One of our local villages is famed for its cherries, and even has a fiesta dedicated to this beautiful fruit next weekend. What lucky folk we are! I am back from my trip toLondon where I was spending time with Best Friend Ria who was not long out of hospital. She is on the mend and we spent a week doing things very slowly…always best when you are feeling sore and tired.
On a trip into the village (before leaving for the UK) to buy som of the famed cherries, I was also given half a dozen over-ripe bananas as the fruit lady knew that I used them to make cakes. “Let me know what you do with them” she called, so I made an extra large batch of batter and sent her over some little cup cakes I made with the extra mixture.
To make one large cake though, follow this simple recipe. You won´t regret it!
Ingredients
- 1 cup of chopped cherries soaked in dark rum (or strong black tea) I usually heat this and let it cool while I make the cake
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of self raising flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup oil (I use olive oil)
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 4 small ripe bananas mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Heat the oven to 180ºC and line either a large round or loaf tin or two small ones with greaseproof paper. Beat the oil and sugar together then beat in the eggs. Add the banana, cherries and vanilla and stir then gradually stir in the flour. Pour into a prepared tin and bake for 1 hour (large tin) or about 45 mins (2 smaller tins).
This recipe is adapted from my banana bread recipe. And if you´re feeling like you need a little drink to go with your cake, why not try a glass of Cherry Brandy or a Cherry and Watermelon Granizada. Don´t you just love summer fruits?!
Chica Andaluza 
Very good looking cake – nice recipe:)
Thanks Roger!
That looks wonderful – pity cherries never last long enough to be cooked in our house! Good to hear that your friend is recovering.
Generally we prefer to just eat them “raw”, although I am hoping to make some cherry jam again as that was very popular! Thanks for your good wishes 🙂
Yummy!
It was!
What fun – a fiesta dedicated to cherries!! I hope it involves eating copious quantities of the things until your fingers and tongues are stained crimson 🙂 That would be my kind of cherry fiesta.
Love the idea of adding in cherries to a banana bread – delicious, and looks perfect to have with a nice cuppa!
You´ve been watching me eat cherries at the fiesta haven´t you?!
haha, I’m going mainly from personal experience. We get some pretty good cherries here… fat, and black and juicy. I like to bite them in half, swivelling them around to fully rotate the cut around the pit, remove the pit and then line them all up along the arm of my rocking chair
Once I have a huge pile I literally stuff as many as I can into my mouth… feels good, oh yes, it feels good!
Morning Tanya. Looks delicious. Love banana cake. Really like the addition of the cherries.
Regards Florence xx
Will, there are so many of them around right now, I wanted to make them most of them!
I’ve seen the Spanish cherries in the shops – waiting for Kent and Sussex ones before I start my own mini fiesta here on the south coast! The recipe looks fab – I love banana bread. And great to hear you had a ‘good’ trip home 🙂
I ate some Spanish cherries a few days ago in London too – did feel a bit guilty (food miles and all that) but we fancied them!
Sweet cherries, or sour? Inquiring minds want to know!
I love banna cake/bread/muffins!
All sweet here, although I think it would be great with sour cherries too!
That cake is gorgeous and cherry and banana together sound wonderful and tasty!!!
Best wishes to your friend. Hope she recovers quickly.
BTW you were in London? Still waiting for those Ginger Nuts. Hehehe
Hi Tia and thanks for your good wishes. I take it you didn´t get an e-mail I sent you a good few weeks ago about the gingernuts 😦 It was a very grovelly, apologetic one saying I had tried to post them but they were going to charge about 60 dollars which seemed a bit crazy for a few packets of biscuits….and now I feel even worse 😦
Oh no I didn’t see the email. That’s a crazy postage rate. Now I totally understand. So not worth it. I appreciate the effort my dear Tanya!!! *HUGS*
That looks delicious. I sneaked the last of the 1lb of cherries I bought the other day into the cinema last night to finish. I should have saved them for your cake!
Ooh – much nicer than over priced and tasteless popcorn….hope it was a good film!
What a wonderful idea! I never would have thought of that combination. Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Put the kettle on, I’m on my way.
🙂 Mandy
Nearly boiled…. 😉
WOO HOO, i have ripe bananas on the table and cherries in the fridge, now I had better go and find the rum! great cake! c
I am sure a little “schluck” of anything alcoholic would be good celi!
Just when you think banana cake can’t get any better….boozy cherries! Genius!
Nothing much that a splosh of alcohol can´t improve!
Can’t fault your logic there.
Excellent – how kind of you and the fruit lady!
We have a very lovely fruit lady!
should be soooooooooooo delicioussssssssss! Thank you dear Chica, love, nia
Thanks Nia – there were lots of lovely flavours!
Oh how I wish that I still lived in the country house I grew up in. We had three cherry trees and it would be a pleasure to make this cake on a regular bases in the summer…especially with those rum soaked cherries!
Those cherries must have been soooo good!
yes they were. 🙂
This looks amazing. It would go down a treat in this house! x
So easy to make too!
