1. In a large bowl cream together the margarine and caster sugar using a fork until well combined.

2. In a separate bowl weigh out the flour and stir in the baking powder

3. Crack one of the eggs into the creamed mix and beat well with a wooden spoon.

4. Add about 1/4 of the flour to the mix and once again beat in.

5. Repeat step 3 and and 4 until all the eggs and flour have been beaten in.

6. Add the ground almonds and almond extract to the cake batter and beat well once again.

7. Chop 6 cherries in half and remove the pit, set these aside until later. Chop the remaining cherries roughly, removing the pits as you go, add these chopped cherries to the cake batter and mix well.

8. Grease a large rectangle baking tin (we used a 7" by 11" tin) and pour in the batter. Place in an oven preheated to gas mark 4 and bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean.

9. Remove from the oven and allow to go cold in the tin. This can take a few hours.

10. Once cold, add about 2tsp of water to the icing sugar and mix, you should have a thick but runny icing, if it is too thick add a touch more water until you get a stiff but still runny icing. Spread the icing over the top of the cake.

11. Place the cherry halves over the top of the cake (3x4 pattern), as well as decorate it also gives a rough idea of where to cut for each slice!