Recipe: Cherry Cake with Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting
Cherry and cake? Yes, please. This cherry cake recipe is all about one of my favorite fruits since childhood, cherries, and is a great way to use cherry pie filling. Whether it was fresh sweet cherries straight from the bag or cherry pie desserts, I've always loved cherries. For the first time ever last summer, I canned sour cherries and have a number of leftover jars of the homemade cherry pie filling. So, when I came across this cherry cake recipe, I had no choice but to test it out.
I found the original cherry cake recipe on Cheryl’s site, TidyMom, which uses vanilla buttercream frosting topped with cherries. The instructions say to bake it in a heart shaped pan, hence the name Sweetheart Cherry Cake. In my own baking, I didn’t adjust the cake recipe itself, but I did opt for a cream cheese frosting instead of buttercream, and baked it in a 13×9-inch pan.
This cherry cake has a marvelous and absolutely delicious cherry and almond flavor! If you're a cherry lover like me, this cake recipe is a must for you. I think it would be equally enticing to add chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate chunks to the cake. Top it with a chocolate ganache or sprinkle some chopped cherry on the cake.
Cherry Cake with Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
1 box white cake mix
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 (21 oz) can homemade cherry pie filling (or canned), divided
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray or lightly grease 13 x 9 baking pan. Measure 1/3 cup of cherry pie filling and set aside to use in frosting. Mix together on medium speed, dry cake mix, eggs, baking powder, both extracts, and remaining cherry pie filling until well blended. Pour batter into pan, and level with a spatula. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool completely in pan. Frost with cherry cream cheese frosting.
Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/3 cup cherry pie filling
2 – 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
Soften the cream cheese and butter, but don’t let it get warm, just take the chill off. Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Add in the cherry pie filling and extracts and beat for a minute or two until cherries are broken into small pieces. Slowly add the powdered sugar until completely combined and of spreading consistency. Keep the cherry cake refrigerated until ready to use.
Amanda Formaro is the crafty, entrepreneurial mother of four who loves to bake, cook, make kids' crafts and create decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen, and is the Home & Garden channel editor for Craft Gossip, and owner of FunFamilyCrafts.com. You can see her crafty creations on Crafts by Amanda and her delicious recipes on Amanda's Cookin'.
