You can make Homemade Cherry Chip Cake with no boxed cake mix! It's flavored with maraschino cherries, vanilla extract, and almond extract.

Vegetarian

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I tried Cherry Chip Cake for the first time only recently. It wasn't a cake I ever ate growing up, so it never really occurred to me to try making it at home. The cake we tried was from a boxed mix, and my kids loved it.

I immediately wondered if it was possible to make something similar from scratch. I decided that the weeks preceding Valentine's day was the best time to try it. I found a few recipes online, thought about what my family likes in a cake, and set to creating my own version of the recipe.

I'm happy to say that I was successful in my attempts. Every single member of my family loved this Homemade Cherry Chip Cake (even my typically cake-hating husband). If you're looking for a celebration cake for Valentine's day (or any day), this is one you'll want to try.

A whole homemade Cherry Chip Cake decorated with maraschino cherries.

How to Make Homemade Cherry Chip Cake

Start this cake by prepping your baking pans. You'll need two 9-inch round cake pans which you'll prep by lining the bottoms with parchment paper and greasing the sides.

Next, get your cherries ready for the cake. Drain and reserve all of the juice and remove the stems, if present. Put the cherries into your food processor (a mini one works best for this small job) and pulse until the cherries are chopped fine. Set the cherries and juice aside for now.

Whisk the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) together in a medium bowl. Set this aside for now.

Stir together the buttermilk, maraschino cherry juice, vanilla, and almond extract. Set this aside for now.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer (or hand mixer). Add the canola oil and eggs and mix again. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture and mix until blended (start the mixer on low speed and slowly increase to prevent flour from flying everywhere). Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add ½ of the buttermilk mixture, mix, and scrape. Repeat half of the remaining flour, then the rest of the buttermilk, then the last of the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the chopped maraschino cherries.

Divide the batter between your two baking pans (use your kitchen scale to make sure both are equal) and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove the cakes from the pans and continue to cool on a wire rack to room temperature.

While the cake is cooling, start making the frosting. Whip the butter and salt together until it's light and fluffy. Add the cream and whip again (starting at low speed) until the cream is mostly incorporated (the butter will still look a little wet).

Add the maraschino cherry juice, vanilla, almond extract, and food coloring, if using, and mix until incorporated. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat until the frosting is very light and fluffy.

Use about ¼ to ⅓ of the frosting as the filling between the cake layers (or use something else, like pudding to fill the cake if you want to use all of the available frosting to decorate the cake).

Use the remaining ¼ to ⅓ of the frosting to spread all over the cake in a thin layer as a crumb coat. Chill the cake in the fridge or the freezer until the crumb coat is set.

Use the remaining buttercream to spread all over the cake evenly. Feel free to use a piping bag and decorating tips to decorate the cake, if desired. You can also use leftover cherries to decorate, if available.

An overhead photo of a Homemade Cherry Chip Cake.

Cherry Chip Cake Color

I chose not to add any color to my Cherry Chip Cake partly because I wanted to show what it would look like without, and partly because I most often find food coloring unnecessary.

However, if the cake you're envisioning is a festive bright pink color, I highly recommend adding some red or pink food coloring to achieve that. As you can see, even vibrant maraschino cherries on their own will not lend enough color to dye the whole cake.

I recommend Wilton's gel color, and the rose or the pink color would be excellent shades, but if you're sensitive to the taste of red or pink food coloring, go with the red (no taste) shade.

Whichever shade you choose, start with a tiny dab, mix it in, and add more if needed. You can use it in either the cake batter, or the buttercream, or both.

A slice of Homemade Cherry Chip Cake on a small white plate.

Homemade Cherry Chip Cake Ingredients

Maraschino cherries - you will need both the cherries and the juice that they come with. Note that maraschino cherries can very greatly in color from bright red to dull purplish red, depending on how they're dyed. Though mine contained no artificial colors (the label stated that they were dyed with radishes), they were still a very vibrant red. If you care about the appearance of the cake, choose brighter cherries. If your cherries come with stems, make sure to remove them before processing.
Cake flour - if you don't keep cake flour on hand (I don't), you can use a mixture of all-purpose flour and cornstarch. See the notes section of the recipe for details.
Baking powder
Baking soda
Table salt
Buttermilk - if you don't have buttermilk, you can use soured milk (1 Tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar in milk), a mixture of plain Greek yogurt and milk, plain regular yogurt, or powdered buttermilk.
Vanilla extract - you will need vanilla for both the cake and the buttercream. To keep your buttercream as pale as possible, consider using clear vanilla.
Almond extract - almond extract closely mimics the flavor of maraschino cherries. You will need it for both the cake and the buttercream.
Granulated sugar
Softened unsalted butter - you will need butter for both the cake and the buttercream.
Canola oil or other neutral-flavored cooking oil - using some oil in a cake in addition to butter helps to keep the cake soft and moist, while the butter provides flavor.
Large eggs at room temperature - bringing your eggs to room temperature helps them to incorporate with the butter.
Pink or red food coloring - this is optional, but necessary if you want a vibrant pink cake and/or frosting (see the section regarding color, above)
Whipping cream or heavy cream - I opted to use a generous amount of whipping cream in the buttercream to help give it a lighter, less buttery texture.
Powdered sugar - powdered sugar is necessary to give buttercream its sweetness and texture

Want more celebration cake recipes?

Homemade lemon meringue chiffon cake with toasted frosting. — Lemon Meringue Chiffon Cake

A whole Caribbean Rum Cake with a slice removed. — Caribbean Rum Cake with Pecans (No Cake Mix)

Homemade Cherry Chip Cake Nutrition Notes

The nutrition information in the recipe below is for one slice of cake, if you cut the cake into 12 slices, assuming that you use all of the buttercream.

If you cut your cake into larger or smaller slices, the nutrition information will vary accordingly.

The nutrition calculations use 5 cups of powdered sugar (vs. 6 cups). If you use 6 cups to make your buttercream, your cake will have slightly more sugar and calories per slice.

Note that this cake contains almond extract, so if you plan to serve it to anyone with a nut allergy, make sure they are aware of this as it can trigger an allergic reaction.