Too Many Cherries?
It’s summer, which means cherries are in season! These are one of our favorite fruits. To be honest, I could eat an entire pack of cherries in one sitting, although I wouldn’t recommend it because of the inevitable stomachache afterwards. Having done it many a time, it is not for the faint of heart! And given the price of cherries these days, I wouldn’t recommend it either! 😂 But if you are one of those lucky people who have a cherry tree or know someone who has one, you may find yourself with a few too many. That’s where today’s recipe comes in!
Today’s Recipe
We’re not saying that you can’t make this cake with cherries you buy at the grocery store – of course you can! In fact, we made the cake in the photos with cherries from the store. But the cake was born out of our mom (shoutout Mor!) having an overload of sour cherries from her tree and wanting to bake them into a cake. We suggested she use our æblekage recipe but replace the apples with cherries, and it turned out so well that we just had to post it as a new recipe. This is perfect with sour or sweet cherries, so don’t worry too much about which type you can find. It’s a simple and delicious cake that you can make for any occasion, whether it’s a special occasion or just a regular day!
Making Cherry Cake
Honestly, cake recipes don’t get much easier than this. The most tedious task is pitting the cherries! We find using a metal straw or similar device to push out the pits to be pretty effective, but cutting the cherries with a knife also works, as they need to be halved or quartered for the cake anyway. Coat these in a bit of flour, which helps make sure they don’t sink to the bottom of the cake. Although that sometimes can’t be prevented! Whisk together your eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, then alternate adding the wet and dry ingredients. It may seem like a strange method, but the end result will be fluffy if you take care not to knock all the air out of the eggs! Feel free to add a splash of almond extract if you like the amaretto/marzipan and cherry flavor combination. Then, add the cherries, decorate, and bake. Serve with whipped cream, ice cream, or on its own. Enjoy!
Kirsebærkage (Cherry Cake)
Ingredients
CAKE
- 200 grams pitted cherries, halved or quartered depending on the size (tart cherries work best for this, to balance out the sweetness, but you can use whatever cherries you like!)
- 1 tbsp flour
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 200 grams granulated sugar
- 250 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 120 ml vegetable oil
- 120 ml milk
- Halved cherries for the top, from about 9 cherries (optional, but we like the look!)
TOPPING
- Powdered sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Pit your cherries and cut into smaller pieces, if needed. This may take a while, and there are a few techniques you can try! A metal straw may work, but you can also use a knife to cut them open and remove the pits. We weigh the cherries after pitting!
- We also halve about 9 cherries to place along the top for decoration, but this is optional!
- Mix together the cherries for the batter (not the decorating cherries) and 1 tbsp of flour. Mix to coat the cherries. This should help keep the cherries from sinking in the cake!
- Butter/oil a baking tin (we used a round, 9 inch cake pan) and cut out a sheet of parchment paper in a circle to cover the bottom.
- Beat eggs and granulated sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer/mixing bowl until light in color and doubled or tripled in size. Use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, or an electric hand mixer – it will be more difficult to whisk by hand, but it can be done!
- Meanwhile, mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) in a separate bowl. Whisk these together to remove any lumps.
- Mix together vanilla extract, milk, and oil in a liquid measuring cup to make it easier to pour.
- Begin by adding in half of the dry ingredients to the egg and sugar mixture. You can either fold these ingredients in, or run the mixer for about 5-10 seconds until most of the flour is incorporated.
- Then, add in half of the liquid ingredients, and either fold it in with a spatula or run the mixer for another 5-10 seconds.
- Repeat the process, adding in dry ingredients and mixing, then adding in wet ingredients and mixing.
- Now you should have a smooth batter that is runnier than a pound cake batter, but should still have some body to it.
- Add the cherries (coated in flour) to the batter. Fold the batter a few times to make sure the cherries are evenly distributed, but try not to overmix at this point.
- Pour the batter into your baking tin and level out the top as needed.
- Add halved cherries around the edge of the cake. You can use cherries to decorate the top however you want!
- Bake for 40-45 mins, or until a cake tester emerges clean from the center of the cake. (Baking time will depend on your baking tin and oven. A shallower, larger cake tin will take less time, while a smaller but deeper tin may take longer. Glass tins also tend to take longer than dark, nonstick ones. Ovens range, so keep an eye on the cake!)
- Remove from cake tin after it has cooled down for around 5 minutes and let cool on a wire rack.
- After cooling, dust with powdered sugar (optional). Slice and enjoy! This cake keeps for about 3 days, covered at room temperature.
