Maraschino Cherry Cake With A Cherry On Top

Name: Maraschino Cherry Cake With A Cherry On Top
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2/3 cup + 2 1/2 teaspoons (95 g) flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons (65 g) granulated sugar; 1 teaspoon (8 g) honey; 1/3 cup (80 g) eggs (see note #1); 1/3 cup (70 g) grapeseed oil; 1 pinch of salt; 2.5 oz (70 g) chopped almonds; 2.5 oz (70 g) pitted maraschino cherries; 3.5 oz (100 g) apricot jam; 3.5 oz (100 g) yogurt covered almonds; powdered (icing) sugar; 5 maraschino cherries with stems

Published: Jul 30, 2018 · Modified: Jun 3, 2022 by Irina · This post may contain affiliate links · 30 Comments

Enjoy this Maraschino Cherry cake recipe to make a simple one-layer cake with a finishing touch of yogurt-covered almonds and cherries on top. It is an impressive dessert for your afternoon tea or any holiday. This easy recipe requires 10 minutes of active, hands-on time!

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Maraschino Cherry Cake with crushed yogurt covered almonds and cherries on top on a plate with almonds on background

This Cherry cake is categorized as a travel cake, according to French pastry schools. You will be surprised by knowing that financiers were the first travel cakes. The packed madeleines, banana bread, and other loaf cakes are all travel cakes.

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What is the travel cake?
Story of Maraschino cherry cake
Why Maraschino cherry cake recipe works
How to make Maraschino cherry cake step by step
Expert tips
More delicious fruit cake recipes you will love
Recipe card
Comments

What is the travel cake?

The travel cake is such a cake that tolerates transportation and differences in temperature during trips. This cake does not have fillings with whipped cream or ganache, but it may contain candied fruits, chocolate, and other dried fruits or jams.

Story of Maraschino cherry cake

The first idea of making Maraschino cherry cake came up when I saw that cake on Nicolas Bernardé ’s site. I could not resist trying it. I altered the chef’s recipe in several ways.

First of all, he uses cherries in alcohol to fold into the cake batter, but I replaced them with canned maraschino cherries to make the cake kid-friendly. I switched clarified butter for grapeseed oil, trimoline (inverted sugar syrup) for honey.

Moreover, I replaced hard Jordan almonds (dragees) with yogurt covered almonds that are easy to chew. As a final touch, I decorated the cake with stemmed maraschino cherries instead of fresh ones to make the cake a year-round dessert.

Sliced Maraschino Cherry cake on a dessert plate with flatware on background

Why Maraschino cherry cake recipe works

Adding grape seed oil brings additional moisture to the cake.
Maraschino cherries give a sweet cherry flavor.
Thick cake batter keeps whole maraschino cherries at the place and prevents fruit from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
Sprinkling the cake with chopped yogurt covered almonds gives an additional crunchiness and a gorgeous look to the cake.
Bright, beautiful maraschino cherries on top of the cake make the dessert a winner of the table.

How to make Maraschino cherry cake step by step

Preheat oven to 295 F/145 C. To make the cake batter, place flour, baking powder, sugar, honey, and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer (photo 1) and mix well. Slowly drizzle in grapeseed oil mixed with salt until emulsified (photo 2).

Photo 1: Flour, baking powder, sugar, honey and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer Photo 2: Yellow-colored mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer — **PHOTO 1 PHOTO 2**

Add chopped almonds, pitted and drained maraschino cherries (photo 3), and slightly combine to keep whole cherries. Pour the batter into a buttered and floured cake pan 7 inches/ 18 cm in diameter (photo 4).

Photo 3: Cherries and chopped almonds on top of the cake preparation in the bowl of a stand mixer Photo 4: Cake batter in a cake pan — **PHOTO 3 PHOTO 4**

Bake the cake for 40 minutes (photo 5). Remove the cake from the pan, flip upside down, and let cool (photo 6).

Photo 5: Baked cake in a pan Photo 6: Cake flipped upside down on a plate — **PHOTO 5 PHOTO 6**

To decorate, crush yogurt covered almonds in a food processor (photo 7). Cover the cake all over with the heated apricot jam. Generously sprinkle with crushed yogurt covered almonds. Dust top of the cake with powdered (icing) sugar and arrange maraschino cherries with stems (photo 8).

Photo 7: Crushed yogurt covered almonds Photo 8: Cake sprinkled with crushed yogurt covered almonds with cherries on top and served on a plate — **PHOTO 7 PHOTO 8**

Expert tips

Add a few drops of almond extract to add almond flavor or add a few drops of cherry extract to enhance the sweet cherry flavor of the cake.
Replace maraschino cherries with morello cherries in brandy if you do not serve the cake to kids.
Chop yogurt covered almonds with a knife or use a food processor.
In the summer, decorate the cake with fresh cherries coated with apricot jam.
If you are in love with two- or three-layered cakes, double or triple the recipe. Spread your favorite cream between layers and decorate the cake.

More delicious fruit cake recipes you will love

Craving more sweets? Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Yummly, and subscribe via email to receive all of the new recipes. Also, have a look at my favorite baking tools I use daily.

Recipe card

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 adapted from http://nicolas-bernarde.com/. It was originally published in July 2018. The recipe has been re-tested and revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.

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