Bon Appetit Desserts: Cherry-Vanilla Tea Cake with Vanilla Sugar

This is a delightfully easy cake to make. Please, make sure you can find the correct cherries! Unless this cook book asks for items that I already know where to locate whilst in the store, I have a very hard time finding the item... and I am not a very good 'ask for help' type of person. I suffer because of this. Sometimes needlessly.

I purchased cherry pie filling, because I could not locate the correct cherries, and then rinsed the filling bit off and kept the cherries. BTW, a 20 oz. can of cherry pie filling, only contains 1/2 a cup of actual cherries! Rip off. I say make your own pie filling. It will taste better anyway and will be packed with cherries!

** Note to self: Put Vanilla sugar on everything!** So good!

On to the recipe!

Cherry-Vanilla Tea Cake with Vanilla Sugar
10 Servings

1-1/2          cups unbleached all purpose flour

1                teaspoon baking powder

1/2             teaspoon baking soda

1/4             teaspoon salt

1/8             teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2             cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1                cup plus 1 Tablespoon sugar

2                large eggs, room temperature

2                teaspoons vanilla extract

2/3             cup sour cream

1                teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

1                cup canned pitted sweet cherries, halved, drained

1/2             vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2                Tablespoons powdered sugar


Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly butter and flour 10-inch-diameter springform pan with 2-3/4-inch-high sides. Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and nutmeg into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla extract. Transfer 2 tablespoons dry ingredients to small bowl. At low speed, beat half of remaining dry ingredients into butter mixture, then mix in sour cream and lemon peel. Beat in remaining half of dry ingredients. Mix cherries into reserved 2 tablespoons dry ingredients; fold cherrie into batter.

Spoon batter into prepared pan smooth top. Bake  until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes. (Mine took 40, so just keep an eye out.) Transfer cake to rack and cool 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, using small sharp knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into small bowl. Mix in remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, rubbing with fingertips to distribute seeds. Add powdered sugar and rub again.

Sift vanilla sugar over hot cake and cool. Cut around pan sides to loosen cake; remove pan sides.

DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; let stand at room temperature.