Recently Wild Cherry Cake have entered my kitchen and I am obsessed! Really, it’s the Amarena cherries that are so ridiculously spectacular. But I am a little embarrassed to just eat them straight out of the jar. They need a cake to show them the appreciation they deserve.
A Delicious Cake
Of course you can buy Amarena cherries online, but we bought our first jar at the wholesale club. Wherever you can find Amarena wild cherries from Italy, just buy them. They are delicious in cocktails, over ice cream and yeah, straight out of the jar. But try Wild Cherry Cake for a special cake for Valentine’s Day or for a birthday.
The cake part of this recipe for Wild Cherry Cake is very easy. There is no whipping of egg whites and no exotic ingredients, other than the cherries. However, make sure that the butter is room temperature because it tends to clump in the batter. Make sure the butter lumps are no bigger than a green pea. Like pancakes, a few small lumps are ok. Large lumps might cause problems with your cake.
You can make the cake part a day in advance and then frost the cake right before serving. You can even add a few of the cherries between the cake layers.
A Great Recipe
This is a cake that I will make again. My plan is to keep an extra jar of Amarena cherries in my pantry so I can make an extra special cake at any time. Living at the ranch, you have to be prepared. However, I know it will be a struggle to avoid that jar of cherries. I could eat the whole jar by myself!
Wild Cherry Cake is very special. As you can see, I made the cake and I made the cupcakes. I need to make the sheet cake next, but all are absolutely delicious.
Wild Cherry Cake is a Valentine Favorite
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 18 servings 1x
Ingredients
Cake:
2 ¼ cup cake flour (256g)
1 ½ cups sugar (300g)
3 ½ tsp. baking powder (14g)
1 tsp. salt (4g)
½ cup butter (115g) cut into cubes, softened but not melted
1 cup milk (240ml)
4 egg whites, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract (5ml)
1 tsp. almond extract (5ml)
Frosting:
1 ½ cups butter (345g) room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese (115g) room temperature.
4 ½ cups powdered sugar (562g)
2 tsp. vanilla extract (10ml)
1 tsp. almond extract (5ml)
Pinch salt
1/2 cup jarred Amarena wild cherries, syrup drained but reserved (120ml)
Extra Amarena wild cherries for garnish
Instructions
Grease and flour 2 x 9” (33cm) round cake pans OR 13”x 9” (23cm x 33cm) rectangle pan OR 3 x 6” (15.24cm) round cake pans (as pictured). Also, you can make 18 cupcakes by lining cupcake pans with paper liners. Heat your oven to 350°F (176°C).
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the butter and half of the milk, mixing until just combined. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the unbeaten egg whites and the remaining milk, mixing on medium speed for 1 more minute.
Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, checking with a toothpick for doneness. If making a rectangle shaped cake, bake for 35-40 minutes. Cupcakes will take 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cake to rest for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
While cake is baking, prepare the frosting. Whip together the butter and cream cheese in a clean bowl of an electric mixer until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the vanilla and almond extracts, salt and 1 cup (200g) of the powdered sugar. Stir on low speed to combine well. Continue stirring in cupfuls of the powdered sugar until all is incorporated.
Chop the Amarena wild cherries well and stir into the frosting. Add 2 tbsp. (30ml) of the Amarena wild cherry syrup to the frosting for color. Allow the frosting to remain at room temperature for easy frosting.
When completely cool, frost the cake or cupcakes. Right before serving decorate the cake with extra cherries and drizzle with cherry syrup.
After reading the recipe I decided it needed to be more cherry forward. So forgive me I tweaked the recipe. I replaced 1/2 the milk with cherry juice and added 1/2cup chopped cherries to the batter. I baked it as directed. After depanning my thoughts were oh no its underbaked! But I finished the cake with the wonderful cherry frosting.
To my delight the sponge is perfect the icing has the perfect sweet tangy cherry taste. The taste of the cake is the wonderful sweet tart cherry flavor I’ve never experienced before in a cake. Bravo Melissa!
Your neighbor in Monte Alto.
Thanks Nathan! I am going to try your version as soon as I can get more cherries at Costco! Thanks for testing that! Best wishes, MG