Speaking of Mother’s Day today, Mr Gatsby’s mum is no ordinary mum (although who is really?). She’s a cookbook author having published a cookbook on German cakes and pastries called the German Pastry bakebook. “I wrote the book because in the 1970s pastries in the U.S. were not to my German standard. Because of that I had to do my own baking. This got me more and more interested and when going to Germany I quizzed every family member I could find for their traditional recipes. The challenge was that I needed to transfer them to American ingredients plus figure out the correct measurements as these recipes were very loose and not at all perfectly measured out, sometimes they were just “known” and passed down orally! So I had to try each recipe many times until getting the right combination so one could get the real German taste and flavour, and slowly but surely I wrote the German Pastry Bakebook.”
She adds “The sunken cherry cake is my older sister’s recipe as we always had plenty of sour cherries in our garden. I remember she explained to me that “our” sour cherries were too small to pit. If she did that, nothing would be left! This was the excuse to leave the stones in!!!! Of course one can buy now lovely sour cherries, and pitted ones too.”
When her sister made this cake she did not remove the cherry pits (always a laborious task) and as a result the cake was known by the name Spuckkuchen or Spit Cake to signify the spitting of the cherry pits. She also suggests that you could use tart plums or any other tart fruit as the sweet cake batter helps to balance it and I agree.
I didn’t use all of the cherries as I wasn’t sure how far down I should push them although the next time that I make this I would use more and keep pushing them down as they would be a juicy surprise throughout the slice. Although the cinnamon sugar adds a lovely aroma, as Margit suggest you could omit it and instead pour a cherry glaze over it or leave it and sprinkle icing sugar over it and it would look like a gorgeously golden yet rubied cake. As it is, it was soft, sweet and buttery with the perfect counterpoint of sour from the sour cherries and a dollop of whipped cream was a sumptuous but somehow wholly necessary accompaniment. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums out there!
Sunken Sour Cherry Cake
Preheat oven to 375˚F/190C.
Butter and flour or line a 10-inch springform pan.
Topping:
- 2½ cups fresh, unpitted cherries or 1 pound/500g pitted cherries, canned or frozen
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon sugar
1. Drain cherries well and set aside.
2. Mix cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl.
Batter:
- 1 cup/2 sticks/225grams unsalted butter
- 1⅓ cup caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 tablespoon rum
- 2½ cups sifted flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons sifted icing sugar to decorate
1. Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time until combined.
2. Add vanilla or rum.
3. Fold in flour and baking powder.
4. Pour the batter immediately into the prepared pan and smooth it with a spatula. It will be quite a thick batter.
5. Distribute the cherries over the batter, pressing each down slightly to anchor it. You may find you have more cherries than can be pushed in on a single layer so just keep pushing more down.
6. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over all.
7. Place at once in the lower middle of a preheated 375˚F/190C oven and bake for 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding it onto a cake rack to cool thoroughly. When cool, using a sieve, sift icing sugar over the top and serve.
Variations. Omit the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Prepare 1½ cups of cherry or plum glaze. Pour the glaze over the cake and let it cool. Or sprinkle the cake generously with confectioners sugar after it has cooled.
Serving suggestion. Serve each piece with a spoonful of whipped cream.
Adapted from a recipe by Margit Stoll Dutton from The German Pastry Bakebook
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45 Comments | Add your own
Mmmmm, this looks SO delicious! I love sour cherries.
MMMMMMMM…..I love this!!!
Cherries, so delicious!! I will have to wait until it is cherry season!! So moist & delicious, Lorraine!!!!! Lovely with a cup of lovely tea!!!
That is such a beautiful cake. It has my mouth puckering just thinking about it!
This cake looks scrumptious!
I’m always a bit confused about this Lorraine. Are our cherries the same as “sour cherries” in the US or is there a particular kind I should buy? I’ve got recipes for sour cherry pie but didn’t know where I could get them.
I’ve made a cake similar to this which was a plum crumble cake. Buttery sweet base with plums and a cinnamon crumble topping. It fell apart a bit in getting it out of the pan (next time I’d use a springform pan) but it was attractively destroyed and oh so, so yummy. Nothing like the balance of sweet and tart!
This cake looks perfect for afternoon tea…or morning tea…or even breakfast haha!
wow! looks FABULOUS! I can just imagine the bursts of sour cherries in each sweet bite! mmm!
This looks like such a nice cake
If you wanted to get more cherries in, would alternating layers of cherry & cake batter do the trick with regards to getting as many cherries into the cake as possible?
This looks so perfect, I’ll have to give it a go soon!
what a gorgeous looking cake! love all your pictures!
That looks really yummy! I love cherries.
Ooh bad idea to read this on a hungry stomach! *drool*
Very big fan of sour cherries. They’re used a lot in Hungarian desserts…My mum makes a sponge with them in it and they kind of sink through because the batter is much softer.
Mmm cherries. I have a can of cherries in the cupboard, now I know what to do with them!
I know it takes a while to pit cherries but I have to do it. I’d probably end up chipping my tooth or something.
Wow this looks fabulous! Send a big slice my way – yum
oh this looks delicious. such an unusial cake
Oh yummo!! One of my favourite cakes in the world is just like this except it has bits of dark chocolate through it… DIVINE!!!
now that must be why I was yearning after some sour cherries just the other day – I knew there would be some baking I would need them for – this cake looks excellent
I love sour cherries! Your chocolate sorbet with sour cherries is still on my list of things to make. This sounds like a rich buttery cake, so the sour fruit would be a good contrast.
This cake looks lovely.
Happy Mothers day!
This looks like the perfect thing to make to take to an outdoor picnic!
