Homemade Cherry Chip Cake
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Nothing beats a Homemade Cherry Chip Cake. The soft pink crumb, pops of maraschino cherries, and that unmistakable almond-cherry flavor? Yes, please! The cake is fluffy and buttery with the sweet maraschino flavor throughout it. It’s slathered with a beautiful pink cherry frosting made from maraschino juice and topped with stemmed cherries.
My son and I absolutely love maraschino cherries. Every holiday dinner we have this easy fruit salad and my dad scoops out most of the cherries for my son. It’s become a very cherry fruit salad so I can enjoy some too.
Luckily this cherry chip cake recipe has the maraschino cherry flavor throughout it. There won’t be a single bite where you miss your cherry flavor and I dig that about this cake.
Why You’ll Love This Cake
- It’s made from scratch
- It’s perfectly pink for any holiday, birthday, get together that requires a pink cake
- The maraschino cherry flavor is in every single bite of this cake
Ingredients
See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for all ingredients and quantities.
Butter and Vegetable Oil – The combination of butter and vegetable oil in a cake gives it the rich buttery flavor that everyone loves about a homemade cake and also the extra moist texture that people love about a cake mix.
Egg Whites – Using only egg whites keeps the cake light in color and texture. If you need a use for the egg yolks, I have some delicious curds like this raspberry lime curd and grapefruit curd that can be used as cake fillings, a spread for toast, dips for cookies, etc.
Maraschino Cherries with Juice – The juice adds more cherry flavor along with sugar and color for the pink cake and the cherries add the cherry chip part of the cake.
Buttermilk – Buttermilk adds a nice tanginess and tenderness to the cake while also being acidic to help activate the baking soda in the cake.
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Substitutions and Variations
- You can turn this cake into a 9×13 cake. Grease the 9×13 baking pan, pour the batter in, and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes. Begin checking the cake at 25 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it has batter on it, it’s not done. A clean toothpick or moist crumbs on it means the cake is done.
- You can substitute the buttermilk in the cake for soured milk. I would measure out 1 1/4 cups of milk and then replace 1 tablespoon of the milk with vinegar. Let it sit for 10 minutes until it’s curdled.
- You can frost the cake with a chocolate frosting instead of cherry frosting.
- You can add about 1 cup of mini chocolate chips with the chopped cherries into the flour and then fold into the batter together.
- If you don’t want to use buttermilk in the frosting, you can opt for regular whole milk.
NOTE: This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations
How to Make Cherry Chip Cake
Step 1: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Step 2: Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Step 3: Mix in the egg whites, oil, almond extract, and cherry juuice until combined.
Step 4: Alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
Step 5: Toss the chopped cherries in 1 tablespoon of flour and gently fold into the batter.
Step 6: Divide the batter into two greased 8-inch pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.
Step 7: Make the frosting by beating the butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, cherry juice, almond extract, and salt. Beat until light and fluffy. Add buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed to reach your desired spreadable consistency.
Step 8: Frost the cake!
Tips for the Best Results
- Pat the cherries dry before chopping them to avoid excess moisture.
- Don’t skip tossing the cherries in flour! It helps absorb the excess moisture from the cherries after they’re chopped and also from sinking while they’re in the cake.
- Beat the butter and sugar for the cake for a full 3 minutes. This helps create the air pockets for a fluffy cake.
How to Store and Freeze
To store this cake, cover or place in an airtight cake container for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 6 days. Let the cake come up to room tempempature for about 20 minutes before serving if you’re refrigerating it.
To freeze the whole cake with frosting, place it on a baking sheet in the freezer for 2 to 3 hours until firm. Wrap the cake tightly in 2 layers of plastic wrap and then a single layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, unwrap the cake, place in the cake container, and thaw on the counter overnight.
To freeze the cake layers, wrap the cooled unfrosted cakes in two layers of plastic wrap and a layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place in a freezer bag or freezer container for up to 2 months. You can frost the layers frozen and let them slowly thaw while you do it.
Recipe FAQs
Cherry chip cake has the flavors of candied or maraschino cherries. Mine as a nice almond addition that compliments the cherry well. Cherry chip cake is a pink cake that’s light and fluffy with a tender crumb.
It helps soak up any additonal juice from the cherries and also prevents the cherries from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
Yes! Make it the day before you plan on serving it. This will give the flavors a chance to develop overnight too.
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Cherry Chip Cake
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Ingredients
Cherry Cake
- 2 1/2 cups plus one tablespoon all-purpose flour divided
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups butter room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large egg whites room temperature
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- 3/4 cup maraschino cherries drained and finely chopped
Cherry Frosting
- 2 ½ cups butter room temperature
- 9 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup maraschino cherry juice
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3-4 tablespoons buttermilk
- Maraschino cherries with stems for decorating
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add 2 and 1/2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt. Set aside for now. Whisk until well combined.
- In a large bowl, add the 1 ½ cups butter and 2 cups granulated sugar. Beat with a hand mixer on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Add the 4 large egg whites, ¼ cup vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon almond extract, and 1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice and continue beating until combined, about 2 minutes.
- Alternate adding in the dry ingredients and 1 ¼ cups buttermilk, starting with one-third of the flour mixture and ending with flour. Once the flour is just combined, add half of the buttermilk. Beat again until the buttermilk is combined. Continue adding another third of flour, then the remaining buttermilk, and finally the remaining third of flour.
- In a small mixing bowl, sprinkle one tablespoon of flour over the chopped 3/4 cup maraschino cherriesand stir until the cherries are coated.
- Add the floured cherries to the batter and fold them in.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 2 prepared pans.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until done. Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes back clean or with moist crumbs, it’s done. The cake should also bounce back when gently pushed on top.
- Cool the cakes in the pan for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once the cakes are cool, work on the frosting.
Cherry Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl, add the 2 ½ cups butter and beat with a hand mixer on medium speed until smooth.
- Add the 9 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup maraschino cherry juice, 2 teaspoons almond extract, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Continue beating on high until smooth.
- Add the buttermilk, one tablespoon at a time, until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.
Assemble the Cherry Chip Cake
- If you need to, trim the tops of the cakes so they are flat using a cake knife or a cake leveler.
- Place one of the cakes, cut side down, on the cake plate. Use about 1 to 2 tablespoons of frosting to place it on the cake plate.
- Add a layer of frosting to the top of the cake and smooth it out so it is even and about a quarter of an inch thick.
- Top with the second cake, cut side down, and press lightly so that it’ll stick.
- Add a large scoop of frosting on top of the cake and begin smoothing it out on the top and down the sides with a large, angled spatula. Add and remove as much as you need of the frosting until it’s smooth and to your liking.
- Place the remaining frosting in a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M tip. Pipe tall swirls along the edge ot the top of the cake. If using maraschino cherries on top, be sure to dry them off completely with a paper towel before placing them on top of each swirl.
Notes
Nutrition
(Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.)