On Tuesday, I premiered our new Borrower tea (Arrietty’s Cherry Tree Tea) and waxed lyrical about the beautiful cherry tree from the book. Since I was determined to feature the cherry tree in a recipe too, I decided to give it the place of honor and save it for dessert! These dainty 3-tier mini cakes are filled with cherry preserves and my very own mock Devonshire cream (the recipe for that is included below too!). Topped with powdered sugar and fresh cherries, they’re the perfect bite-size finish to our Borrower menu!

 

Arrietty’s Mini Cherry Tea Cakes

“Arrietty watched him move away from the step and then she looked about her. Oh, glory! Oh, joy! Oh, freedom! The sunlight, the grasses, the soft, moving air and halfway up the bank, where it curved round the corner, a flowering cherry tree! Below it on the path lay a stain of pinkish petals and, at the tree’s foot, pale as butter, a nest of primroses.”

— The Borrowers

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 10-oz frozen all butter pound cake
• 1/3 cup cherry preserves
• 1/2 cup Devonshire cream (To make your own Devonshire cream, you’ll need the following: 4 oz softened cream cheese, 2 tbsp powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and 3 tbsp heavy cream. Beat the cream cheese for 45 seconds in a standing mixer on medium-high speed. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, beating 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Gradually beat in the heavy cream until the mixture is smooth and has the consistency of very dense whipped cream.)
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 7 fresh cherries (there are 6 in the picture because I can’t count)

Makes 7 tea cakes (enough for 7 Human Beans or 7 whole families of Borrowers)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Thaw the pound cake according to package instructions. Cut it into 1/2 inch thick slices.
2. Using a 1 3/4 inch round cookie cutter, cut 21 circles out of your cake slices.

   

3. Spread a small dollop each of cherry preserves and Devonshire cream on 14 of your 21 circles. Resist the urge to spread it all the way to the edges. When we stack these, the filling will push out a little, so leave about 1/8 inch clearance between the edge of the filling and the edge of the cake.
   
4. Stack your circles in groups of 3, with the plain circles (the ones without filling) on top. Now you’ve got 7 fancy 3-tiered mini cakes!
   
5. Technically you can just stop here, but if you want to make them extra fancy, arrange your cakes on a cutting board or baking sheet and dust the tops with powdered sugar (the cutting board will catch the excess sugar). Add another small dollop of cream to the top of each cake, but don’t spread it out. Instead, set your cherries on it—it will act as a delicious adhesive to keep them from falling off the cake.

   

6. Serve to your favorite Borrowers or Human Beans! 🙂

   

    

Sweet tooth not satisfied? Check out our other mini desserts!

Candy Fleece from The Odyssey

Tom’s Whitewashed Jelly Doughnuts from Tom Sawyer

Little Belgian Truffles from Agatha Christie

Heart of Gold Petit Fours from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy