Cherry

Fresh Cherry Bundt Cake

by:
July 25, 2018
3.5
14 Ratings
Fresh Cherry Bundt Cake
Photo by Bobbi Lin
  • Prep time 4 hours 30 minutes
  • Cook time 50 minutes
  • Serves a crowd
Author Notes

Pro tip: Make the glaze while the cake is cooling, and just hold at room temperature until you're ready. —Erinn Simon

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the cake and glaze
  • Cherry Cake
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 6 eggs, at room temperature
  • 3 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 3/4 cup fresh cherry puree, recipe follows
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup fresh cherries, pitted and roughly chopped
  • Cherry Glaze
  • 1/2 cup (4 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup fresh cherry puree, recipe follows
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
  • For the fresh cherry puree
  • 1 pound (about 3 1/2 cups) fresh, pitted cherries
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Directions
  1. For the cake and glaze
  2. For the cake: Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter and flour a 10-inch, 12 cup bundt pan and set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, whip together the butter and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until smooth. All of this should take about 7 minutes.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. In a separate cup, mix together the cherry puree, oil, and vanilla.
  5. With the mixer on the lowest speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients and the cherry mixture. Increase speed to medium for about 30 seconds until the batter is smooth. Fold in the chopped cherries.
  6. Pour into prepared pan, smoothing out the top. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, until the top is set and crackly and a tester comes out clean.
  7. Let cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a rack and let cool completely before glazing, about 2 hours.
  8. For the glaze: In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed for about 30 seconds, until smooth and uniform.
  9. Add confectioner's sugar, salt, and vanilla and beat on low speed for about 30 seconds to combine. With the mixer running on low, slowly stream in the cherry puree, a bit at a time, until you reach the right consistency. Pourable, but not too runny.
  10. To glaze, place cake on rack on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I transfered the glaze to a 2 cup pyrex liquid measuring cup and poured it slowly around the top, letting it drip into the cake grooves. The baking sheet will catch any drips and the parchment makes cleaning it all up quick and easy.
  1. For the fresh cherry puree
  2. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend on high until smooth. Makes about 2 cups.
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See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Miss_Karen
    Miss_Karen
  • Anna
    Anna
  • Stephanie B.
    Stephanie B.
  • Taryn
    Taryn
  • Eric Kim
    Eric Kim

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25 Reviews

Miss_Karen
Miss_Karen August 7, 2019
Sorry, this didn't work for me. AT ALL.
It was QUITE BLAND despite all the cherry puree involved. (I would suggest reducing the puree down on a low simmer. This would help concentrate the flavor and thicken it slightly.) It was necessary for me to half the recipe, but otherwise made it per the instructions. Sadly, the texture was weird and the frosting is gloppy and far too sweet. Sigh! The noted baking time was much too long. I attempted it again, with a few minor tweaks. Better, but still not my spectacular. I removed it from my saved recipes and will move on to other bakes....
 
Miss_Karen
Miss_Karen July 26, 2019
Question:
What if the amount of oil was reduced slightly? I know you can substitute about 1/2 the amount of butter with applesauce (fruit puree) in many recipes.... Also, any major changes involved with cutting the recipe in half?
 
Anna
Anna July 22, 2019
Will bleached (like Swans Down) vs. unbleached cake flour make a difference for this recipe? I've seen other cake recipes with fruit purees be very specific about which to use.
 
Anna
Anna August 7, 2019
Update: I made this and it came out very tasty and pretty, but without much cherry flavor! I think I'm going to stick to using powdered freeze-dried fruits for punches of fruity flavor in baked goods!
 
T
T August 28, 2018
Can I use regular salt in place of kosher salt?
 
AmyStarch
AmyStarch August 20, 2018
I halved the recipe to bake it in a loaf pan, then accidentally put all of the cherry purée into the cake batter.Ddecided to bake it anyway. Amazing! It came out like cherry bread pudding and easily beat the flavor of the one made with the correct specifications in a taste-off. I’ll only make it the incorrect way from now on. Made that way, it’s one of the best new desserts I’ve made in years.
 
Eric K.
Eric K. August 24, 2018
Ha! Love the happy mistakes. Hope people read this version, "Cherry Bread Pudding" by Amy Starch. :)
 
Stephanie B.
Stephanie B. August 6, 2018
This didn't turn out well for me. There are only the dark, purplish cherries available where I am, and they turned the cake an unappealing color. I used good quality vanilla bean, and the flavor of the cherries with the vanilla was good, very classic. I'm bummed I wasted a vanilla bean on this though. I also liked the glaze.

But the texture of the cake was bad. It came out very dense and heavy for me. I knew I was in trouble when the batter came out very liquid and pourable. I compared this recipe two other recipes, one for a cake that also has a very liquid batter (intentionally), and one for an applesauce bundt cake - in comparison this recipe used a lot more flour and eggs, not as much baking powder, and nothing was creamed to get more air into the cake. I meant to bring this in to work but there's no way I'm letting anyone else try this.
 
Eric K.
Eric K. August 24, 2018
Apologies for the bad cake. We adjusted the recipe per your feedback. May others have better success with it now, thanks to you!
 
Stephanie B.
Stephanie B. August 24, 2018
Oh wow, thanks for going back into this recipe! It really did look pretty, and in my hands the cherry + vanilla totally hit that classic American taste that a Tosi inspired recipe aims for. I'll save it to my collections to try again.
 
Jeanie
Jeanie August 6, 2018
I made this using GF Flour, and adding ~1/2 t xanthum gum. The cake is beautiful and delicious!
 
Taryn
Taryn August 4, 2018
Very disappointed with this recipe. I am an experienced baker and thought this cake would be unique. Sadly I found the consistency to be a bit grainy and the taste sweet and bland. Ended up throwing away my hard work and quality ingredients.
 
Stephanie B.
Stephanie B. August 6, 2018
Did yours turn out dense?
 
Taryn
Taryn August 6, 2018
Yes - sense and an unappealing color and bland flavor
 
Stephanie B.
Stephanie B. August 7, 2018
Thanks for the reply! On to other bakes...
 
Taryn
Taryn August 12, 2018
ya win some and you lose some!
 
Eric K.
Eric K. August 24, 2018
Hi Taryn and Stephanie, thank you so much for your feedback. We retested this recipe and tweaked it by upping the baking powder to 1 tablespoon, and suggesting that you cream the butter (room temperature, NOT melted) with the sugar, adding the eggs one at a time, thereby incorporating air, and then alternating in the rest of the wet and dry. The cake turned out much moister this way.
 
Jane
Jane July 31, 2018
Do you use sweet or tart cherries, or does it matter?
 
Erinn S.
Erinn S. August 1, 2018
Sweet! I didn’t test it with tart, but I’m betting you’d need to adjust the sugar!
 
egiannone
egiannone July 29, 2018
how much of a difference do you think it would make if i use frozen cherries? i have a whole bunch of very ripe ones, but don't have time to make the cake right now. perhaps i could use frozen to make the puree and buy a few more to chop?
 
Amy
Amy July 30, 2018
Please let us know how this works out whenever you make this lovely cake using your frozen cherries and if you find that adjustments were necessary. Thanks!
 
Erinn S.
Erinn S. August 1, 2018
I think it’d be fine!
 
ef
ef July 26, 2018
Hi, the cream cheese in the glaze is missing from the list of ingredients
 
Eric K.
Eric K. July 26, 2018
Thank you! The recipe has been fixed.
 
Casey
Casey February 14, 2021
the cream cheese is still missing from the glaze list of ingredients, does this mean that the other changes you have made as a result of the reviews have been made or not. I want to try this recipe but I want the best chance of success.