Idea--taking up too much space in my head

[onehsancare]

I've got an idea for a coffee cake, and have been thinking about it for days. I've looked on the internet but haven't actually done any research with books yet. By my standards, I don't really qualify to ask a question, but I will, so I can finally go back to the real work I'm supposed to be doing.

So--I'm thinking moist, slightly almond cake, with internal swirls of almond (paste? marzipan? chopped? frangipane?) and sour cherries. Do I want the cherries in the cake part or the swirl part? How much more sweet should I make the cake to account for the sourness of the cherries?

Any thoughts or advice?

Thanks. (I may have crossed the line Kyle warns about: "There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'".)

[kuan]

I'd say whole cherries in the cake, and sweeten the cherries. You can only sweeten the cake so much before the formula fails. Besides, you sweeten the cake and the cherries would taste even more sour... which is why you use sour cherries anyway, so forget about sweetening the cherries, unless you want sweet cherries in which case you should just use sweet cherries and not sour cherries. How about sweet and sour cherries?

[onehsancare]

Thanks. Until I read your thoughts, I'd been fixated on the cherries themselves. I tried it today with some sour cherry conserves, and it was wonderful.