This Homemade Cherry Chip Cake is made from scratch and bursting with sweet cherry flavor. It is the perfect shade of pink from nothing other than the maraschino cherry juice from the jar! Chopped up maraschino cherries are folded into the batter to make sure the cherry flavor really comes through in this super fun, moist cherry cake that is perfect for almost any celebration!
Cherry chip was one of my favorite cake flavors growing up, but we can make it so much better from scratch with real ingredients instead of the Betty Crocker cherry chip cake mix that doesn’t taste anything like what I remember from my childhood. Is this cake retro-modern? Is it vintage? I don’t know, but it’s definitely delicious!
You just can’t eat a slice of this perfectly pink cake with lovely, fun cherry flavor and bits of actual maraschino cherry throughout and feel anything other than happy.
If you love making cake recipes from scratch, be sure not to miss my Best Red Velvet Cake, Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting, or Homemade German Chocolate Cake!
Why we love this Vintage Cherry Cake
- Pretty in pink. There is just something about the pretty pink chiffon color and maraschino cherries that make me think of frothy 1950’s prom dresses and 80’s movies.
- Real cherry flavor. Each bite of this homemade cherry chip cake bursts with sweet maraschino cherry flavor from the maraschino cherry juice from the jar.
- Great texture. Lots of chopped up maraschino cherries are folded into the velvety cake batter and adds a wonderful texture to the super moist cake.
What You’ll Need
- Sugar: You’ll use white granulated sugar for the cake and powdered sugar for the cherry frosting. It’s a lot, but remember that this is a big cake that serves at least 16 people.
- Salted Butter: I always use salted butter in my baking. If using unsalted butter, you will need to add ¼ teaspoon of table salt for each ½ cup stick of butter.
- Vanilla Extract: Balances all of the other flavors for a well-rounded taste.
- Sour Cream: Adds richness and moisture to the cake batter.
- Egg & Egg Whites: A combination of a whole egg with mostly egg whites serves to create a nice light and fluffy texture while also letting the pink color show up nice and bright without as much yellow from too many egg yolks.
- All-Purpose Flour: No need to go out and purchase cake flour for this cherry chip cake recipe. Unbleached all-purpose flour works just fine and still gives a lovely tender crumb.
- Baking Powder: This is the only leavening agent and it gives a nice rise for a fluffy texture.
- Milk: Add additional moisture to the cake batter.
- Maraschino Cherries: You’ll also need the maraschino cherry juice from the jar of cherries, so don’t pour it out.
- Vegetable Shortening: I like using half butter and half shortening in the frosting because it lets the cherry flavor shine through more than when only butter is used.
How to Make Cherry Chip Cake from Scratch
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line three 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper circles and spray with baking spray.
- Cream. Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes until fluffy and light.
- Add eggs & vanilla. Beat in the egg, egg whites, and vanilla extract until combined and light. Be sure to stop and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Add half of the dry ingredients. Add half of the flour and all of the baking powder, mixing on low speed just until combined and you can still see a few streaks of flour remaining.
- Alternate adding wet ingredients. Add the sour cream and reserved cherry juice, mixing on low speed just until everything comes together. Then mix in the remaining flour, followed by the milk. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again.
- Stir in maraschino cherries. Add the chopped cherries to the cake batter and stir them in gently until evenly dispersed.
- Bake. Pour the cake batter evenly into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 24-26 minutes or until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
- Cool completely. Level off the tops of the cakes, if needed, before assembling.
- Make the frosting. Meanwhile, beat the butter and shortening in a large stand mixer for 2-3 minutes until creamy. Add the powdered sugar alternately with the maraschino cherry juice, beating well between each addition. Be sure to stop and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Assemble. Place the bottom cake layer on a cake plate and frost with about 1 ½ cups of the frosting. Add the next two layers with frosting between them, then frost the outside of the cake, reserving some of the frosting for piping decorative swirls on top of the cake.
