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Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze. A moist vanilla scratch cake baked on top of sweet dark cherries then glazed with cream cheese frosting. Delicious at a celebration brunch but good enough to serve as a decadent dessert too, especially while still warm.

Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake close up photo of a single slice on a white plate

Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze.

What better way to welcome the weekend than this moist, delicious Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake for breakfast or brunch.

The coffee cake is prepared as an upside-down cake and then generously drizzled with a very simple cream cheese glaze. You can use fresh cherries if they are in season or simply use frozen as I did here.

Bowl of cherries for Black Forest Pie

Use fresh or frozen cherries in this recipe.

The moist buttery cake is so delicious when combined with the sweet cherries and luscious cream cheese glaze. A cake this good shouldn’t be limited to brunch though, I think it would make a spectacular dessert at any great home cooked meal.

Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake close up photo of finished uncut cake on a white cake plate

Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze.

This is a cake that I love to use for special occasion bunches too. It really impresses at Holidays like Easter or for Mothers Day.

A weekend brunch on the week of Valentine’s Day is also a very fitting occasion. Your sweetheart will love you for making this!

Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake photo of single slice with title text added for Pinterest

For even more delicious ideas for brunch, we have put them together into one amazing collection of our 25 Best Scone Recipes.

25 Best Scone Recipes image with title text for Pinterest

Originally published February 2013. Updated May 2020.

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Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake photo of uncut cake with title text added for Pinterest

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Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake close up photo of a single slice on a white plate
Yield: 16 servings, approximately

Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Cherry Vanilla Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze - a most vanilla scratch cake baked on top of sweet dark cherries then glazed with cream cheese frosting. Delicious at a celebration brunch but good enough to serve as a decadent dessert too, especially while still warm.

Ingredients

For the Cherry Vanilla Cake

  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp corn starch
  • 3 cups fresh or frozen pitted cherries
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • ½ cup melted butter
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup whole milk, , at room temperature
  • 2 tbsp vanilla extract

For the Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

  • 2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
  • 4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 a standard Philadelphia brand block)
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2-3 tsp milk

Instructions

  1. Grease and flour a 10 inch round cake pan very well and preheat oven to 355 degrees F. A large 9 or 10 inch tube pan or an 9x9 square baking pan can also be used.
  2. Toss together the ⅓ cup sugar and corn starch and sprinkle over the cherries. Toss together well and spread evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
  3. To prepare the cake batter begin by sifting together the flour baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the eggs, sugar at high speed until very foamy.
  5. Mix together the butter, 2 tbsp vanilla extract and vegetable oil in a measuring cup with a spout.
  6. Slowly add this butter and oil mixture to the egg and sugar mixture as it continues to beat.
  7. Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk. When alternating wet and dry ingredients, always begin and end with the dry mixture. Here I folded in the flour in three divisions and the milk in two divisions.
  8. Pour the batter over the cherries in the baking pan.
  9. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The toothpick test is definitely the best way to ensure this cake is fully baked.
  10. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack (or onto a serving plate if you plan to serve it warm).
  11. Remove the pan and allow the cake to cool down completely before drizzling on the glaze (or at least for 20 minutes if you plan to serve it warm).

To prepare the Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

  1. Beat all ingredients together very well in an electric mixer until very smooth. Add more or less milk to get the glaze to the proper consistency which should be relatively thick but not quite pourable.
  2. Spoon the glaze into a piping bag and drizzle over the cake. ( A Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off will work just as well.)

Nutrition Information

Yield

16

Serving Size

1 slice

Amount Per Serving Calories 386Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 70mgSodium 221mgCarbohydrates 55gFiber 1gSugar 41gProtein 4g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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Lisa

Sunday 19th of November 2017

Hello, I am looking to make this cake again and I cannot remember if I thawed the cherries first or not. I did have it be very wet though and I believe I had to increase the baking time. Did you put them in frozen or thawed? Any suggestions to not have it be so wet? Thank you!

George

Sunday 1st of April 2018

Hi, I used frozen cherries and it needed about 75 minutes to be done. At about 55 min it LOOKS done but is still very wet inside. I loosely covered it with foil and kept it in for another 20 min. Came out perfect!

Lisa

Wednesday 23rd of November 2016

When you use frozen cherries, do you thaw them first? Will it make it too wet if you don't?

Barry C. Parsons

Thursday 6th of June 2013

Sure. That's what I've used here.

Anonymous

Thursday 6th of June 2013

I love cherries! This looks amazing!is it okay to use a springform pan?

Barry C. Parsons

Saturday 16th of February 2013

Thanks so much Sue! Hope you enjoy it when you try it.

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