This recipe is popular all year round: in summer months because fresh cherries are available; in the winter months because it is served fresh from the oven with a hot custard sauce.

Serves:	6
Preparation time:	20 minutes
Oven position:	middle
Cooking time:	45 minutes
Oven temperature:	gas 6, 200°C, 400°F
Ingredients:	3oz margarine - 75g - 1/3 cup
	4oz caster sugar - 100g - 1/2 cup
	2 eggs
	6oz flour - 175g - l 1/2 cups
	pinch of salt
	l teaspoon baking powder
	2oz chopped glacé cherries - 50g - 1/3 cup
	2oz chopped dates - 50g - 1/3 cup
	l pint custard sauce - 575ml - 2 1/2 cups

Grease 6 dariole moulds or 6 custard cups. Cream the margarine and sugar well together. Add eggs one by one. Fold in the sieved flour, salt and baking soda. Mix in the cherries and dates and turn the pudding mixture into prepared moulds or cups. Place moulds in a deep tin half filled with boiling water. Cover the entire tin with tinfoil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. When baked, turn pudding onto serving plate and serve hot with custard sauce.

Watchpoint:
In Ireland fresh cherries are available during the summer months. They can be bought the whole year round in cans or glazed. Canned cherries are expensive and so are used mainly in gateaux. The less expensive glacé cherries usually used in cakes are preserved in syrup.

Some people find that when they make a cherry cake the cherries sink to the bottom. They try, unfortunately, to wash and dry the cherries to prevent this. But the only thing necessary is to roll the syrupy cherries in flour before adding them to the cake mixture. This will assure that the cherries are evenly distributed through the cake, preserving their full natural richness.

From the Appletree Press title: The Irish Country Kitchen.
Also from Appletree: A Little Irish Cookbook.