- Decorate. Transfer the remaining frosting to a piping bag fitted with a decorative tip. Pipe swirls or a border around the top of the cake and decorate with additional maraschino cherries.
Substitutions and Variations
- Use a different frosting. This cake flavor is also excellent with my popular cream cheese frosting, chocolate frosting, rainbow chip frosting, or vanilla buttercream frosting.
- Add chocolate. Add mini chocolate chips or white chocolate chips to the cake batter for a cherry chocolate chip cake!
- Make it a sheet cake or cupcakes. You can bake this cake in a 9×13-inch pan for 25 to 30 minutes if you don’t want to bother stacking and decorating a layer cake. You can also halve this recipe and use it to make cupcakes, filling them ¾ full and baking for 18-20 minutes. For either approach, you can get away with half a batch of frosting instead of the full batch.
PRO TIP: Alternate adding wet and dry ingredients.
Adding all the wet ingredients at once can make the batter curdle or separate because it overwhelms the butter and sugar that you just creamed together.
And if you add all of the dry ingredients at once, your batter is likely going to be really thick and the chance that you will over mix the batter goes way up, which results in a tougher cake without the moist, tender crumb that you want in a layer cake.
Instead of dumping all the wet and dry ingredients in at once, it’s best to add them alternately, in two or three additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and stirring only until just combined each time.
Storage & Freezing Instructions
Keep the cake covered with a cake dome or with plastic wrap until ready to serve. Store any leftover cake slices in an airtight container on the counter or in the fridge for up to 5 days. If stored in the fridge, let the cake come to room temperature before serving. Cold cake usually tastes stale.
You can also freeze the cake layers, cake slices, or the full cake for up to 2 months. Just wrap well in plastic wrap before freezing. Let thaw completely on the counter before serving.
Cherry Cake Recipe FAQs
There are three common culprits behind dry cherry cake. The first is simply over baking the cake, which will dry it out every time. I prefer looking for crumbs on my cake tester rather than a totally clean result so I know the cake is still moist in the middle.
The second reason for dry cake is usually too much flour. If this is a common occurrence, I recommend fluffing the flour first, then spooning it into your measuring cup before leveling it off with a knife to avoid adding too much flour to the cake batter.
A third cause of dry cake is over beating the cake batter, which tends to result in a more dense, drier cake.
The best way is to chop the cherries so the pieces aren’t too large. You can also toss them with a tablespoon or two of your flour to help suspend them in the cake batter, but I don’t typically find this to be necessary.
You could certainly bake a cake with fresh cherries or tart frozen cherries, but it wouldn’t be the same as this maraschino cherry cake. I don’t recommend using other cherry options as a substitute for this particular recipe.
The secret to a moist cake is the proper ratio of fat to flour to sugar. Too little sugar and a cake will be dry. Too little butter or oil and you won’t have nice moist cake layers.
I also recommend using room temperature ingredients to get the best results so the cake layers bake up even and moist.
More Cake Recipes You’ll Love
Did you make this recipe?
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Homemade Cherry Chip Cake Recipe
Equipment
- 8-Inch Round Cake Pans
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (170g) salted butter softened
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 4 large egg whites room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups (353g) all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice
- 3/4 cup full-fat sour cream room temperature
- 1/4 cup whole milk room temperature
- 3/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries (about 1 cup before chopping)
Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups (341g) salted butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups (341g) vegetable shortening
- 12 cups (1,440g) powdered sugar
- 6-8 Tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
- Additional maraschino cherries with stems for decorating
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8-inch round cake pans by lining the bottoms with circles of parchment paper and spraying the sides with baking spray.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar, ¾ cup (170g) salted butter
- Add the egg, egg whites, and vanilla. Mix well, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.1 large egg, 4 large egg whites, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Add half of the flour and baking powder, mixing on low speed just until combined with a few streaks of flour remaining.2 ½ cups (353g) all-purpose flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder
- Add the sour cream and maraschino cherry juice. Mix well to combine.¾ cup full-fat sour cream, ½ cup maraschino cherry juice
- Add the remaining flour, mixing just until combined. Add the milk and mix again, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl between additions. Do not overmix.¼ cup whole milk
- Stir in the chopped maraschino cherries.¾ cup chopped maraschino cherries
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans, then bake for 24 to 26 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out with only a few crumbs.
