Maraschino Cherry Pound Cake
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Maraschino Cherry Pound Cake is a decadent, homemade pound cake recipe that melts-in-your-mouth. This buttery, velvety cake is filled with pureed maraschino cherries in the cake and glaze. The cherries are complimented with almond and vanilla flavor making this cherry pound cake one of the most delicious cakes I’ve ever tasted!
Bundt pans are so pretty and there is a large selection to choose from. Below are a few of my favorites.
Maraschino Cherry Pound Cake
Ingredients for your cherry cake
The full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions is at the bottom of this post. You can save a tree and the recipe to your personal and private recipe box here on Call Me PMc. This way, you’ll never misplace it.
- Crisco
- Butter. Unsalted and softened
- Cream cheese softened
- Granulated sugar
- Large eggs at room temperature
- Maraschino cherries. jarred, drained and chopped
- Almond flavoring
- Pure vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour, sifted
- Cherry juice if there isn’t enough cherry juice to reach 2/3 cup supplement with whole milk
- Confectioners’ sugar more if needed
- maraschino cherry juice
Baking Pans
I set my pound cakes on a cookie sheet to bake. Sitting the pan on a cookie sheet may affect the baking time. As well, using a light versus a dark tube pan will affect baking times. For my cakes, I bake in a light pan on a round cookie sheet.
I’m not a fan of non-stick spray for pound cakes. Some of the sides always stick pulling off that crust that I worked so hard to create. Instead, I like to use solid vegetable shortening and follow that with a dusting of granulated sugar. (Yes, sugar. Sugar doesn’t leave any white areas on the cake.) Alternately, I like the Wilton cake release. (When I started this pound cake series, I did use non-stick spray. However, after making so many and trying other methods, I do not use non-stick spray for cakes now. I have tried to go back and update those posts, but may have missed some.)
POUND CAKE BAKING TIPS
- Read the recipe through completely at least twice so you know what comes next.
- A stand mixer will make your life immensely easier. I can’t imagine all this mixing by hand or even with a hand mixer!
- You can use a bundt pan. I used this tube pan. A good rule of thumb when baking pound cakes is to always leave 2 inches from the batter to the top of the pan to allow for rise. As well, always place your baking pan on a cookie sheet to catch any overflows.
- Allow your eggs, butter, and dairy to come to room temperature before mixing.
- As well, I used pure vanilla extract. (Pure vanilla, not an imitation.)
- Finally, I recommend calibrating your oven at least once a year. Read all about how to Calibrate your oven in this post.
- You can test your cake for doneness with a thermometer, the internal temperature of the cake will be 200°F when fully cooked.
How to Measure Flour Correctly
Measure all the ingredients carefully, especially the flour.
To correctly measure flour, first, sift the flour. Then using a spoon or scoop lightly scoop flour out of its container into a measuring cup. Continue filling the cup until it is overflowing, then using the back of a butter knife level the flour. Scooping the measuring cup directly into the flour to fill can result in up to 25% more flour than lightly spooning the flour into the measuring cup. More flour in a recipe will make it dense and dry.
HOW DO YOU STORE MARASCHINO CHERRY POUND CAKE?
I recommend storing leftover pound cake on the counter at room temperature in an airtight container. Therefore, I wrap it in plastic wrap or cut it into slices and keep it in a covered cake plate. Furthermore, it will last anywhere from 3 to 4 days at room temperature or 5 to 7 days in the refrigerator.
CAN I FREEZE MARASCHINO CHERRY POUND CAKE?
You can freeze a pound cake with great success. Wrap it up tightly with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap and store it in the freezer for 4 to 6 months.
Maraschino Cherry Pound Cake
Ingredients
CAKE:
- ½ cup Crisco shortening
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs at room temperature
- 16 ounce jar maraschino cherries drained and pureed
- 1 teaspoon pure almond flavoring
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup cherry juice*
- 3 and ¾ cups all-purpose flour sifted then measured
ICING:
- 2 cups powdered sugar (aka confectioners) sifted
- ¼ cup cherry juice*
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat a 12 to 15-cup Bundt pan or tube pan with solid vegetable shortening then granulated sugar.
- In a large bowl, beat butter, shortening, and cream cheese at medium speed with a mixer until combined. Gradually add 3 cups sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
- Gradually add the flour to the butter mixture beating until combined. Stop the mixer and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer back on to low.
- Add the vanilla flavoring, almond flavoring, juice, and chopped cherries to the batter. Mix on low until combined.
- Spoon the batter into your prepared pan. Flatten the top of the batter with the back of your spatula.
- Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 20 to 30 minutes in the pan before inverting it to a serving platter. (I double-flip the cake so the top ends up being the top, but that's up to you.) Remove from pan, allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Icing:
- Whisk confectioners sugar and cherry juice until smooth. Drizzle over cake.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
When do you add the 3/4 cup of cherry juice to the batter?
With the flavoring.
I was craving a cherry dessert so I made this recipe! Love how buttery the texture is and the level of sweetness is perfect.
Shared this with my best friend and she was hooked, too!
My first time making a cherry cake! It did turn our moist and delicious. I love the frosting! The instructions were easy to follow.
The cake is moist and velvety, and the cherry glaze adds a delightful sweetness. I love the almond and vanilla accents in this cake. I’ll be making this one again and again!
Thanks for the step-by-step instructions! Finally made my own pound cake for the first time ever! I love the buttery texture, and the combination of maraschino cherries, almond, and vanilla made this cake totally irresistible.
I made this cake for a friend who loves cherries. They absolutely loved it and even asked for the recipe!
Is this salted butter?
You can use salted or unsalted. I always use salted.
I just made 1/2 of the recipe in a 9 inch pan. batter tasted great. I have a question: Was the baking powder or soda omitted on purpose? I was afraid that it wouldn’t rise so I added 1/2 tsp of baking powder just in case. I raised very nice. I will get to taste it tomorrow as we are having company over for dinner.
The recipe is correct as written. Traditionally pound cakes didn’t have baking powder (or soda) they are leavened by the eggs.