You know it’s summer once you take a trip to the grocery store and see a mountain of beautiful red shiny cherries. In this recipe, I will teach you how to make a gorgeous vanilla almond cherry cake that is such a delicious summer treat that everyone will enjoy. The best part is you can make it in one bowl making clean-up a breeze!
Fresh Cherries Are Amazing To Bake With
I have never cooked with fresh cherries before, but now that I have I don’t think I could go back to canned or frozen ever again. Even though there is extra prep involved, the flavor and freshness of these little red beauties give this cake such an amazing taste that is truly a treat. The only thing with fresh cherries is you need to pit and de-stem them. I ended up using a strawberry huller that I had laying around in my cooking tool drawer, but, having a pitter may have made the process even easier.
Can You Make This Almond Cherry Cake With Frozen or Canned Cherries?
This was my first time making this cake and I will continue to make it with fresh cherries. My fear with frozen is the water content they could release in the baking process, this would affect the cake mixture and baking times. Same with the canned cherries, I feel they may be a bit too sweet and would overpower the tasty vanilla cake. I would think that canned would be a bit better than the frozen in the case that is all that you can get.
Can You Double The Recipe To Make A Tiered Cake?
Absolutely! You could double this recipe to make a tiered almond cherry cake, where you could frost it and everything. In my recipe below I just wanted to make a more simple fresh cake. But in the future I can see myself making this into a tiered cake, it would go amazingly well with some butter creme or fresh vanilla frosting. The cake would be dense enough to hold up well in multiple layers.
Perfect With Your Morning Cup Of Joe
My husband and I love to have a piece of some kind of sweet cake or bread with our morning coffee and this cake was literally perfect. The perfect buttery crumbling vanilla cake with the sweetness of the fresh cherries and the slight change in the texture of the sliced almonds is perfectly washed down with your favorite cup of coffee or tea. This would be perfect to make for a brunch with friends or a small morning snack when you have company staying over with you. Trust me, this will be a hit!
How To Make A Vanilla Cherry Almond Cake, Step By Step
- Start off by washing your fresh cherries thoroughly with cold water and placing them in a strainer to drip dry. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Next, measure out two heaping cups of the cherries, this is the “hard part” of the entire recipe. After having your two heaping cups start to de-stem and pit all of the cherries. Below is a picture where you will see my using my strawberry huller but I believe I will be in the market for a cherry pitter very soon!
- Once you have your cherries de-stemmed and pitted sliced your cherries in half. I wanted to still leave the integrity of the cherries intact but you could dice them smaller if your more comfortable with that, but, have the pieces larger were perfect for that perfect cherry vanilla bite.
- Now it’s time to make the cake. Let’s start off by getting all of our wet ingredients into a bowl. Add your sugar, milk (I used Almond Milk, but you could use regular milk), eggs, vanilla, oil, and melted butter into a large mixing bowl. Mix it so that all of the ingredients are combined well together.
- After having all of your wet ingredients mixed together add your dry which is your flour and baking powder. Mix it well, but do not over mix, if your batter is a little lumpy in texture thats perfect.
- The next step is to fold in your cherries. Make sure not to over mix, you want to gently fold or you will end up with a slightly pink and over mixed cake batter. Over mixing will cause your cake to be dense and not fluffy.
- Pro Tip: To ensure your cake comes cleanly out of your baking dish grease your 8-inch cake pan then toss a small amount of flour and move it around slightly so that your entire cake pan is covered. This will help the cake come out perfectly once it has cooled.
- Pour your cake mixture into your prepared cake pan, add your sliced almonds on top so they get a wonderful toasted flavor, put on the middle rack of your preheated oven, and bake for 40-45 minutes. The top should be a beautiful golden color and if you check the middle of the cake with a toothpick it will come out nice and clean.
- Once your cake is baked make sure to leave it to completely cool once you take it out of the oven. Once your cake has cooled remove it from your cake pan and put it on a serving dish or plate and top with some powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Could I Make This Nut Free?
Definitely! I added sliced almonds on top because I love the taste and I personally feel the almonds pair perfectly well with this vanilla and cherry cake. I also used in my recipe almond milk but you could swap that out for regular milk that you have on hand at your home. That being said you could absolutely ditch the almonds and the almond milk to make this a nut-free dessert so that anyone with a nut allergy could enjoy it!
How Should I Store The Vanilla Almond Cherry Cake?
Storing this cake is super simple, just leave it in a nice dry place so your kitchen countertop or dining room table would be perfect, just make sure to cover it in some cling wrap or keep it in an air-tight container to keep it nice and fresh. Should keep well for about 4 to 5 days.