- Cool completely on a wire rack.
Frosting
- In a large bowl, combine the butter and shortening and beat on medium speed until smooth.1 ½ cups (341g) salted butter, 1 ½ cups (341g) vegetable shortening
- Add 4 cups of the powdered sugar and beat well until smooth. Add 3 tablespoons of the maraschino cherry juice and beat again to completely incorporate.12 cups (1,440g) powdered sugar
- Repeat with another 4 cups of the powdered sugar, followed by 3 tablespoons of maraschino cherry juice, mixing well between additions.6-8 Tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth, adding additional maraschino cherry juice as needed to make a thick frosting that is spreadable but just slightly sticky to the touch.
Assembly
- Level each cooled cake round by slicing off any domed tops.
- Place the bottom layer of cake on a cake plate and carefully spread 1 ½ cups of the frosting over it in an even layer. Repeat with the second layer of cake and another 1 ½ cups of frosting.
- Top with the remaining cake layer and frost the top and sides of the cake with most of the remaining frosting, reserving about 1 cup for piping onto the top of the cake. You may have additional frosting leftover. Decorate with extra maraschino cherries, then slice and serve!Additional maraschino cherries with stems
Notes
- You will need a 16-ounce jar of maraschino cherries for the cake itself. You may want to buy an additional jar of maraschino cherries with stems for decoration.
Nutrition
This post was originally published June 8, 2017. It has been updated with additional helpful information and photos.
My son requested a maraschino cake and icing for his 24th birthday. I had made the cream cheese icing before, but opted for your buttercream. It was so YUMMY together. I did swap out a some of the shortening with butter and used a blue gel food coloring to make more masculine. 😉
Oh fun! I’m glad it turned out! He picked a good cake for his birthday!
This was absolutely delicious! I loved it!
Thank you!
My family loved this!!!
This is one of the best cakes that I have ever made. I had some issues and went into a little bit of a panic because it was so crumbly, especially on the sides. I added a little extra cherry juice to the frosting, applied what I could and used parchment paper and pressed the frosting on. I put it in the fridge and then went back and added the remaining frosting and piping plus cherries. It looked just like the photo! It was a bit of a challenge but it was worth the effort. Delicious!
I made the Cherry Chip Layered Cake and it was delish!
I would like to suggest using 2, 10oz bottles of cherries instead of measuring the amount mentioned. It also makes for an easier purchase.
Rather than baking in 3, 8 inch pans it’s much easier to make it in a 9 or 10 inch pan and use a cake cutter for the 3 layers.
Enjoy!
Can a 9 x 13 pan be used?
Yes you can. It should work just fine. If there is too much cake batter for the 9X13 pan just make a couple cupcakes with the extra cake batter. I would bake for the same amount of time 24-26 minutes.
I’m wondering – is it really 949 calories per slice? With 16 servings makes 15,184 for the whole cake? 949 calories for one slice seems outrageous, no? My sister asked for a cherry chip cake for her birthday and this one was going to be the one – but the 949 calories per slice is making me think twice…….
Yes, that’s correct. I will say that this makes a very large cake and you can probably get even more slices out of the cake or leave off some of the frosting.
Haven’t made it yet, but by the looks of it…. thank you SO MUCH for the recipe ❣️
It’s a good one! You’re going to love it!
What would I change if I wanted to make 12 cupcakes instead? Would you 1/2 the recipe? What would the time baked be? So excited to make these for my daughters graduation!
