CHOCOLATE CHERRY ALMOND BREADfeatured

There were a couple life lessons I learned early.

1. Cherries are a superior fruit as well as a superior candy flavor. Nothing is better than eating a handful of summertime cherries OR if you are on a road trip with someone and they only like the yellow and orange Starburst flavors you just scored because that leaves all the red and pink flavors for you.

2. Almond flavor is the best flavor. If given the choice between vanilla or almond, always choose almond. Case in point, never go to Starbucks with my Mom. She will order an almond hot chocolate and proceed to micromanage the poor barrista behind the counter making minimum wage by telling them that she would like exactly 6 pumps of almond flavoring in her drink because apparently that gives her the right chocolate to almond ratio. I usually walk away while this is happening. But the point is, almond is awesome.

So it makes complete sense that if there is a chance to marry cherry with almond, it’s always going to be a home run in my book. I’m talking a grand slam level of home run.

It’s kind of a stretch to call this recipe a bread, it’s probably a bit more like a cake. But if I call it a bread, technically that means you can eat it with any meal, so yeah, I’m sticking with bread. Deal with it world.

Also, this is reeaaaaalllly good with whipped cream on it. Just a super helpful suggestion.

Recipe: Chocolate Cherry Almond Bread  |  Soundtrack: Rebecca Ferguson

INGREDIENTS:

• CAKE
• 2/3 Cup Cocoa
• 1 Cup Cherry Juice (I use the juice from the bottle of cherries used later in the recipe)
• 3 1/2 Cups Cake Flour (Using regular flour will give you a different result)
• 2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 2 Cups Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 4 Large Eggs
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3 Tsp Almond Extract
• 1/2 Cup Buttermilk
• 2 Cups Canned/Jar cherries (I like the Morello Cherries from Trader Joes, they aren’t overly sweet)
• 1 Cup Finely Chopped 70% Dark Chocolate
• GLAZE
• 5 3/4 Cups Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Cup Milk (or a bit more if you like your glaze thinner)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour two 9 inch bread pans.

Pour the cherry juice into a liquid measuring cup and microwave until it’s warm. Remove from the microwave and add in the cocoa powder. Using a fork or a whisk, mix it together until it’s smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on a medium speed until combined, light and fluffy. Reduce the speed and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.  With the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients until just combined. Add the cherry juice, cocoa mixture. Mix well. Add buttermilk. Mix well again.  Remove the paddle attachment of your mixer and with a wooden spoon or spatula, fold in the cherries and chopped chocolate until just incorporated.

Pour the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a wooden pick or a knife comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before removing from the pan and glazing.

To glaze, using a fork or a knife, drizzle the glaze as thick or as thin as you like over the warm bread.

You could also forgo the glaze and top it with an almond whipped cream. Or actually you could do both because I see no need to choose between two awesome things.

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