CHERRIES ARE BAKED INTO A DENSE, NUTTY CAKE TINGED GREEN WITH PISTACHIOS

1 Poach the cherries briefly in a splash of water with the lemon juice, a few strips of peeled zest and the sugar. Cook until soft, remove them with a spoon and set aside, then reduce the juice down to a syrupy consistency.

2 Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan oven) gas mark 4. Grease and line a 23cm cake tin with baking paper.

3 Melt the butter either in a microwave or in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. Set aside to cool, then add the salt.

4 Blitz or finely chop the pistachios, reserving a few slivers to decorate the top of the cake, if you like. Chop them to a fine-ish crumb, but it is nice to have some pieces a little bigger for texture.

5 Beat the eggs with the sugar and lemon zest until combined, then add the lemon juice and melted butter, then the ground almonds, baking powder and finally the yogurt. Don’t worry if the mixture looks a little lumpy and curdled, as it will settle down in the oven. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and pop in your poached cherries (some of their syrup is fine too).

6 Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden and firm. Allow to cool before removing from the tin.

7 Make a simple icing with the lemon juice and icing sugar. Glaze the cake, sprinkle with the reserved pistachio slivers and decorate with some fennel flowers (if available) and maybe a fresh cherry or two.

8 Serve with some of the cherry syrup and a blob of mascarpone as a pudding, or as it is with a coffee for breakfast. Any reserved cherry syrup can also be used in drinks or drizzled over yogurt or porridge.