Newfoundland Cherry Cake
Newfoundland Cherry Cake. A big local favourite especially during the Holidays. The secret in this recipe is undiluted evaporated milk for added richness.
Originally posted on December 3, 2007.
2026 Note added to recipe regarding doubling the recipe and baking in disposable aluminum pans.
Back to Christmas baking with a perennial favourite, Newfoundland Cherry Cake . Another very popular treat at this time of the year is the "Cherry Cake".
A moist, dense pound cake with glacé cherries and flavoured with almond extract, this treat is a universal Christmas favourite in almost every Newfoundland household I know.
I can't tell you how many different recipes I've tried over the years for Newfoundland Cherry Cake. Recipes that use cake flour, recipes that use regular flour, recipes that use thick cream, recipes that use whipping cream, recipes that use whole milk, all butter recipes, recipes that combine shortening and butter.
I've tried them all and still keep coming back to this standard recipe that I've made for decades. It's hard to imagine a Christmas in our home without it.
This is also a popular gift item from our household. There is a list of standard recipients among friends and family who depend upon their annual fix.
UPDATE.
One of our biggest dessert cake hits of the year was taking this recipe and adapting it to use fresh cherries. We made it several times during the summer and our family & friends just loved it. Find that Cherry Cake Recipe here.
If you like this recipe, be sure to check out our entire collection of Favourite Newfoundland Christmas Cakes here.
Newfoundland Cherry Cake is a must to have on hand in the freezer or for Holiday gift giving.
If you like this cake you will probably also recognize our very popular recipe for Apricot Raisin Cake. And for even more Newfoundland favourite Christmas Cake recipes click here.
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Newfoundland Style Cherry Cake – a traditional Christmas favorite
Newfoundland Cherry Cake is a big local favourite especially during the Holidays. The secret in this recipe is undiluted evaporated milk for added richness.
Ingredients
- 1 pound chopped glace cherries (About 2 ½ cups) + ¼ cup flour
- 1 ½ cups butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup lukewarm, undiluted evaporated milk
Instructions
- Rinse the cherries in a colander to remove any syrup that they may have been stored in. Pat them day between layers of paper towels.This step helps prevent the cherries sinking into the batter as well. Depending on their size, cut them into halves or quarters and set aside for later. They will get tossed in ¼ cup of flour later but not until just before they are folded into the batter.
- Cream together the butter and sugar well.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.
- Sift together the 3 cups of flour and baking powder.
- Fold dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the lukewarm milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. As a general rule, I add the dry ingredients in 3 portions and the milk in 2 portions.
- Fold in the chopped glace cherries that have been tossed at the last minute in the ¼ cup flour.
- Bake in greased and floured spring form pan, tube pan or two 9x5 inch loaf pans, lined with parchment paper. ( If you like, you can make this recipe in 3 disposable 8x4 inch pans by adjusting the ingredient amounts. See NOTES section below for the correct ingredients amounts, which are about ⅓ more than the standard recipe amounts.)
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes - 1 hour depending upon the size of your cake pan/s. (Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes - 1 hour depending upon the size of your pan.
- Baking times vary greatly on this recipe so rely on the toothpick test to ensure that it is properly baked. When a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, its done. Be careful not to go past this stage or the cake will be dry.
- Let the cake cool in the pan/s for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
To make five 8x4 inch loaf cakes, simple double the recipe above and use the same disposable loaf pans as mentioned below.
To make just three, 8x4 inch loaf cakes, use the ingredient amounts below. ( I buy disposable aluminum loaf pans at the dollar store, supermarket, or Walmart for this and use them several times before recycling them.)
21 ounce chopped glace cherries (about 3 ½ cups) + ⅓ cup flour
2 cups butter
2 ⅔ cups sugar
4 eggs
2 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ teaspoon almond extract
4 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 ⅓ cups lukewarm, undiluted evaporated milk
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Nutrition Information
Yield
32Serving Size
32 Servings (1 large cake or 2 smaller 8x4 inch loaves)Amount Per Serving Calories 199Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 43mgSodium 107mgCarbohydrates 25gFiber 1gSugar 15gProtein 3g
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.
