking RecipesCake RecipesRussia Recipes

In Siberia, the fruit of Prunus padus, the bird cherry is often dried (including the pit), crushed and employed as a flour. This is a classic cake made from bird cherry flour. This can be bought commercially, but if you want to make your own, follow the recipe for Bird Cherry Flour. You don't have to use wild bird cherries to make this, commercial cherries work just as well. You can also use the wild cherry, Prunus avium though the flour from this can be slightly bitter (blend in a little salt to reduce the bitterness).

Ingredients:

For the Cake:
150g ground, sifted, Bird Cherry Flour
120g plain flour
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
150g sugar
235g full-fat sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Icing:
340g full-fat cream cheese
115g unsalted butter
115g powdered sugar
pinch of sea salt
3 tbsp cherry gastrique (wild cherry syrup) or kirschwasser
85g sliced almonds, toasted (optional)

Method:

Sift together the cherry flour, plain flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl then set aside. In the meantime, pre-heat your oven to 180°C (350°F) and butter a 20cm diameter springform cake tin.

Whisk together the eggs and sugar until doubled in volume (abut 5 minutes with an electric whisk) then beat in the sour cream and vanilla extract. Working a little at a time, fold in the cherry flour mix until completely combined.

Scrape the resultant batter into the prepared springform cake tin, using spatula to smooth the top so that the batter is evenly distributed. Transfer to the centre of your pre-heated oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until the cake is just set. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool (leave in the tin). This will take about 2 hours.

For the icing, whip together the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, salt and cherry gastrique (or kirschwasser) until light, fluffy, and doubled in volume (about 5 minutes) using an electric whisk on high.

Now assemble the cake. Remove the cake from the tin and using a long bread knife cut the cake horizontally into two equal halves. Using a palette knife, spread a generous layer of the icing on the bottom half of the cake (you need at least a 2cm depth). Sit the upper half of the cake on top then spread the remaining icing over the top and sides.

If you're using slivered almonds arrange these neatly all over the sides of the cake. Slice and serve.


Any leftover cake can be kept in the fridge, lightly covered with clingfilm (plastic wrap) for up to a week.