Excited for more cherry content? Then visit our cherry page for more planting tips, growing guides, recipe ideas, and more!
Still hungry for more? Then discover our other fruit recipes to stock up your kitchen with nature’s healthy and tasty goodies!
Vanilla Almond Cherry Cake
Easy one bowl cherry cake that is full of fresh amazing fruit with a sweet vanilla cake topped with toasted almonds.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 Cup Almond Milk
- 1/4 Cup Melted Butter
- 2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/4 Cup Flour
- 1 1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
- 2 Heaping Cups Stemmed, Pitted, Sliced In Half Fresh Cherries
- 1/4 Cup Sliced Almonds (Optional)
- 2 Tbsp. Powder Sugar (Optional)
Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Wash and dry 2 heaping cups of fresh cherries.
3. Pit and de-stem your cherries, using a cherry pitter will help get the job done quicker and more efficiently.
4. After preparing your cherries slice them in half and set them aside in a separate bowl.
5. In a new large mixing bowl measure out and add your wet ingredients to the bowl, sugar, eggs, milk, melted butter, oil, and vanilla. Mix them until combined.
6. Next, add your dry ingredients, flour, and baking powder. Mix until combined but do not over mix if your batter looks a little lumpy that's perfectly fine!
7. Once your batter is mixed fold in your cherries, make sure not to mix too hard or beat up the cherries you just want to incorporate them nicely into your batter so a gentle fold will do.
8. Grease an 8-inch baking dish and gently toss in some flour to prevent your cake from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
9.Add your cake mixture to your prepared baking dish. Optional: Top with sliced almonds to give a toasted nutty flavor to the cake.
10. Place your cake pan into your preheated oven and bake for around 40 to 45 minutes. The top should look nice and golden and a toothpick should come out cleanly.
11. Once your cake is baked, let it cool completely, remove your cake from the cake pan and sprinkle some powdered sugar on top. (Optional)
12. Enjoy your delicious Vanilla Cherry Almond Cake! You deserve it!
Notes
Grabbing a cherry pitter would make the preparation of the cherries go by much faster, but I used a strawberry huller that I had on hand and it worked really well!
Store this cake in an air tight container of cover with some cling wrap to keep it fresh for upto 5 day.
Vanilla Almond Cherry Cake
Easy one bowl cherry cake that is full of fresh amazing fruit with a sweet vanilla cake topped with toasted almonds.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 Cup Almond Milk
- 1/4 Cup Melted Butter
- 2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/4 Cup Flour
- 1 1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
- 2 Heaping Cups Stemmed, Pitted, Sliced In Half Fresh Cherries
- 1/4 Cup Sliced Almonds (Optional)
- 2 Tbsp. Powder Sugar (Optional)
Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Wash and dry 2 heaping cups of fresh cherries.
3. Pit and de-stem your cherries, using a cherry pitter will help get the job done quicker and more efficiently.
4. After preparing your cherries slice them in half and set them aside in a separate bowl.
5. In a new large mixing bowl measure out and add your wet ingredients to the bowl, sugar, eggs, milk, melted butter, oil, and vanilla. Mix them until combined.
6. Next, add your dry ingredients, flour, and baking powder. Mix until combined but do not over mix if your batter looks a little lumpy that's perfectly fine!
7. Once your batter is mixed fold in your cherries, make sure not to mix too hard or beat up the cherries you just want to incorporate them nicely into your batter so a gentle fold will do.
8. Grease an 8-inch baking dish and gently toss in some flour to prevent your cake from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
9.Add your cake mixture to your prepared baking dish. Optional: Top with sliced almonds to give a toasted nutty flavor to the cake.
10. Place your cake pan into your preheated oven and bake for around 40 to 45 minutes. The top should look nice and golden and a toothpick should come out cleanly.
11. Once your cake is baked, let it cool completely, remove your cake from the cake pan and sprinkle some powdered sugar on top. (Optional)
12. Enjoy your delicious Vanilla Cherry Almond Cake! You deserve it!
Notes
Grabbing a cherry pitter would make the preparation of the cherries go by much faster, but I used a strawberry huller that I had on hand and it worked really well!
Store this cake in an air tight container of cover with some cling wrap to keep it fresh for upto 5 day.
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Lauren has three main passions: her family, writing, and gardening! Lauren has spent countless hours in her garden tending to different plants, whether those be beautiful flowers, vegetables, or different perennials.
Rest assured that if it concerns plants and gardens, Lauren has got you covered. So, when needing advice or looking for the best new gardening gadget, you have come to the right place and the right author.