It was up to me.

On the menu: Lime Pound Cake with Cherry Curd

Due to a massive sale on cherries at my grocery store, I bought way more cherries than I needed for the pie I made a couple of weeks ago. All I could think about after I baked the pie was the extra pound of cherries nestled in the refrigerator. What would I do with them? I baked a clafoutis earlier this summer, but Kevin and I both found it unpalatable, so that was out. I didn’t want to bake another pie–truthfully, I don’t want to bake another pie for a long time (We’ll see how long that lasts). I read about countless cherry jams on Punk Domestics, glanced at recipes for cherry sauces to go with duck or steak, and noticed a recipe for cherries in a brown rice salad in Heidi Swanson’s new cookbook, but none of them spoke to me.

Then I thought of cherry curd. Have I told you how much I love fruit curds? I’ve only made them twice–once with blood oranges, once with rhubarb–but the process by which they come together is like magic to me. You create a fruit concentrate in one pan, combine egg yolks, sugar, and lemon juice over a double boiler in another pan, combine the two mixtures together, and finally, whisk in some (okay, a lot) of butter. The end product is a deliciously thick, rich, creamy, and fruity spread that can be used in innumerable ways.

So I Googled cherry curd, hoping to find a recipe. But I didn’t. I rifled through a lot of junk on the internet before I gave up. It was up to me to make this happen. Not completely, however. Along with being able to find recipes for almost anything, another great thing about the internet is that you can easily connect with people who can answer your culinary questions. Enter Irvin Lin of Eat the Love. His triple berry curd recipe (link below) was the closest thing I found to cherry curd, and I wondered if I could simply substitute cherries and go from there. So, I asked him. He told me (via Twitter) that cherries would be an acceptable substitute, but because they hold their shape when cooked, I would need to puree them to achieve a smooth curd. That wouldn’t be a problem–I’ve developed quite the bond with both my immersion blender and my fine mesh sieve.

I had the ingredients, I had the tools, I (may have) had the courage, so I set to work. I began by pitting and halving 1 1/2 cups of cherries, which weighed exactly 9 ounces. When I cooked the cherries, I added a bit of water along with the sugar to the pan. I did this because when I made rhubarb curd, the rhubarb pieces were cooked with water to soften them and create a smooth puree. I thought that since cherries held their shape when cooked, the water would help soften them. It did, but the cherries also gave off quite a bit of water, and I ended up with over 1/3 cup of liquid after 10 minutes of cooking. I decided to drain the cherries to puree them. Much to my surprise, pureeing the cherries worked well without any additional liquid (Doh!).

I followed Irvin’s curd recipe after that. Well, almost. His recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sugar to be added to the double boiler, along with a bit of the fruit puree. I had this ruby red sweet cherry syrup sitting in a Pyrex measuring cup on my counter, begging for a purpose. I decided to try and reduce it a bit, down to 1/4 cup, before adding it to the egg/lemon mixture. I whisked this mixture over the double boiler, and after five minutes, I had the pudding-like texture Irvin described in his curd recipe. It could take up to 10 minutes to thicken the egg mixture, though, so if you make this, be attentive. I added the egg mixture to the pureed cherries, then whisked the butter in. I pushed this final mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove any big pieces of cherries, and gave the resulting curd one last round with the immersion blender, just to ensure it’s smoothness. Finally, I funneled my creation into a glass jar and placed it into the refrigerator to cool.

I whipped up this Lime Pound Cake from Chow later that night, and the next morning Kevin and I awoke for our first taste of sweet cherry curd. The combination of cherry and lime is sweet and tart, rich and bright, and I’ve always loved those flavors together. I was really looking forward to breakfast. As always, we took a few (groggy) bites before deciding what to think. The curd was quite sweet, with a surprisingly subtle cherry flavor given it’s rich red hue.  Not that this detracted from the curd–I enjoyed it very much and was rather pleased with the end result of this experiment. The lemon rounded out the curd with its welcome brightness. I thought the curd made a great pairing with the lime pound cake, especially when I had bites with the extra tart glaze I used on the cake. The contrast was delightful.

If I made this again, I wouldn’t add water initially–but I would have it on hand in case the cherries needed it.  Without the syrup to use in the egg mixture, I would use an extra 3 tablespoons of sugar instead. I wouldn’t want to add too much to the sweetness of the cherries. I can only imagine how wonderful this curd would be if I used sour cherries. I wish I would have been able to retest this, but we ate the rest of the cherries during a day on the lovely Maine coast. Oops. So here is the recipe in it’s best-as-I-can-guess form. I’m certain I’ll make it again at some point in the future.

Cherry Curd
an experiment by me, with lots of help from this recipe

1 1/2 cups cherries (9 oz by weight)
3 tablespoons sugar (but up to 6, see recipe)
up to 3 tablespoons water (only if it becomes necessary)
4 egg yolk
1 whole egg
zest of 1 medium lemon
3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Cook cherries, water, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until the cherries become really soft, about 10 minutes. Drain the cherries, saving the syrup for another use, then puree them with an immersion blender. I added too much water, so I reduced the syrup to get just under 1/4 cup. Next time, I wouldn’t add water initially. I would just add it if necessary (say if the cherries begin to stick to the pan) and then add an extra 3 T of sugar to the double boiler.

Put the egg yolks, whole egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and reduced syrup into a double boiler. Cook this mixture, whisking the entire time, until it thickens to a pudding-like texture (about 5 minutes). Remove egg mixture and pour into saucepan with the pureed cherries. Whisk until completely blended. Add butter and whisk until incorporated. Blend once more with the immersion blender, then run through a fine mesh sieve, using a rubber spatula to push as much of the curd through as possible. Discard the solids. Chill in the refrigerator before using to allow the curd to firm up.