Serves 4.

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Ingredients

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
zest of 1 lemon
3 tbsp virgin olive oil
3 tbsp plain flour
1 pinch baking powder

Cherries and red wine caramel
Approx 40 "Van" Cherries, stalks removed (or whatever variety you can get hold of)
300g sugar
400ml water
2 cinnamon quills
5 cloves
500ml red wine
Icing sugar
500ml non-thickened cream

Method
Whisk eggs and sugar until doubled in volume. Add the zest and the olive oil in a thin stream. Sift flour and baking powder.
Fold in the flour, being careful not to collapse the volume of the sabayon. Pour into buttered and sugared dariole moulds and bake at 150°C for 20 mins or until golden. Cool and reserve.

Cherries and red wine caramel
Dissolve the sugar in the water and bring to the boil. Add the spices and bring to soft crack stage.
Drop the cherries in and poach until just cooked, take them out and let them cool completely.
Meanwhile continue to reduce the liquid until it starts to caramelise to a darkish golden colour.
Now add the red wine and reduce again to a syrupy consistency, let cool and reserve.

Clotted cream
In a heavy pan pour 500ml of non-thickened cream. Gently heat on the lowest heat for 2 hours, then refrigerate. Usually you do this overnight but you need more cream to do this (Note: By heating the cream you are releasing the fat content so it should set with a fine crust in the fridge).

To assemble
Heat the red wine syrup in a pan and drop the macerated cherries into it just before serving.
Warm the pound cake up in the microwave for 20 secs  just to take the chill off it. Dredge it heavily with fine icing sugar, spoon the cherries onto the plate and drizzle with the syrup, but don t flood the plate! Finally serve with a dollop of the clotted cream. Eat and enter Nirvana!

Recipe courtesy of Steven Cumper, Peppermint Bay

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