This cake is just divine. Its an ideal present cake for Easter or Christmas. It looks fantastic. I got the recipe from the Good Food Magazine.
200g butter, at room temperature 200g caster sugar 4 eggs beaten 200g self-raising flour 200g glacé cherries, chopped 100g ground almonds 3 drops almond extract 250g marzipan 50g blanched almonds, halved lengthways 1 tsp icing sugar, for dusting Method 1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas 3. Grease a deep 20cm round cake tin and line the base and sides with greaseproof paper. 2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy, 2-3 minutes. Pour in the eggs a little at a time and beat well after each addition. Mix in the flour one third at a time. 3. Fold in the cherries, ground almonds and almond extract until evenly mixed. Spoon half the mixture into the tin. 4. Roll out the marzipan to a 19cm circle. Lay this on top of the cake mixture in the tin, then cover with the rest of the mixture. Level with the back of a spoon and scatter the almonds on top. 5. Bake in the oven for 1 1/2 hours, covering with foil after 1 hour if it shows signs of burning. The cake is done when it shrinks away from the side of the tin and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar before serving.