A taste of my childhood – this Cherry Chip Cake is made from scratch and then topped with a light, fluffy frosting.
A few weeks back at a baby shower, the conversation turned to foods that reminded us of our childhoods. Ever since that conversation, so many foods have come back to me, reminding me of home. Everything from my mom’s chile rellenos to popcorn cake to stacked enchiladas. And of course, cherry chip cake.
Every birthday, we would get to choose what we wanted for dinner, and what kind of cake we wanted. I always chose homemade chicken nuggets for dinner. And for the cake – it was always cherry chip cake with fluffy frosting. With red sugar sprinkles on top. They always had red sugar sprinkles on top. I know that when I was really young, my mom decorated some really fun cakes, but looking back now, the cherry chip cakes with fluffy frosting are the ones I loved the most.
Of course, my mom’s cherry chip cakes always came from a boxed mix. But several weeks ago, I got this idea in my head that I wanted to try to re-create this childhood favorite – but from scratch. So I went online to see how others had done it. I was surprised to find that there aren’t that many recipes out there. Lots of chocolate cherry cakes, but not really any for from-scratch cherry chip cakes.
So, I decided to just wing it. And I’m going to call this cake version 1. Because while I really liked it, there are a few things I’d change for next time. But since this was my birthday cake from yesterday, I really wanted to share it with you!!
Things I’d change – First, I would chop the cherries smaller than I did. I cut them into 8 pieces each, but they all sunk to the bottom of the cake. So I think they were still too heavy. I’d chop them really fine next time. You can’t even see them in the pictures because they were all hidden by the frosting. 🙂 Second, I’d use a recipe that didn’t call for cake flour. This could totally just be me – my husband thinks I’m crazy – but I think that cake flour has sort of a strange aftertaste. I can usually always tell if something is made with it. And for me, that taste kind of masked the light cherry flavor a bit. (But like I said, my husband didn’t taste it, and thinks I’m kinda crazy…) Third, I thought it could use just a tad more cherry flavor. Again, my husband disagreed with me on this one. But I would up it just a tiny bit. This frosting is my mom’s version of a 7 minute frosting. I grew up knowing it as fluffy frosting. It wasn’t until I started blogging that I learned that the rest of the world knew it as 7 minute frosting. But this version is super easy, and as long as you beat it long enough, I think it’s pretty fail-proof!
But really, this whole cake was pretty much a success, especially considering it was a first try. And although nothing could really replace those little bits of artificial cherries, this still brought me back to my childhood!!
More Layered Cake Recipes
Carrot Cake
Coconut and Pistachio Pudding Cake
Dark Chocolate Cake with Nutella Buttercream
Italian Cream Cake
Candy Bar Cake
Cherry Chip Cake with Fluffy Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 4 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon cherry extract
- 1 tablespoons marachino cherry juice from the jar that the cherries come in
- 1 10- ounce jar marachino cherries chopped
For the Fluffy Frosting (this makes enough to frost a 2 layer cake.)
- 4 egg whites at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray 2 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment or waxed paper and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the sugar and butter until very light and fluffy, at least 3 minutes. Beat in the cherry extract and cherry juice. Add one third of the flour mixture, beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the egg-milk mixture, then half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat until incorporated. Beat in the rest of the milk mixture, then add the remaining flour mixture. Beat the mixture for 2 minutes to make sure everything is incorporated and aerated. Fold in the cherries, then divide the mixture between the two pans.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the pan and release the cakes from the pans. Cool completely on the cooling racks.
For the fluffy frosting:
- In a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
- Meanwhile, heat the sugar and corn syrup over medium heat. Heat until it comes to a full boil, then remove from the heat.
- Once the egg whites are stiff, slowly pour in the hot sugar mixture. Do not scrape the sides of the bowl, or you will have sugar crystals in the frosting. Beat the frosting until it forms a shiny, fluffy marshmallow frosting, 5-7 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Frost the cake and sprinkle red sugar sprinkles on top! 🙂
katie says
LOVED this cake. Made it for my daddy for his birthday…EVERYONE, even my brother who claims he doesn’t like cake loved it!
Do you know if you can make the frosting chocoalte for other treats?
Deborah says
@katie, I have never tried chocolate, but that would be fun to try!
Laura says
Hi! How would you make these into cupcakes?
Deborah says
@Laura, I haven’t tried these as cupcakes, so I’m not sure how well the recipe would do as cupcakes. I find that it’s hit or miss when cake recipes work as cupcakes. If you do try them, let me know how they work!
AKAlicious says
I’m dying to make this cake! I’ve been having a hard time finding cherry extract, though. Did you use the real stuff or the imitation for this recipe?
Deborah says
@AKAlicious, I’m pretty sure mine is imitation, but all of my stuff is in storage so I’m not 100% sure. But I do remember that I bought it at a regular grocery store, so it probably is imitation!
AKAlicious says
@Deborah, Thanks so much for the reply! This is definitely going to be my next cake! 🙂
Raquel Mendes says
Made this cake for my mom’s birthday party today, it was amazing! Everyone loved it… I did cut the cherry pieces really small so they were all over the cake, thanks for the warning 😉
Thank you for the recipe!*
Young Idealistic Baker says
I’m so glad you shared your thoughts on cake flour. I just made my first few batches of cake using it instead of all-purpose flour and thought it tasted a little off but decided I must have used too much food coloring or something when dying the batters. Glad I’m not the only one!
Geralyn says
I searched high and low for a boxed mix or a suitable recipe for cherry chip cake for my cake hating but maraschino cherry loving 5 year old’s birthday and came up short. Now I have this for next year! Thanks for the recipe and beautiful photos!
corina says
Looks sooooooo delicious! Yummy!
grace says
terrific! this is something i rarely, rarely see, and it’s so exciting and delicious! great post (and happy belated birthday!). 🙂
Donna @ What the Dog Ate says
Looks yummy! Try tossing the chopped cherries in a little bit of flour before you add them to the batter to prevent sinking. Try reducing the cherry syrup for a more concentrated flavor. Good luck and many more happy memories.
Rosie @ Sweetapolita says
I love this, Deborah! Cherry Chip is one of my favourites as well, and anything with the word “fluffy frosting,” calls my name. 🙂 I think we share a connection to all things nostalgic, especially when it comes to baking. I’ve been wanting to try a cherry chip cake recipe, but have only done cupcakes so far. Thanks so much for sharing–this is really gorgeous. xo
Lynne says
A beautiful birthday cake-just dreamy!
Katie says
This looks like complete bliss.
Amen to the cake floud comment! I can tell you about the cake flour after-taste- it’s because of the baking powder that’s in it.
You can mix your own cake flour up and use non-aluminum containing baking powder you don’t get the after taste. I’ve found that switching to non-aluminum baking powder has made a lot of my quick breads and other things taste better.
Erin says
That is a beautiful looking cake!
Julie @ Sugarfoot Eats says
Ooooh my BFF LOVES cherry chip cake!! I’ll have to try this!
Joanne says
I’m so sad that I never got to experience this when I was a kid! I really need to make up for some lost birthdays.
Becki's Whole Life says
Oh my. When I was younger my favorite cake and birthday request was always Cherry Chip Cake with Vanilla frosting. I’m not even completely sure that you can find it anymore so when I saw this I got so excited! I am sure this is way better than the box mix and that frosting sounds wonderful. It is kind of like a seven minute frosting except the egg whites don’t go into a double boiler….I’m not kidding, this might be my next cake…I am hoping my husband might request it for his birthday next month:-).