Cherry Spice Cake
If you've never had a slice of Cherry Spice Cake, save this recipe! This moist, flavorful spice cake is speckled with bits of cherry, glazed with cherry puree, and frosted with a heavenly spiced cream cheese frosting!
In the fall and winter months, we are all about spice cakes flavored with warm spices. The unexpected boost of cherry flavor in this recipe elevates this spice cake to a whole new level!
As an added bonus, the bits of cherries that are suspended in the cake layers make for a beautiful slice!
Table of Contents
How to Make Cherry Spice Cake
*You can find the full, printable cake recipe further down in this post, but here is a quick rundown of our steps!
First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans, then line them with circles of parchment paper (wax paper is okay too- just more transparent so be careful not to forget to peel from the baked layers! ;0) )
Preparing the Cherries
For this recipe, we're using canned cherry pie filling. First, add a rounded ½ cup of cherry pie filling into a small blender (we used a bullet blender) to create a puree. Set aside. (We'll brush it onto the cake layers later on.)
Next, pour the remaining cherry pie filling into a colander and rinse while holding over the sink.
Then, using kitchen shears, we finely and coarsely chopped the cherries. The finer the chop, the less likely the cherries are to sink to the bottom of the cake pan while baking.
For the Cake Batter
In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Whisk at least 30 seconds to blend. Set aside.
In the bowl of your electric, (with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), mix the softened butter until smooth.Slowly add the white sugar and mix at medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes or until fluffy. Add the the oil and vanilla and mix until blended.
Next, add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately. Begin and end with the dry ingredients ( 3 additions of dry and 2 of wet)
Mix until just combined, do not mix above medium speed or over mix.
Fold in the chopped pecans and cherries.
Divide the cake batter into the prepared pans, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Bake at 350 degrees for 23 to28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few drums attached. Let the cake layers cool, still in their pans for about 10 minutes on a wire rack, then turn out of pans.
For the Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
We love to use cream cheese frostings when working with spice cakes. For today's recipe, we're using spiced cream cheese frosting for an additional boost of spice!
This recipe is delicious and so easy to make as the ingredients are a simple combination of softened butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract, and spices (pumpkin pie spice).
Cream cheese frostings are softer than regular buttercream and so keep in mind that you'll likely need to chill the frosting just after making it to firm it up a bit.
If at any time the frosting in your piping bag or bowl becomes too soft to easily work with, pop it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes or until it's a better consistency for spreading or piping.
The same goes for the cake. If you are frosting your cake and it's too soft or if the layers are shifting at all, pop it in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm it up.
**For an additional boost of cherry flavor, you could substitute our Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting!
Does this Cake need Refrigeration?
Yes, keep in mind that cakes that are frosted with spiced cream cheese frosting (or any cream cheese frosting for that matter) need to be chilled until closer to the time of the event.
If you need a less perishable frosting, you can add the spices in the frosting recipe to your favorite vanilla buttercream (like our classic vanilla buttercream or fluffy vanilla buttercream recipe).
Assembling the Cherry Spice Cake
Place the first cake layer on the pedestal or cake platter. Spread with a thin coating of the cherry puree. (I stopped about ½ inch from the edge of the cake layer).
This coating lends a nice cherry flavor to the spice cake (in addition to the bits of cherry in the layers)!.
Since I applied a very thin layer to the cake, I didn't need to create a dam of frosting to prevent it from escaping- but if you are using more glaze than I did, go ahead and pipe a buttercream dam/ring about ½ inch from the edge of the layer and spread the cherry puree inside of it.
Next, I spread a layer of spiced cream cheese frosting on top of the thin coating of cherry puree.
Top with the second cake layer and repeat. Follow with the third cake layer and crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of spiced cream cheese frosting.
After crumb coating, I like to chill my cakes for about 15. minutes or so to firm everything up. Then, I followed with the second coating of frosting.
Decorating the Cake
Decorate however you like! For our cake, I frosted it using a small rounded offset spatula and created a textured design. I then used chopped pecans for the top and bottom border.
We have more Spice Cakes to Love
Fall is my favorite season! I love the cooler temperatures, the colorful leaves, and of course all of the delicious fall desserts! Spice cakes are at the top of my list.
We've made Pumpkin Spice Cake, Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake, Homemade Spice Cake, Apple Spice Cake (doctored mix), and so many more!
