If you have a sweet tooth, chances are you might also like pampering yourself with freshly baked desserts. On a typical rainy day when you can’t go to the movies or cafe-hopping, the best thing you can do is bake. Therapeutic as the process is, Usha’s OTG makes it simpler to nail bakery-style desserts, even if you’re a beginner.
Cherries, being freshly picked for the monsoon season, make them an obvious choice to whip up some desserts. Borrowing their tart flavour, you can add the fruit to your fillings, make a compote, use them for icing, garnishing, and much more. Here are some super convenient cherry dessert ideas that are easy enough to make on a weekday, yet special enough to showcase your baking skills.
Cherry Cupcake
Starting with an easy one, cherry cupcakes require a little variation to your usual vanilla cupcake recipe. You can make a batter by whisking together flour, eggs, milk, butter, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Once smooth, fold in chopped cherries and a teaspoon of vanilla essence. Transfer the batter to greased cupcake moulds, bake in Usha’s OTG, and serve with a buttercream frosting.
Chocolate Cherry Lava Cake
Decadent, indulgent, and every chocolate lover’s dream, this cherry lava cake is a must-try. While a traditional lava cake is enough to please your sweet tooth, pairing it with cherries elevates the experience further. In your go-to lava cake batter, you can fold in cherry compote or choose to garnish the baked treat with a glossy cherry sauce, as per your preference. The combination is almost reminiscent of a deconstructed Black Forest cake, but it is in a more elegant way.
Cherry Cheesecake Bars
For a mini dessert or a post-meal treat, you can make cherry cheesecake bars. You can start with a crust made with crushed biscuits firmly pressed into a baking tray and pre-bake it. For the filling, you can mix cream cheese, sugar, cherry compote, vanilla extract, and a hint of lemon zest. Bake till the cheesecake is set, slice into bars, and enjoy whilst watching the raindrops falling on your window pane.
Cherry Pie
If you want to make an elaborate dessert, baking a cherry pie could be truly rewarding. Depending on how much time you have, you can either bake the pie crust from scratch or buy it from a store. Now, for the filling, mix pitted cherries, granulated sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Pour the filling into the pre-baked crust and let Usha’s OTG do its magic. Once set, let the cherry pie cool, and it’ll be all yours to dig in.
Cherry Upside-Down Cake
There's a quiet drama to an upside-down cake, and cherries make one of the most aesthetically pleasing versions of the classic. Melt some sugar in butter in a baking tray and add pitted cherries. Arrange the cut side of the cherries across the base that will later become the top of the cake. You can then add the batter of a classic vanilla or almond cake, and bake till the batter rises. Once baked, invert the cake onto a large plate for a glossy, caramelised finish, making an Instagram-approved cherry dessert.