Dugalicious Housewarming Cherry Almond Porch Cake

My BFF, Sarah (aka "Duga"), just moved into a new house. I baked this cherry almond cake and took it to Sarah and her family at their new place (because I wanted to bake something and her hubby really loves cherries).

I had to pit a cup and a half of bing cherries. Easy, I thought. No sweat. I'll just squash them with a knife like I would pit olives. Uh, not such a good idea. Red juice squirted in every direction, onto my favorite blue tee-shirt with skulls. Damn. Instead, I gingerly cut each cherry in half and popped out the pit with the tip of a knife. A not clean job. My kitchen looked like a crime scene:

The batter is really thick and fragrant, with almond & vanilla extracts and ground almonds. It barely covered the bottom of a 10-inch springform. I arranged the cherries on top of the batter before baking:

They were supposed to sink and be invisible in the finished cake, but mine didn't turn out that way:


Still, it was pretty delish...very moist, almost wet, and dense:

Too bad I dropped the leftovers on the porch when I got home. I almost baked another one that night.