What a wonderful sounding cake – for starters olive oil! Sweet moistness of bananas. Bursting bites of still-warm cherries (no, I will NOT wait til it’s cooled because SOME things are just not possible.) So happy to hear your best luv of a pal is recuperating, and I’m sure you helped that along! xo
I love cakes made with butter but it´s expensive and not great here, so olive oil cakes are a good alternative for us! Thanks too for your kind words re best pal!
This recipe sounds delicious! Your cherry and banana cake is a very creative combination of flavors!! Brava!!
It´s so good to have you back! Hope all is well with you and the family…looking forward to hearing your news 🙂
If going back to “Merry Olde” gives you this type of inspiration, you need to go back more frequently. This cake combines my two favorite flavors, cherries & bananas. It’s got to be good!
In about 2 weeks, Michigan will have their annual cherry festival. The western coast of Michigan is one of this country’s leading producers of tart cherries. This year, along with my pies and muffins, I think I’ll be baking a cake, too. Thanks, Tanya, for the inspiration & welcome home!
Thanks John – it´s always good to go back to “Merry Olde” (loved that!) but it´s great to be home. Glad you liked the cake – I´m only recently starting to get brave and mess around with cake recipes, previously I used to follow them to the letter….I think I´m gradually losing my fear!
A village famed for cherries? A cake with such cherries + bananas? I better not let Steve see this post, as he’ll be on the first plane over and encamped on your front porch!
He can camp in the olives with our chickies…..!
I’m so glad you had a nice visit with your friend, she must have appreciated your kindness in helping her recover. This cake is so pretty.. and those cherries, I can just imagine how fresh and sweet they must be, I would def choose the rum;)
Thanks you so much for your lovely words – she is on the mend. And yes, the rum certainly adds something special to the mix!
How I wish it were cherry season here – it is the one fruit I indulge in and don’t ever have to share 🙂
Sometimes it´s good just to sit there with a bowl of something you adore and then just indulge all by yourself!
I love banana cake. The cherry I’ve yet to try. My wife makes one with pineapple bits and use apple sauce to make it moist and mouthwatering delicious. I will try this recipe . Thanks for sharing another delicious post. Have a beautiful day…
Oh yes, apple sauce is great to use in cakes and the pineapple sounds good too!
Ooooh, yum
What a great banana cake and how lovely to be given all those very ripe bananas and then give some cupcakes to the lady who gave them to you. She must have been thrilled. xx
I was lucky and she did seem to enjoy them!
Banana and raspberry sounds like the PERFECT match!! 😀 Bookmarking this for some holiday baking 😀 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Can’t wait 🙂
Enjoy Fati!
Welcome back, Tanya! I’m definitely going to try this cake. I have some cherries and I always have too ripe bananas it seems, and usually just make banana bread. I’m excited to have something new to try and the banana-cherry-rum combo sounds like perfection!
Thanks – it´s good to be back! I think most of us generally end up with a few ripe bananas lurking round, so this is a handy recipe to have around!
I just looked at the full-size pic and it looks really succulent and delicious!
The photos are enormous when you “full size” them!
I bet that you will be getting a lot more bananas after the lady tasted the cupcakes. What a nice combination of flavors.
Now that would be nice for everyone! Thanks Karen 🙂
Oh my gosh, I’m craving a huge slice of that right now. Welcome back from London, and I wish your friend Ria a quick recovery! x
Glad you liked it Caroline and thanks for your good wishes!
Delicious cake!
Thank you!
Wow a fiesta for cherries, you are lucky indeed! I love the combination with the bananas
Thank you – we´re just heading off there now actually!
Banana bread/cake/muffins are definitely my favorite kind of fruit cake, especially in winter, with a bit of chocolate…mmmmmm! Bookmarked! 🙂
Yes, it´s getting too hot to bake here now 😦
I saw this post come through my email and the title alone made my mouth water! What a perfect cake. Can’t wait to make this. 🙂
Hi Karista – so glad it tempted you!
I never had tried cherries on banana cake, looks like a great idea. BTW whats with the banana cake this past 2 weeks I see a lot of different banana cake posts online
It´s often called banana bread, but it´s really a sponge or cake made with mashed banana to replace some of the fat and is very moist – also a great way to use up over ripe bananas!
What a scrumptious looking cake! All that you need now is a huge gob of clotted cream or a large scoop of home made rich vanilla icecream and a nice cup of tea and NO-ONE to share it with lol 🙂
Now THAT would be perfect!
Desdehace día que quiero comentar en esta entrada y decirte que me ha encantado la receta, el cake tiene una pinta buenísima 🙂
Gracias, y era muy fácil!
How awesome is this?! I have manky bananas I need to use up, some lovely cherries, lots of visitors to see Olive and a quick Google led me here 🙂 Perfect!!!
Olive’s visitors will love it, and it’s so quick and easy to do! Give her a little cuddle from me J
nice recipe. my grandma usually buy banana cake, i have to try this recipe. thanks
Thank you for all your lovely comments – so glad you are enjoying the recipes and the blog!
urwlcm :)))
You’re welcome dear ^^
You’re welcone dear ^^ I always enjoying ur recipes and the blog, keep writing the recipes, it helps me to learning about cooking hehe