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. Early in this thread (several years ago) you mention using cherry cake for a wedding cake. My sister would really like this for her wedding next May. How do you construct it? How much batter, layers etc. ? Thanks so much.
That's impossible to answer. You don't mention the size of the cake. Is a professional decorator constructing it?
Yes. A professional will make the cake (in Halifax). There will be about 100 guests. That's as far as we've gotten in cake planning other than that she would love a cherry cake!
Your cake decorator should be able to answer those questions specifically but as a general rule this cake can be directly stacked 3 tiers high with no structural support needed as the cakes are quite dense. For 100 people I'd probably go with 12, 8 and 6 inch tiers.
Love the cake, great texture, but I baked mine in a square springform pan and needed 1.5 hours, at 1 hour it was still wet in the centre. I guess loaf pans would be 45 mins.
This recipe sounds really delicious. I,m gonna try it tomorrow
The perfect cake for Christmas.
Hi Barry. I definitely want to try this cake tomorrow! Have you ever tried basting the cake with, say, kirsch after baking? If so, would you recommend it? Thanks in advance!
A little is fine but not nearly as much as for a heavy fruitcake. You have to be careful with cakes that are more cake than fruit. It can get soggy. I'd just use Kirsh soaked cheesecloth to wrap it and then plastic wrap to seal it.
I made this cake last Christmas using lukewarm eggnog instead of evaporated milk and it was delicious!!! I just made another one using the eggnog again and it's still a hit....also I used more vanilla and omitted the almond extract..yum!!!
Great idea!
Any suggestions on baking time for a much smaller pan? I have a Wilton mini loaf pan that makes 8 mini loaves, and I wanted to make this in that pan but not sure how to scale down the baking time without drying out the cakes too much. Hoping to give these as part of my Christmas baking gifts, so any assistance is greatly appreciated! TY
Baking time is something you have to judge for yourself the first time. Watch and see when it browns on top then check the tooth pick test every 5-10 min until you get the time right. Then be sure to write it down doer next time.
Hey Barry can I use cream cheese as a substitute because I have everything in storage now and my recipe is a bit different although I love yours also.I am a NL also my recipe came from Bell Island and it's very moist because of the cream cheese.Thanks can't wait to hear from you.😇
Look at the Cherry pecan cake recipe here. That's made with cream cheese.
will be trying this for Christmas this year. but I was looking for an orange pudding my aunts would make for Christmas. I have tried using a pudding mix and adding orange juice but not the same. being it's a recipe from the 1930s I would imagine it to be very simple as we only got oranges around Christmas. anyone know the recipe let me know. dhbishop@hotmail.com
thanks
Do you mean an orange flavoured pudding, like a custard type milk & egg pudding? Not like a figgy pudding.
Hi, I want to make this recipe Nd just noticed I don't have any tin milk.... can u substitute fresh milk instead of the evaporated?
Yes, it will still bake nicely but not quite as rich tasting.
As was stated in the opening comments regarding this recipe there are many variations of this cake. However,I like lots of cherries and so I use two pounds. Also, I add a teaspoon of strawberry or cherry extract and a teaspoon of lemon juice or lemon extract. Everyone I have given this cake just loves it.
hi there. great recipe! your thoughts on using partridgeberries instead of cherries? IM THINKING OF OMITTING THE ALMOND AND USING MORE VANILLa?
Sounds interesting. Should work fine.
Judith Levesque December 30, 2016 at 5:57 am - Reply
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Hi Barry,
I was just wondering in your response to Dee….
Do you have a recipe for the orange flavored pudding – like a custard type milk & egg pudding? Not figgy pudding.
If you or your readers know of this recipe, I would LOVE to have it….
I also LOVE this Cherry Cake recipe!!! 😉
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!
Judi
I've never heard of that one to be honest but perhaps someone will chime in. Happy New Year!
The pudding you are talking about sounds a lot like a dessert my nanny makes called fog.its jello made wth hot milk instead of water.the milk gives a custard feel to it.
Wonderful, tasty recipe! I made this cake last night and we cut into it and tried somw today and it's delightful! Thank you for sharing it! For me the recipe yielded a small Bundt and a loaf. Also, I had half red and half green glace cherries leftover from the holidays so my cakes look like Christmas. I'm sure they will be gone fast!
Hi there, I am looking for a very similar recipe from Newfoundland that contains pineapple and shredded coconut. Could I use this recipe as a base and then add the coconut an de pineapple?
Thank you very much!
Sounds interesting. I might give that a try myself.
Hi Barry, I was just wondering why sometime it takes the top of a cherry cake to bake. When I bake it in a tube pan , I always have trouble with the top centre baking properly. I leavecu in a bit late night but somtimes the side get a bit dry whilst trying to get the top to cook.
I think you must have a very large tub pan or your oven temp is off. Have you tried using a slightly lower temp? A taller skinnier tube pan or large bundt pan might be helpful too.