cherry cake recipe from my mum

my darling mum gave me this recipe for a cherry cake yesterday and i couldn't wait to see what would come out of it and quickly baked it.

what came out of it was a very yummy cake indeed.

a very easy, quick (well, apart from pitting one kilogram of cherries - this requires a lot of patience and a black apron!) and light cake, great for eating on a balcony with a cup of coffee or in the garden or on the beach. great to eat with friends in the park, great to eat alone while writing in a blog, great to eat when reading a book, great to eat when watching tv, great to eat when not doing anything special, great to eat for lunch, great to eat for breakfast, great to eat every time, just because it's so great to eat!

did i give you enough reasons to pit one kilogram of cherries yet?

here is the recipe:
you'll need:
around 1 kg of cherries (or other summer fruits, that don't require pitting, for example)
250 g unsalted butter or margarine (i used butter)
4 eggs
200 g sugar
250 g flour
4 tbs potato starch
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

plus for the topping:
5 tbs of unsalted butter
5 tbs of icing sugar
200 - 250 g flour

how to make:
1. wash and dry the cherries (easy)
2. pit the cherries (not so easy)
3. melt the butter or margarine in a pan over a low heat (don't let it boil!) and leave to cool (easy)
4. in a large bowl beat the eggs with sugar and vanilla extract (very easy)
5. stir in melted butter or margarine little by little (very very easy)
6. slowly stir in the flours, baking powder and salt (also very easy)
5. stir really well (easy...)
6. pour the mixture into a medium size square greased baking tray (piece of cake!)
7. arrange the cherries on top (should be lots, don't leave any gaps!)(easy)
8. prepare the topping: work all the ingredients rubbing in the butter until the mixture becomes crumbly and crumble it all on top of the cherries (very easy)
9. bake in the oven for around 50 minutes at 170°C (very very very easy)
(see, only 8 easy steps and just 1 not so easy one!)

here is what the finished product looks like:
there, you don't really mind pitting one kilogram of cherries after all, or do you....