Kirschenplotzer WHAT? A German Cherry Cake

I'm not a fruit girl (except for citrus), but I do love cherries.

T'is the cherry season. Right now.
Washington or NY State cherries.....good stuff.

Here is my ONE cherry dessert for the season.
Yes, I own a cherry pitter, however, I hate pitting pounds of cherries.

As I've said before, the juice gets all over my counters, cutting boards and makes a mess every time.

This cake is worth the aggravation.
It's a traditional German cake called a "kirschenplotzer".

This is better than the usual cherry pie in the sky.

Kirschenplotzer/German Cherry Cake (adapted from Mile High Kitchen):

1 pound fresh sweet dark cherries, pitted
1/4 cup (60g) butter, unsalted, at room temp.
2/3 cup ( 130g) sugar
3 eggs, at room temp.
1/2 teaspoon good vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/4 (150 g) cup flour
1 1/8 cup (150 g) corn meal or medium grind polenta
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup 1 tablespoon (100 ml) milk

The original recipe wants you to bake the cake at 400F, but my oven doesn't like cakes at that temp, so I took the liberty and turned it down to 375F.

Grease and flour a 10" springform pan.

Sift the flour and mix with cornmeal and baking powder. Set aside.

In a stand mixer combine the butter and sugar. Mix on medium speed for 4 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix well.

Add vanilla and almond extract. Mix well.

With the stand mixer on slow, alternate mixing in the flour and milk.

Fold in the cherries by hand with a spatula.

Transfer the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan 10 minutes then remove the ring and let cool on a rack.

I made an icing, non-traditional.......I added 1 cup of confectioner's sugar w/ 1 tbsp milk and some sliced almonds. I poured it over the cake while still warm. The icing will harden.

So good.
Enjoy!