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1
Mix the ground flax and water in a small bowl or cup and set aside for 15 minutes until gelatinous (you can use 2 eggs in place of this and ignore this step)
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2
Meanwhile preheat the oven to gas 4 / 180C / 350F and grease & line a 20cm cake tin
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3
Make the topping first by mixing the flour, ground almonds and sugar together.
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4
Rub in the butter with your fingers until the mixture resembles crumbs.
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5
Set aside
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6
For the cake, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl
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7
Add the flax mixture and the milk (or 2 eggs), half of the ground almonds and stir in, then add the rest of the ground almonds and the extract and mix together
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8
Add the baking powder and xanthan gum if using to the flour, then fold into the rest of the cake batter
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9
Pour the cake batter into the tin and even it out with the back of a spoon
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10
Spread the cherries over the top of the cake batter
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11
Sprinkle the streusal topping over the cherries and add the flaked almonds on top of that if desired
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12
Bake for 45 - 55 minutes or until the almonds / topping is slightly golden and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean
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13
Let stand in the tin for 10 minutes before releasing.
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14
Dust with icing sugar if desired before serving
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15
A lovely dessert served warm with custard or ice cream
