Easy Cherry Cake Recipe from Scratch

This easy cherry cake recipe is so easy to make and so delicious you’d want to bake it all summer long. Dense but soft, not too sweet, bursting with wonderful cherry flavour.

(Take advantage of cherry season and make some mini cherry galettes. Buttery, flaky crust. Plump, juicy, sweet cherries. It’s your favourite summer pie without all the work. This chocolate cherry bundt cake is easy to make and looks stunning!)

If you’re looking for a quick, simple, delicious cake to serve and snack on this summer, you’ve come to the right place!

No bells and whistles (or frosting and filling) on this one. Just the season’s best fresh sweet cherries, simple pantry ingredients, half an hour in the oven, done.

This cherry cake from scratch goes so well with your morning coffee, great for picnics and is perfect with ice cream.

How to make this easy cherry cake recipe

To make this homemade cherry cake, you start by sifting flour with baking powder and salt. You set that aside while you cream butter and sugar until fluffy and light.

Then in goes the egg, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix until incorporated. Gradually add your flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Transfer the batter into your prepared pan and place cherries on top. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack. Sprinkle some powdered sugar or top with ice cream and enjoy!

Ingredients you need to make cherry cake from scratch

Like I said earlier, there are no hard-to-source ingredients in this easy cherry cake recipe. All you need are the following pantry staples:

• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar
• Egg
• Buttermilk
• Vanilla extract
• Cherries

Tools you need to bake homemade cherry cake

You don’t need special tools either. I like using my stand mixer but a large bowl + a handheld electric mixer would work just as well too.

In addition, you need:

• A 9×9 inch baking pan
• Parchment paper
• Spatula
• Cooling rack

I like using a bench scraper to cut sheet cakes but a knife will do too.

Cherry buttermilk cake FAQs

To make this super easy recipe for cherry cake even easier, here are some tips for you.

How to make homemade buttermilk

This recipe only needs 1/2 cup of buttermilk and if you’re like me and can only buy it in 1L bottles, you need to plan out your week and make all things buttermilk (here’s a great collection of recipes to help you use that leftover buttermilk).

Or, you can make buttermilk at home so you have just the right amount you need.

It’s so simple: I just mix a cup of milk and a tablespoon of lemon juice, stir then let it sit in room temperature for 30 minutes.

Homemade buttermilk doesn’t get quite as thick as the one you buy at the store though. Good news is I haven’t noticed a significant difference in my baking yet. So I don’t hesitate to make homemade buttermilk in a pinch.

Here’s an interesting read on commercial vs. homemade buttermilk, if you’re curious.

How to pit cherries without a cherry pitter

I love cherries – eating them fresh and baking with them (or making homemade roasted cherry chocolate ice cream – so good!).

Over the years (and countless days of cherry red hands later) I’ve realized that a cherry pitter might be one of the best inventions of mankind ever.

Invest in one and you won’t look back.

If you don’t have one though, there are many ways to pit a cherry. From using a straw (didn’t work for me) to using a paper clip (this one hurt!). Here’s one using a piping/icing tip (I haven’t tried this but it looks very promising).

See what method works best for you (or invest in a pitter already!).

Can I use frozen cherries for this recipe?

If you want to avoid all that drama altogether, you might be wondering if you can just use frozen cherries for this recipe. The answer is you can.

When cherries are $1 a basket, we tend to hoard buy more than normal people would and freeze them ourselves so we can have cherry parties all year.

When the craving hits and I want to bake cherry cake from scratch, I simply thaw them in the fridge. I just make sure to remove any excess moisture before I use them so my cake doesn’t end up being too mushy.

How do I store this cake?

You can store this cherry buttermilk cake in an airtight container in the fridge. It will be good for up to 2 days.

We like eating this cake chilled too so we don’t usually bring it down to room temperature before serving.

Other cake recipes that are easy to make from scratch

If there are no cherries available there yet or – gasp – you missed cherry season, here are other cakes you can bake that are just as easy and delicious.

This sour cream peach cake also uses a favourite summer fruit. Delicious, fruity, will definitely give you all the summer feels.

It can’t get any simpler than this easy yogurt cake. Top it with fresh strawberries (or your favourite berry) and cream for a fantastic summer dessert.

Not in a baking mood? This strawberry refrigerator cake is for you. Fresh, refreshing, great way to stay cool on a warm sunny day!

Happy baking!

Did you make this easy recipe for cherry cake? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.