Cherry Almond Breakfast Cake

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Moist and tender with a sweet crackly top, our Cherry Almond Breakfast Cake is a great way to enjoy the short and delicious cherry season!

We just can’t help ourselves. We adore simple little cakes loaded with fresh fruit! Cherries are absolutely perfect in this kind of cake because of their firm, but juicy texture, size and flavor. The cherries don’t melt away and disappear into the cake so you’ll get plenty of flavor in every bite. With hints of almond from the extract and sliced almond topping, this simple, no-mixer required cake has received great reviews and numerous recipe requests.

Lightly sweetened breakfast cakes made with fresh seasonal fruit are a welcome treat in our house.

No matter what time of year, I bet you can find a delicious, single layer breakfast cake in our archives to fit your needs. Blueberry Breakfast Cake has always been a favorite that everyone loves, as well as our Lemon Crumble Breakfast Cake. All our breakfast cakes are easy to make, with no mixer required! Some have a rich sour cream batter, while others are made with buttermilk and we even have one made with raspberries and ricotta cheese. Scroll through our CAKE archives to see all our simple and delicious cake recipes. They’re perfect for any time of day, but especially wonderful served slightly warm for brunch with tea or coffee.

Our Cherry Almond Breakfast Cake has a terrific texture that starts with a rich batter that’s thick enough to support chopped fruit.

While folding together the dry and wet ingredients, you may think the mixture is too dry. But that’s not the case! Keep folding the batter gently and it will come together. It will seem thick, but that’s okay. It bakes up moist and light and is just right for holding the fruit in place. You won’t find all the fruit at the bottom of this cake!

We bake this thick cake in a springform pan for easy removal and a pretty presentation.

Most of our breakfast cakes are made in an 8-inch springform pan but if you don’t have one, no worries. You can use a 9-inch springform pan, or square baking pan, they’ll work fine too.  If using a 9-inch cake pan it must be extra-deep. If baking in a 9-inch pan you can increase the oven temperature to 350F and bake for a shorter time. We bake the thicker 8-inch cake at a lower temperature (325F) to ensure the middle fully bakes before the outside dries out. While the cake will be in the oven for over an hour, this slower bake time is needed to ensure even baking throughout.

Change it up and add chocolate chips!

The little ones love the cherry-chocolate combo, and well, I do too 🙂 Mini chocolate chips are a great addition to this cherry cake recipe. Omit the almond extract, sliced almond topping and Kirsch, and fold in 1 cup of mini semisweet chocolate chips. Top with a few extra chocolate chips before baking and that’s it. The mini chips are just enough to give you a nice pop of flavor which pairs perfectly with the cherries. I think you’re going to love this cake and I can’t wait to hear what you think!

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Cherry Almond Breakfast Cake

Prep Time: 45 minutes mins

Cook Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time: 2 hours hrs

Yield: 8

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert

Author: Tricia

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5 from 4 votes

Moist and tender with a sweet crackly top.

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, divided
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup chopped fresh cherries (*see note) plus 1/2 cup halved cherries for top
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream (8-ounces)
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 tablespoons Kirsch (optional, cherry brandy)
• 2 tablespoons

  sliced almonds for topping


• 2 teaspoons coarse or granulated sugar for topping

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Turn the base of an 8-inch springform pan upside down so you can easily slide the cake onto a serving platter. Line the bottom with a round piece of parchment paper, then lightly spray the pan with vegetable cooking spray. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl whisk together 2 cups of the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and ¾ cup of granulated sugar. Make a well in the center and set aside.
• In a small bowl combine 1 cup of the chopped cherries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Toss to coat. Set aside
• In a separate small mixing bowl lightly whisk the eggs. Add the sour cream, melted cooled butter, vanilla, almond extract and the Kirsch, if using. Fold together with a rubber spatula until blended. There may be some small sour cream lumps, this is okay. Add the sour cream mixture to the flour and sugar. Fold together until the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter will be very thick and at first you may not think there is enough liquid. Keep folding gently until it comes together.
• Gently fold in the 1-cup of chopped cherries and any extra flour left in the bowl. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Allow the unbaked cake to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before baking.
• While the unbaked cake is resting scatter the remaining ½ cup of halved cherries on top, then sprinkle with sliced almonds and 2 teaspoons coarse or granulated sugar. Bake at 325°F for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with no wet batter; moist crumbs are good. The top should be golden brown.
• Cool for 15 before removing the sides of the pan. Continue to cool on a wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature. Delicious served warm with a dollop of whipped cream. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Recipe Notes

* To prepare the cherries, remove the pit and cut each cherry in half. Cut each half into 4 pieces which is a great size for the fruit in this cake. The cherries placed on top of the unbaked cake can be cut in half for a pretty presentation.

• This recipe has not been tested with frozen cherries but it should be fine.
• Change it up by adding 1 cup mini-semisweet chocolate chips and omit the almond extract. Chocolate Cherry Breakfast Cake is a kid favorite!
• To bake in a 9-inch pan, reduce the baking time to 50-60 minutes and increase the oven temperature to 350F.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. When multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Nutrition

Calories: 417kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 86mg | Sodium: 353mg | Potassium: 164mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 604IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 132mg | Iron: 2mg

Here are a few more cherry recipes you might enjoy:

Classic Cherry Clafoutis (pronounced “klafuti”) is a traditional French dessert with a thick, rich, eggy custard and plenty of fresh cherries. Click HERE to get the easy recipe for Cherry Clafoutis.

This summer churn up a batch of our homemade fresh Cherry Ice Cream with dark chocolate! Click HERE to get the recipe for our Cherry Ice Cream.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Tricia