You can find a full listing of our favorite fall cake recipes from pumpkin to caramel, spice cakes and more here: The BEST Fall Cake Recipes
Cakes with Cherries!
If you're looking for more cakes with cherries, we have many more in our Recipes Section! Some of our favorites are our scratch Cherry Cake, our elegant Black Forest Cake, and our Chocolate Cherry Cake!
Whether you are looking for birthday cake recipes, fall cake recipes, or just a delicious spice cake to share with family and friends, we hope that you will give this recipe a try!
Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!
Cherry Spice Cake
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter, slightly softened (113g)
- 2 cups sugar (400g)
- ½ cup vegetable oil - I used Canola oil (107g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (3g)
- 3 eggs, room temperature (place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes)
- 3 cups Cake Flour - see Notes below for substitution (342g)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder (6g)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (3g)
- ½ teaspoon teaspoon salt (3g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon (3g)
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg (1g)
- 1 cup buttermilk -See notes section for substitution if needed (242g)
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 1 can (595g) Cherry Pie Filling- Instructions below on how we use the cherries
For the Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (do not soften in microwave) (226g)
- 24 oz cream cheese, softened (678g total) We used three 8 oz packages.
- 3 cups powdered sugar (343g)
- 2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice- Adjust amount to your liking (See Notes for Substitution) (4g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
For decoration
- We used additional chopped pecans for the top and bottom border
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 8 inch round or two 9 inch round cake pans. - Add a circle of waxed paper or parchment paper to the bottom of each pan, cakes with fruit can have a tendency to stick.
Preparing the Cherries
- Put ½ cup of the cherry pie filling to a blender (we used a small bullet blender). Puree for a few seconds and set aside. We will brush this onto the baked cake layers later.
- Pour the remaining canned cherry pie filling into a colander. Hold colander over the sink and run water over the cherries to rinse. We only want the cherries in our cake, not the filling that surrounds the cherries. Using kitchen shears, finely and coarsely chop the cherries. The finer the chop, the less likely the cherries are to sink to the bottom of the cake pan while baking.
For the Cake Batter
- In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Whisk at least 30 seconds to blend. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, mix the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at medium speed for a minute until combined. Add the oil and vanilla to the bowl and mix until blended (1 to 1 ½ minutes).
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately. Begin and end with the dry ingredients ( 3 additions of dry and 2 of wet). Mix until just combined
- Pour cake batter into prepared pans, smoothing tops with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350 degrees for 23 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few drums attached. Let cool 10 minutes, then turn out of pans.
- Makes 7 ½ cups batter
- Works well for cupcakes - bake cupcakes at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes, the cupcakes will bake with no dome (flat)
For the Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
- Put the softened butter in the bowl of your mixer and mix until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin spice. Beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes (longer if using a hand mixer) until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl midway through.
- Add the pieces of softened cream cheese to the mixing bowl. The cream cheese should be soft enough that it combines easily into the butter/powdered sugar mixture. Beat on low/medium speed about 1 minute or until the cream cheese is blended in.
- Makes 6 cups
- Use immediately or refrigerate. If you have beaten too long and it is too soft to pipe, just refrigerate a while and let it firm up.
Assembling the Cake
- Place the first cake layer onto the cake pedestal or platter. Spread with a thin layer of cherry puree (I didn't spread the puree all the way to the edge- just to about ½ inch from the edge.
- Spread with spiced cream cheese frosting. Repeat for the second cake layer. Top with the third cake layer and frost the entire cake in a thin crumb coat of frosting. At this point, I like to chill the tier in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm it up before frosting with the final coat of frosting.
- I frosted the final coat of frosting, adding texture with a small offset spatula. I used crushed pecans as a top and bottom border.
I'm confused by this recipe. In the ingredient list, the recipe calls for ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. In the directions, it calls for apple pie spice. In the frosting, it calls for pumpkin pie spice. I believe most grocery-store apple pie spice contains cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Would you be so kind as to clarify what spices you used to develop this recipe?
Hi Carla! The apple pie spice in the instructions was a typo- I've adjusted! The Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting is a recipe we've used in several fall cakes- while it calls for pumpkin pie spice, you can substitute with your preferred spices, or I've added a substitution in the notes. Enjoy the recipe!