Isn’t that the prettiest pink cake?
I’m not known for beautiful cakes. They usually turn out lopsided with crumbs in the frosting. So I’m really happy with how this turned out.
The idea is not my own. I saw the Cherry Vanilla Cake on Jam Hands and couldn’t resist trying it. I altered Ali’s recipe in several ways. She used the seeds of a vanilla bean, which sounds scrumptious, but I didn’t have any. I swapped water for milk and butter for oil.
And I decided to frost it with whipped topping. My original plan was to use Cool Whip, but then I remembered a recipe shared a few weeks ago on Ingredient Spotlight for homemade whipped topping. That’s what I decided to try and I’ll share the recipe on on Thursday.
Here’s what you’ll need for the cake:
- 10 oz maraschino cherries
- White cake mix
- Reserved juice from cherries
- Enough milk to make 1 cup liquid
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 3 eggs
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 round cake pans.
Drain the cherries and reserve juice. Slice the cherries in half.
Put the cake mix in a mixer bowl. Add enough milk to the cherry juice to bring the liquid to 1 cup. Pour that into the cake mix. Add all the other ingredients to the bowl and mix until well combined. Pour into the prepared cake pans. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when you test the center.
Cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then remove to cooling racks. After completely cool, frost with your choice of frosting or Cool Whip or the homemade version of Cool Whip.
This post is linked to Tuesday Tutorial at Hope Studios.
Thank you for this recipe. I WILL be trying it. My youngest daughter (2) has discovered she LOVES maraschino cherries and this cake looks devine.
That is a beautiful cake. We are all maraschino cherry fans at my house so this cake would be devoured almost instantly.
you have my mouth WATERING….I NEED some of this cake NOW, Looks so delicious!
Gorgeous cake and I looove maraschino cherries!
Lovely cake Tiffany! It looks so good and inviting and I’m not even a fan of maraschino cherries! Yum!
I’m going to HAVE to try this cake. It’s beautiful and looks easy to make, too.
That is gorgous! My cakes don’t usually turn out well either, this looks awesome!
Love that, it’s gorgeous and I love those Cherries!
Yum!
My boys would love that!
Beautiful pics too.
Oh wow! I am a new follower and I just happened to be browsing and saw that you mentioned the Cherry & Vanilla Layer Cake over at my blog. I am honored! Thank you so much for sharing the link with your readers.
Your cake turned out beautifully. I love the light frosting you chose for it. I love how cheerful and bright this cake it.
Ali, small world! I loved your cake idea. It’s a keeper for sure!
So no oil or water?
The butter replaces the oil, the juice and milk replace the water. There’d be way too much liquid if you added water and oil on top of that.
That looks beautiful… AND delicious!
I made this recipe today for my granddaughter’s first birthday… I made cupcakes instead of a whole cake and used Betty Crocker Whipped Cream frosting with it. It turned out AMAZING! Fluffy and a wonderful cherry flavor. Thank you for this easy and delicious recipe… it was exactly what I was looking for!
My whole familie’s favorite flavor is cherry so I made this cake today for my birthday cake. The only change I did was to use chocolate fudge frosting from Pillsbury. Wow! This is an amazing recipe, my son is notoriously fickle and usually will only poke at frosting, not today! Hasn’t really touched the frosting but the cake is almost completely gone. My husband ate a whole slice, this just might be our new occassion cake! Thanks for such a delicious recipe!
Try cream cheese 8oz and 1 stick of real butter, bit of vanilla and box of powdered sugar….much better than any canned frosting!
Looks wonderful. Great idea for Valentine’s day :]
I’m thinking about blending the cherries and the liquid together (I have textural issues with fruit in baked goods). Might even try cupcakes.
Complete failure. Didn’t set up or rise. Went exactly by recipe. For the future, just go by cake mix box ingredients and adjust for cherries and juice. Don’t alternate stick of butter or eggs.
Very disappointed. Making this for granddaughter for valentines day. Thank goodness had strawberry mix to substitute. Will look elsewhere for cherry cake recipe.:(
Carol, I’m so sorry it didn’t turn out. I’m not sure what would cause that. Substituting butter for the oil and using the juice or milk instead of water has been tested many times. You do have to use 3 eggs, but I’m sure you must have done that since you followed the recipe. It’s disappointing to have a cooking flop at any time, but especially on a special day. Sorry it happened.
Great recipe !
Now turn that BEAUTIFUL cake plate UPSIDE DOWN ! ! ! !
Put shrimps hanging off the edge of the pedastal base with cocktail sauce in it.
Then put a bunch of munchies/appetizers on the plate !
I own 12 cake plates like this just for entertaining !
Even have the 8″ ones to use for individual servings.
Ruby
p.s. Or put cake pops in base, and sweet treats on the plate.
the possibilities are endless !
Hi,
A couple of months ago, after copious online research into cherry cakes, I picked your recipe (the fact we are both named Tiffany may have helped).
I just wanted to let you know that the cake was absolutely wonderful – beautiful color and an incredible taste! Even my husband, who is not a big cherry fan, couldn’t get enough!
Thanks!
Tiffany
I’m glad you liked it 🙂
Hi I was wondering does the cake need to be refrigerated?
It would probably do best in the refrigerator, with the whipped topping on it. But, at my house, I’m not sure there would even be leftovers to store anywhere! 🙂
What adjustments would I have to make to convert this cake recipe to a bread recipe?
I’m not sure. You might try looking for a quick bread recipe that starts with a cake mix. Then use the maraschino cherry juice instead of part of the liquid that recipe calls for.
I made this cake and it was amazing! Highly recommend it.
So I just made this cake, and it looks awesome. Thanks A Lot for this recipe!
Made this cake and it is good but did not have the beautiful color. Did you add red food color?
I didn’t add food coloring, but my mom made the cake and had the same issue. I think maybe different brands of maraschino cherries have more or less red color.
There are a few articles I’ve read warning people that maraschino cherries are carcinogenic. So making a cake out of something that at the end of the day isn’t even a cherry (due to processing and dying and chemicals) isn’t the best thing.
Did u use an 8inch cake pan?
Yes, I think so
Can you use a bunt pan
that should work, but you may need to adjust the bake time.
What size cake mix did you use? I know the cake oz has changed since 2011 and I need to adjust by adding 2/3 c flour or cake mix for other cake mix recipes to turn out. I think the box in picture says 16.25 oz the mixes I have are 15.25 I know it makes a difference on them
Deb – I haven’t made any adjustments to the recipe with the box size change, but it’s good to keep in mind!
Ok so I mix the butter in the cake mix and also the vanilla?
Yes Anita, just mix it right in and bake!
I used this recipe in two 9 inch pans. Put my almond cordial cherry ice cream sandwiched in between the layers and frosted it with red tinted whipped cream. My 11 boys devoured it. Thank you. It took several recipes to find the right flavor.
This is absolutely delicious. It has been our family favorite birthday cake now for a few years. Just wanted you to know!
It would make a wonderful birthday cake!!
My mom made me cherry cake with 7 minute frosting for my birthday most every year at my request. I’m making this one for my friend’s birthday.
Can I use unsalted butter?
This recipe is amazing! We did cupcakes topped with maraschino cherry buttercream icing and they were a huge hit!
I had trouble getting the cake out of the pans even though I greased and floured them and let them cool. I would recommend lining pans with wax paper. The maraschino cherries got chewed up by the beaters so next time I would just stir them in by hand at the end of the mixing. Cake was tasty but crumbly.