Cherry Dessert Pizza Recipe

This easy-to-make cherry pizza is a delicious and sweet twist on a classic Italian dish. It is made with juicy cherries and almond cream and topped with flaked almonds. It is just perfect to finish off your summer entertaining party.

It is summertime! And if you are excited about the cherry season, this cherry pizza is what you should definitely make.

Cherries with a pronounced and fragrant flavor and smell are an interesting ingredient in cooking and baking during sunny summer days.

However, making a well-known Cherry Clafoutis and cherry pizza is not enough to catch up with the season.

It is also worth discovering Cherry Crumb Pie, Chocolate Cherry Financiers, and trying Cherry Ice Cream.

Summertime is pizza time too! After making plenty of savory pizzas and a few sweet ones, I started thinking about purchasing one of the wood-burning pizza ovens.

It seems so much fun to spend time outdoors and enjoy the pizzas all summer long.

The summer pizza recipes are customizable, and it takes 20 to 25 minutes to make them with a store-bought pizza crust.

What is a dessert pizza?

Cherry pizza represents a modern dessert pizza. It originated in Italy in the 2010s but started with focaccia with a generous spread of Nutella.

Later, a dessert pizza became a cultural part of Italy, a new way of making and eating pizza.

The dough for a sweet pizza has been changed over time: from classic pizza dough to special dough scented with citrus, green apple, or lemon.

Interestingly, the first country that succeeded in selling dessert pizzas was Brasil.

At some point, the dessert pizza sales reached 20% compared to classic pizzas in the areas of ​​São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

It was probably due to the large quantity and quality of fruit available in this country.

Nowadays, sweet pizza-making is included in professional courses for pizza chefs in Italy.

Why you should try this recipe

You will never guess what is hiding in this delicious and refreshing cherry pizza recipe. It is a delicious almond cream.

Plus, here is a fun way to use up those seasonal cherries. It is a summer pizza with the best of in-season summer fruits - cherries.

Cherry dessert pizza is made with just minimal ingredients. Its recipe is straightforward and easy to assemble.

And one of the best things about this pizza is that it is perfect for Friday night or family pizza nights.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for exact amounts and instructions. I recommend making the recipe as written for the best results.

Pizza dough: use store-bought pizza dough or make it yourself. Use this beer pizza dough recipe or make whole-wheat pizza dough.

Cherries: use fresh cherries, pitted and halved. If they are out of season, use whole frozen cherries, well-drained.

Note: I haven't tried to make this recipe with cherry pie filling; you are free to experiment.

Egg: you will need half of the whole large egg. Beat it with a fork and use half of the mixture.

Butter: use unsalted butter. Take it out of the refrigerator 1 hour before you start.

Icing sugar: make it with a coffee grinder or use store-bought powdered sugar.

Almond flour: the recipe calls for almond flour or ground almonds. Replace it with hazelnut flour/meal or ground hazelnuts if desired.

Flour: use a bit of all-purpose flour to make the almond mixture.

Almonds: use flaked or chopped almonds (hazelnuts in case of hazelnut flour) on top of the pizza. If you desire, omit nuts on top.

How to make cherry pizza

Heat oven to 475 degrees F/245 degrees C and place a pizza stone on the center rack of the oven.

Heat it for 10 to 15 minutes to ensure the stone is well heated.

This step allows cooking the pizza dough all the way through, especially in the center.

Attention: Don't remove the hot pizza stone from the oven: use a pizza peel to slide the pizza onto the stone and remove it from the oven.

Wash, pit cherries, and cut them in half. In a medium bowl, place the softened butter, icing (powdered) sugar, half of the egg, almond flour, and all-purpose flour and mix with a rubber spatula.

Roll out the dough on a well-floured work surface, giving it a round shape of about 10-inch/25 cm in diameter and about 3 mm thick.

Transfer the dough onto a well-floured pizza peel. Spread the almond mixture on the pizza dough, leaving about ⅓-inch/1 cm around the edge.

Arrange cherries on the surface of the dough, slightly pressing them down. Sprinkle the pizza with the flaked almonds (photo 1).

Carefully slide the pizza from the pizza peel onto the pizza stone in the hot oven.

Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Then, use the peel, remove the pizza from the oven, slice it, and immediately enjoy it (photo 2).

Recipe variations

The plain cherry pizza is at its best, but you can add some flavor. For example, feel free to replace almond cream with cheesecake filling and add lemon zest if desired.

You can make a streusel topping and sprinkle cherries before baking for an extra touch of crunchiness. Then drizzle your pizza with sugar icing for the extra sweetness.

To give this cherry pizza a savory note, top it with crumbled feta cheese or goat cheese and season it beautifully using salt and black pepper before baking.

Garnish your masterpiece by adding microgreens or fresh herbs for an extra kick while serving.

Then don't forget about drizzling a little bit of balsamic glaze over everything just because - who doesn’t love a little something extra?

Finally, cut your pizza into wedges, and serve it with whipped cream and mint leaves.

Equipment

All you need to make this dessert pizza is a mixing bowl, a cherry pitter, and a pizza stone or its alternatives, such as an inverted baking sheet, a large cast-iron skillet, or a silicone pizza mat.

And, of course, use a pizza wheel to cut it into wedges.

Storage instructions

Store this cherry pizza in an airtight container or covered with plastic and aluminum foil in the refrigerator for two days.

Expert tips

1. Read on how to pit cherries.
2. Leave cherries whole instead of cutting them in half if desired.
3. Make sure to read how to transfer the pizza to a pizza stone below.
4. Serve the pizza warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or cherry syrup.

Food safety

While making a pizza, use the oven mitts. Be careful with transferring the pizza dough to a hot pizza stone.

The easiest way homeowners use is to drape the rolled dough over a rolling pin and transfer it to the heated pizza stone.

Attention: use the oven mitts to carefully remove the hot stone from the oven and bring it back to the oven with a pizza on.

If you need to shape the dough a bit over the stone, try to work quickly since the underside starts to cook at this point. Then place the pizza topping and bake.

Another way to transfer the pizza dough to a stone in the oven is to use a metal pizza peel. Restaurants and professional pizzaiolos mostly use it.

Roll the dough out on a well-floured surface, for example, a cool countertop such as marble or granite.

Sprinkle your pizza peel with about 1 to 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour.

With your hands, transfer the pizza dough to the peel. Then quickly assemble the pizza with the prepared topping.

Remember that you have a few minutes before the dough starts sticking to the pizza peel.

Shake the pizza over the peel periodically to ensure the pizza is still loose before transferring it to the stone.

Use a back-and-forth motion to slide the pizza to the heated stone in the oven and bake.

So, the first method is easier but more dangerous since you need to reheat the pizza stone, then remove it with the oven mitts from the oven, assemble the pizza and bring the stone back to the oven.

The second method does not require moving a pizza stone at all: it is heated and stays in the oven until it cools down after baking the pizza.

But this method uses a special metal pizza peel to bring the pizza into the oven and remove the baked pizza from the oven.

Frequently asked questions

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The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was originally published on June 16, 2021. It has been re-tested and revised to include improved content and photos.