Cherry torte with a crumble topping

So I have 2 lovely cherry trees in my garden, one is for eating!! nomm nomm and one for cooking (if you accidentally eat a cooking one you realise why, just a bit bitter!)

This year is a bumper crop, in one picking I gathered (see am a hunter gatherer type) a colander full of cooking cherries.

 What to cook, don't fancy a cherry pie nor a cake! hmmm lets try a torte

Cherry torte with a crumble topping

Ingredients:

• 140g self-raising flour
• ½ tsp mixed spice
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 tbsp milk
• 85g butter, melted
• 350g juicy, ripe cherries

Topping:

• 25g plain flour
• ¼ tsp mixed spice
• 25g golden caster sugar
• 25g butter, at room temperature, diced

Method:

Preheat oven (I have an electric fan) 160 (conventional 180C/gas 4), grease and line your tin, go with what ever tin you have, cook longer if deeper, less if wider.

 I had to hull my cherries.

Bung (yup a very technical term) self raising flour, caster sugar, egg, mixed spice, (cooled) melted butter into the mixer and whisk, adding the milk spoon by spoon, if mixture is non-batter like add extra milk.

 Spread batter into the lined cake tin.

 Then layer cherries on top.

 In a food mixer, blitz the topping ingredients into a breadcrumb like mixture (or do it by hand if you don't have a blender)

 Then spread the "crumb" on top of the batter/cherry base.

Cook in the oven (middle is best) for 25-35 mins (depending on thickness of cake/oven type) until that darn skewer come clean.

Serve warm with ice cream or cooled with cream xxx