Hi Barry!! I wanted to let you know that I made this recipe, as part of my holiday baking this year. It was a big hit - so thank you!!
I do have one question -- i used a standard-sized loaf pan. Quite a bit of the batter bubbled over during cooking, even though there was about an inch of space between top of batter, and edge of pan. (I thought I had enough room. Heh!!) Do you usually make two loaves with this recipe? What are the best sized pans to use, and how filled should they be?
Thanks!!!
Hi Barry. I posted a question on 29th Dec., so thought I would check back concerning pan sizes. Would love to hear your input before I make the recipe again. Thanks so much, and sorry to trouble you!
I do make two loaves out of this recipe. They are not terribly large pans, just standard size. I sometimes make them in disposable aluminum loaf pans and can sometimes get 3 smaller loaves which is great for giving as gifts but watch your baking time. They will bake up faster.
Thanks so much, Barry! 🙂
My cousin made this cake for Christmas and it was super delicious!!! I am planning on making it today!!
This recipe has consistently great reviews. Hope you enjoy baking it yourself.
I just made this a few days ago... used a tube pan and it turned out perfect, and it's delicious! Thanks
So glad you enjoyed it. So many people raved about this recipe this past Holiday season. It is a keeper.
I've never been a big fan of cherry cake - but this one is awesome! So good that I had to make two this past Christmas because my husband and I ate the first one before Chriatmas even arrived, LOL! It is delicious!!
The exact same thing happened at our house Lisa...and much more quickly than Spouse and I would like to admit. 🙂
I would like to have this receive book. With your favorite recipes. Where do I buy it? Helen
Where are you located Helen?
hi Barry
I'm about to make this but wondered if I needed to rinse and dry the cherries then coat in flour to avoid sinking or just coat the sticky glacé cherries directly in flour to the mix?
Thanks in advance.
I've only recently seen this done, on a UK baking show actually but it does make some sense to me. We just never did it when I grew up baking. I'm planning to try that method myself though next time.
Hi, can I use margarine instead of butter?
Your choice but when it comes to baking, my motto has always been "butter is better". NEVER use soft spreadable margarine for baking though, that's asking for trouble.
This is so close to the recipe that I"m looking for! Except the one that I used to make out of my mom cook book (can't get it now) used creamcheese in the batter as well. If I can't find it I'll go back to this one, but I am so looking forward to that cake.
There's a Cherry Pecan Cake here that uses that batter. You could just omit the pecans if you like and use glace cherries instead of the maraschinos.
If not using the Almond Extract would you use 4 tsp of vanilla or something less?
Just omit it.
I think my post got lost. I wanted to know what size are the aluminum disposable pans that you use, Barry. I have two sizes and not sure which ones to use.
They are about 8x4
the 1st time I made the cherry cake I mixed it by hand, it turned out great. When I made it again I used a stand mixer, the cake took 1 hour and 30 minutes to bake. Once baked it was too sweet and crumbly. What could have caused this problem?
I think you may have made an error with the sugar amount. I've never experienced this in the many times I've made it.
I have made this twice in the past couple of weeks. Absolutely wonderful! I bake it in my bundt pan; the first time, I did not grease and flour enough, so it stuck (but still tasted great!). I also (out of laziness) did not cut the cherries the first time - much better the second time.
I make a lot of both dark and light Christmas cake, but this will definitely be on the table for Christmas brunch - and I will continue to make it year round!!
Want to make this cake ,can I use hard block margarine instead of butterr, thanks for sharing
Butter is always better for baking. I never use anything but the real thing.
Made this recipe,turned out lovely. However, I found it a bit too sweet. I will try again and cut back to 1 1/2 cups sugar instead of 2.
I Am so excited to make this! I am pretty sure this is the cake my grandma made me every year! I couldnt find the recipe in her recipe books so fingers crossed this tastes like grandmas!
I have a fancy Christmas bundt pan i bought and wanted to try it with this. so I dont think I could use parchment. should i just spray it with pam and dust with flour??
I don't use spray. I'm old school and use a pastry brush to paint the inside of my cold bundt pan with melted butter until it hardens and then dust with flour. I even put the bundt pan in the fridge for a few minutes first. I find this method best for intricate patterened bundt pans.