Tarte Montmorency - cooking recipe

Ingredients

Pastry
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
1/8 cup sugar
1 egg
Filling
2 lbs raw pitted morello tart red cherries or 2 lbs black cherries
1/4 cup icing sugar
Almond Sponge Topping
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup raw almonds (optional)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon flour

Preparation

Make pastry.
Chill dough for 1 hour.
Roll out dough to fit an 11\" or 12\" flan pan.
Prick pie crust all over and sprinkle with 1/4 cup icing sugar.
Place cherries close together in a single layer.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, almond essence, almonds and flour until smooth.
Spread on top of cherries.
Bake 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 and continue baking for 30 minutes more.