• Add the butter and sugar into a bowl and whisk with a stand or hand mixer with a dough hook until creamy. Add in the egg and vanilla extract, and mix until combined. Lastly, mix the salt with the flour. The shortcrust pastry dough should come together easily and should not feel overly sticky
  ½ cups granulated sugar, ⅔ cups butter, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract , 1 pinch salt , 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Remove ¼ of the dough (for the streusel later) and store it in the fridge until needed. Divide the remaining dough into two parts. Using floured hands roll one of the dough parts into a roll and lay it around the edge of the baking form. (see pictures in post to see how it is done)
  
• With your fingers – press the edges up to create the crust of the cake (see pictures). The edges should be around 5 cm high.
  
• Roll out the remaining part of the dough and press it into the bottom of the pan.   
  
• Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 350°F

Making the filling

• If you are using a jar or cherries, drain the cherries in a sieve and collect the juices. Ensure you have about 500 ml of cherry juice, otherwise top it up with water.
  23 oz sour cherries
• Place the cherry juice, sugar and vanilla extract in a small saucepan. Remove 6 tablespoons of juice and mix it with the cornstarch in a septerate small bowl to a thick paste.
  2 cups cherries juice , 3 tablespoon sugar , 4 tablespoon corn starch, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• Bring the remaining juice to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour in the cornstarch paste. Mix well, and bring it back to a boil for about a minute. The juice should thicken and become nice and creamy. Add the cherries to the juice.
  
• Pour the cherries into the prepared cake tin. Remove the remaining dough from the fridge, tear into small pieces and then rub them through your fingers to create the streusel topping. Evenly spread them over your cherry filling. Do not worry, it does not have to cover the filling completely.
• Bake in the oven for about 60 minutes. Leave to cool completley before serving.