That looks lovely and moist and I can just taste the beautiful flavours… almost…
Mmmmmm.. sour cherries in a cake… Wish I could have some now with some ice cream.
spit cake? i love it–that’s such an apt name, and a funny one too. the cake’s pretty terrific anyway–i do love me some cherries surrounded by cake and sugar.
Wow, that’s so easy, I’ll have to try this!!
The cake looks very rich and moist and tender in the inside shot. I can imagine how delicious this must be with the buttery flavor of the cake and the tartness of the cherries. Great recipe.
This looks and sounds just gorgeous! Hmmm – not sure if I would serve it to my guests as “spit cake” though ….
Hi sara-Me too! Black or sour cherries are so good!
Hi Sophie-Thankyou! Yes I agee, it would so lovely to have this in the afternoon with a cup of tea
Hi Feasting on Art-Thanks so much!
Hi Barbara-Thankyou!
Hi SydneyGal-OUr fresh cherries aren’t, they’re black cherries. However you can get sour cherries at the supermarket in large
700g jars in the tinned fruit section. They’re quite inexpensive too especially compared to black cherries. Yes she suggest
using plums too which I cna totally see would work. Yep the balance is so important!
Hi Steph -Hehe yes! Breakfast because it has fruit in it!
Hi Sophia-Yes I love fruit bursts!
Hi Simon-It was very good and so simple!
Yes you could do it that way or just keep pushing them down would also do 
Hi Lisa-Wonderful! I’d love to hear what you think of it!
Hi veggiebelly-Thankyou! You are too kind!
Hi anna-Hehe me too-any excuse to use more cherries!
Hi Karen-Hehe I don’t read food blogs in an empty stomach!
Hi Esz-Ahh that sounds really lovely too!
Hi Reemski-Ahh well this would be a fitting end to them!
Hi Jude-You have more patience than I! I just bought pitted
Hi katie -Hehe sure thing!
Hi snooky doodle -Thanks! I love the sweet and tart contrast
Hi Lulu-Oooh sounds lovely! Nice variation indeed
Hi Johanna-Hehe yes this is an excellent way to use sour cherries!
Hi Arwen-Ahh cool, well if you have any left over you can do both!
Hi ArtemisIII-Thankyou!
Hi maris-Yes you’re right! It’s sturdy but not too fiddly!
Hi Anita-Hehe it’s definitely worth making
Hi Soma-I love strawberries and cream and cherries and cream. But when you add a butter cake to it-wow!
Hi grace-Hehe it’s almost like one of those lyrical Southern names isn’t it!
Hi justJENN-Yes do and let me know what you think of it!
Hi Leela-It was nice and soft inside. Mr Gatsby’s mum sure can write a mean recipe!
Hi Cakelaw-Thankyou! Haha just make sure they know the story behind the name. Just calling it “spit cake” might scare them!
Mmmmmm, looks fabulous! Though can you imagine biting into it with the pits still in the cherry?
Thanks for sharing.
~ingrid
This looks great. I am thinking of making a note to bake something like this for Christmas. I made some cherry cupcakes from Nigella’s HTBADG cook book and used sour cherries (it called for cherry preserve instead but couldn’t get my hands on any up here). Despite the substition, they were a hit. Thanks!!!
Hi ingrid-Thankyou! Hehe yes I would imaigne I’d probably chip my tooth (I am accident prone
)
Hi Julia-It fits with the white and red Christmas theme! That’s good to know that you can sub it with sour cherries
I’m all for anything with sour cherries in it! Just wondering though, why it’s called a sunken cake?
Hi Y-It’s because you sink the cherries down into the cake (as opposed to a sunken cake where there is a crater in the middle).
I made this a few days ago and it was absolutely delicious, not to mention beautiful. I love cherries (I think they’re my favorite summer fruit) and bake them into all kinds of cakes, tarts, crisps, and what have you, and this might be my favorite of all the cherry cakes I’ve made. The cake was so nice and buttery and sturdy enough to hold even with the juicy cherries. I love the addition of rum in this. Thanks for yet another great post, Lorraine. =)
Wow that looks amazing! It looks similar to the Sour Cherry Almond Cake I just made, YUM!! Thanks for the recipe!
I made this cake yesterday and it was wonderful. So moist aich, a perfect blend of buttery sweetness and tart cherries. I have a cherry tree heavy with fruit, and I’m going to be making this a few times in the next couple of weeks. I’m a novice baker (translation: way too many failures to count) and I found this so easy and stress free. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Hi Sairis-Thankyou for letting me know! Oh that’s wonderful! I’m so glad that you liked it. I agree, it’s a great recipe. I’m so glad I found her website
You’re welcome!
Hi Amanda-Thanks! You’re more than welcome!
Hi Krista-That’s wonderful to hear
That’s great and lucky you have so many cherries! You are so welcome! 
Lovely cake, I would you more cherries and add a layer! 3cups of cherries needed! took longer to cook that 60 min.
Is it plain or S/R Flour used for this recipe? I think plain but want confirmation. Can someone answer asap??
Do you use plain or s/r flour?
Anna, it’s plain flour as baking powder is listed separately.
Thank you Kindly for answering so prompt. I’m going out to get my cherries then will start baking. I’m looking foward to this with my daughter and a good cup of green tea. Thank you again:)
You’re welcome Anna and enjoy!
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[...] Last week we had loads of leftover cherries thanks to Leila deciding that she wasn’t going to like cherries anymore. Those things are expensive and I couldn’t take watching them slowly grow fur in the fridge. I googled for some recipes and came across one for a tasty sounding Hungarian Sour Cherry Cake. [...]
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