Yes, I would halve the recipe and probably bake for around 18 to 20 minutes.
Ya had me at Cherry chip Cake, was absolutely delicious The Cherry Cake I’ve been looking for. I’ll be making this from now on, it’s a KEEPER !
Thank you for sharing.
Can I freeze the layers and ice later on?
Yes, absolutely.
My mother used to make this for my Ground Hog’s Day birthday every year. I loved it. I make it for myself now and freeze the extra after we have a little birthday party. Your recipe is the best. P.S. I was born in 1955 and yes, this is retro. The only difference is my mom added chopped pecans to the cake.
How long would you bake for cupcakes ?
18 to 20 minutes.
I made this for a Barbie themed party. It looks FANTASTIC and everyone said they loved it, but imho it was way too sweet, especially with the frosting. I added some lemon essence and salt to the frosting, but it was still way too sweet for me.
Do you think I could sub 2 to 3 tablespoons of Kirsch for some of the cherry juice & add a drop of food coloring?
I don’t see why not!
My grandson has requested a cherry cake for his birthday. I was wondering why you used shortening in the icing instead of all butter? Would it work to use all butter? Also why do you use low fat cream cheese? Thank you.
Both are just personal preference. It’s a vintage recipe and often shortening was used in place of butter, but you could switch them and use all butter. Using shortening lets the cherry flavor come through a bit better since it’s not competing with the butter flavor. There’s no cream cheese in this recipe though!
HI! My cakes are in the oven and I’m hoping they turn out OK. I think there’s an issue with Step 4. Should the juice and milk have been added to the other wet ingredients? Because if you follow Step 4 as it is written, you end up with pink dry lumps in 1 bowl and all the rest of the wet ingredients are still in the mixing bowl. If all else fails, I’ll have some yummy frosting! 🙂
Good news…I think it came out just fine! I’ll have my first slice tonight, but it doesn’t appear to have flour lumps like I feared. Still curious if I’m the only one who didn’t see a step to combine all wet ingredients.
The directions are telling you to mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and to mix the juice and milk in another bowl and then alternate adding those to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. I hope this helps!
Hi, what piping tip did you use for the swirls on top? 🙂
I did those with my trusty Wilton 1M piping tip!
This cake is so flavorful but it turned out quite dense so i’m not sure if i did something wrong. Would it be worth it to maybe whip the egg whites to add a levening agent?
Yes, you could try separating the eggs whites and yolks, then folding in the beaten egg whites. This cake is slightly more dense because of the cherries, but if you want it lighter I would recommend trying cake flour instead of all-purpose flour and be sure not to overmix.
I’m going to make this for my husband’s birthday next week. Question- Maraschino cherry juice- is that the liquid in the Maraschino cherry jar?
Or do they have separate juice bottles? I’m confused.
Thanks
It’s just the juice from the jar with the cherries. You don’t need to look for separate juice bottles.
Lovely Cake. Baked it for my daughter’s 15th B day. She loved it! The chopped up maraschino cherries in the batter are the highlight. And the pink color is perfect.
My issues are with the frosting. First off, 12 cups of powdered sugar!!! I like a lot of frosting, but 12 cups? Most frosting recipes for a cake this size call for about 6 cups. I measured out all 12 and used about 10. Still too much.
Next, using 50% shortening in frosting may be appropriate for a supermarket cake, where the look and shelf life are more important than the taste, but for homemade, there’s no excuse for not using 100% butter. I used 2/3 butter and 1/3 Crisco, but wish I’d have gone with all butter.
Finally, the cherry juice was perfect for coloring the frosting, but didn’t add much cherry flavor. Maybe some cherry extract or kirsch .
Still, the cake came out great. Thanks.
Can you make this into a Bundt cake
Yes I am sure you can most definitely try. The baking time will have to be adjusted and cooked longer. Most Bundt cakes take 60 minutes to bake so start with 45 minutes to check for doneness. If there is extra batter that didn’t fit in the bundt pan, you can use that to make some extra cupcakes. Let me know how it goes if you decide to make it!
