Busy growing stuff from stuff. Sprouts.

Today our classroom was a cherry orchard. Before we began picking, a woman explained the rules: No eating before buying. Do not pick the stems, only the fruit. Ian followed said rules to the letter, and scolded me when I tried one to make sure it was ripe.

As we were leaving, he told one of the employees he was going to have his backpack “full of cherries.” (Ian always has to gear up before a field trip, today he had two packs on him, his lantern, gloves for picking, and two blankets in case he got cold.) The employee teased that he’d just told on himself (Ian was trying to tell him the cherries were going in his backpack after they were paid for). Ian was upset that the employee thought he was trying to steal cherries and went back to explain. It was all very benign and chill but I was heartened. Moral compass in check without any prompting from me.

Whole Wheat Cherry Chocolate Honey Cake

1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup honey (we used raw cherry blossom honey from the orchard-hello)
3 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2/3 cup plain greek yogurt

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup chopped fresh cherries
1/2 cup chocolate chips (we used Lily’s stevia chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Cream butter and honey in a mixer until fully incorporated. Add extracts and eggs, mix thoroughly. Add yogurt, mix again. Once a happy batter, add dry ingredients (that have been sifted together in a separate bowl) slowly. Do not over mix. I usually stop the mixer at this point and just mix with a spatula until smooth and wonderful. Fold in cherries and chocolate chips. Pour into greased pan (I used a bundt pan but 9×13 would work great as well). I baked mine for 50 minutes. If using a 9×13 I would start at 30 minutes and bake just until a toothpick comes out clean. Healthy cake eating to you!