Cherry Chip Cake from Scratch

Cherry Cake was my all-time favorite cake as a kid. I had some frozen cherries and no real plan to use them up so I developed this cake recipe. The people love it.

Cherry Chip Cake

2-8 inch pans or 1 Bundt pan

150g (3 large) eggs, room temperature

62g (4 tablespoons) milk, (for egg mixture)

10g (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon Cherry extract

360g (3 cups) cake flour

300g (1 1/2 cups) white granulated sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

114g (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature and soft

68g (5 tablespoons) canola oil

168g (11 tablespoons) milk, (for mixing into dry)

300g sour cherries (2 cups) thawed and squeezed of liquid, then measured (save the liquid for curd or drizzle) and chopped, roughly

A few drops of pink food coloring (optional)

Preheat the oven: Move your rack to the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Prepare the pan, spray with oil the insides of two 8" cake pans and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Or spray a Bundt pan liberally with oil, and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Prepare egg mixture: In a bowl or measuring cup, with a fork, whisk together egg, milk (make sure to add the one labeled: "for egg mixture"), all the extracts, until the egg is slightly loosened and the milk is mixed in. Set aside.

Add cake flour, white sugar, baking powder, and salt to a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds.

Add the softened butter and oil to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-low speed for about 30 seconds.

Add milk to the dry ingredients: Add the milk (make sure to add the one labeled: "for mixing into dry") and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. You'll have a thick batter at this point. Scrape the bowl down. ‍

Mix in egg mixture: Pour the egg white-milk-extract mixture into the thick batter in 3 additions. Mix on medium-low speed for about 20 seconds after each addition, then scrape the bowl.

Stir in the cherries.

Fill the pans: Evenly distribute the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake for about 35-40 minutes. When you shake the pan, the centers should not jiggle. A skewer inserted in the center should only have a few crumbs. If you have a thermometer, the internal temperature should be around 190-200°F.

Drizzle:

456g (16 ounces) powdered sugar

2 teaspoons kirsch-wasser (cherry liquor) or ½ teaspoon cherry extract

2-4 tablespoons reserved cherry liquid

Combine the ingredients, try to keep the mixture as dry as possible while still liquid enough to pour over the cake.

Or make MK Drayna’s American Buttercream

New understanding for me and frostings is the timing. I used to not measure the amount of time I let things whip and only went on visuals. Using a timer has changed the game.

1 pound of butter, room temperature

Pinch of salt

1 T vanilla

1 pound of powdered sugar

Cream butter with a pinch of salt and vanilla. Mix until the butter is creamy then add the powdered sugar. Mix it up on speed 8 for about 10 minutes. Make sure you are scraping the sides and bottom half way through.

Turn the mixer to speed 1 and mix 5 minutes longer.

Add any food coloring or additional extracts with the powdered sugar.

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