I bake all the time, and made this exactly as listed. Are you sure baking powder is correct? The cakes came out like frisbees! They did not rise at all. Should the recipe say baking soda? This was for my father’s birthday, and I put a lot of money and time into this; very disappointed.
Hmmm I wonder what happened? I am sorry it didn’t work. Could your baking powder be expired? Not enough flour? I haven’t had any issues with the cake going flat. But something definitely was off. I wonder what it was?
The cake itself was amazing, but the icing was a no in my opinion. I took it all off, I will try it with a different icing next time. Amazing cake though, thank you for the recipe (:
I’m glad you like the cake! You can use any icing you like next time!
Step 5. Needs to be 2 steps. I ruined my cake batter because it was not clear.
Step 5a. Combine flour and baking powder.
Step 5b. Add flour mixer, milk and cherry juice to wet mixture alternating and adding a 3rd of each at a time.
I’m frusterated. Since 5 was 1 step I added the milk and juice to the flour directly. There was no mention of adding it to the wet ingredients. Of course a more experienced baker would probably have read between the lines, but it would be helpful if it was properly indicated.
Unclear instructions
I baked this for my birthday 🎂. I hope it tastes has good as it looks! I did bake it in two 9 inch pans for about 30 minutes. And reduced the icing in half.
Great! You will have to let me know how it turned out! Happy Birthday!
I love the way you write your recipes, no room for error! Have you tried the buttercreams from, The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum?
Thank you Becca! No, I haven’t tried any of her buttercreams. Have you tried them? Do you have any favorites?
Can I make cupcakes instead of a layered cake? How many cupcakes will this recipe make if doing this instead of a layered cake?
Yep you can make cupcakes instead. The batter will probably make about 24 cupcakes, maybe a little bit more. Feel free to halve the recipe and half a batch of frosting if you don’t need that many.
If using cake flour, will I use the same amount as listed in the recipe? Thank you.
To substitute for cake flour using all-purpose flour, measure out 1 cup of all-purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons from the cup, and then add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the cup of remaining flour. Sift the mixture several times to evenly combine the ingredients and mimic the fine texture of cake flour.
This is the prettiest cake I ever made!
I am so glad you made it Della! I would love to see a picture of it!
I made these into cupcakes instead of cake, cooked for 20 minutes and they were perfect. The actual cake is delicious and moist, sweet from the cherries. The frosting however was off putting for me. Firstly, the amount of icing was insane even though I halved the measurements and still only used less than half to top the cupcakes. Secondly, the frosting itself just tasted like butter and shortening, there was no flavour from the cherry juice (I ended up using 10tbsp to try and add more flavour) and somehow with 6 cups of powdered sugar it just tasted sort of semi-sweet bland. However, I do understand it’s supposed to give a vintage cake vibe when frosting tasted very “buttery” back then but I wish it had a bit of a denser more cherry-flavoured punch to it. The cake and frosting combined is still very delicious, but for the amount of work I wish the frosting complimented the cake better. I ended up adding a small bit of vanilla bean paste and it obviously gave it a vanilla flavour but enhanced the sweetness and flavour of the otherwise very buttery and frothy icing. I also added white chocolate chips to a few cupcakes and they were a nice addition! If I made this again I would opt out for a butter cream icing or not add shortening to the icing as that’s what gave it the “store bought” taste.
These would be delicious as cherry chip cupcakes! Yes, for cupcakes there would be more than enough frosting. Frosting a three tiered cake takes a lot of frosting, more frosting than you would need for a batch of cupcakes. The frosting recipe may seem like a lot, but I also want to make sure you have enough frosting for all layers of the cake because everyone has their own preference on how much frosting they like to use. And of course, everyone has different tastes so cater the recipe to how you like it so you will enjoy it! I am happy you made these!