Cherry Layer Cake

The Cherry Layer Cake cupcake with Cherry Buttercream

This past week I’ve been in the test kitchen in search of a delicious Cherry Layer Cake.  There are amazing cherry cake recipes on-line and in recipe books.  Most present as a type of pound cake or Sunday morning coffee cake. 

I was looking for a layer cake, couldn’t find it, and struck out on my own.

Riffing from a combination of my Classic Vanilla Cake and my favorite White Cake recipes, the Cherry Layer Cake was born.

Desk of the Sugary Shrink...and some of the notes.

Typically, I tweak the ratio of ingredients or add/subtract one or two items.  In this case, I was all over the map.  Truth be told, I could bake another 10 cakes and likely fiddle with the proportions. 

I worked with plain yogurt, cherry flavored yogurt, and cherry buttermilk.  The buttermilk won out - this is a flavor available in most markets here in Germany.  It adds great taste and wonderful texture.  This product may be difficult to find in the states, so I figured out the adjustments necessary to work with cherry yogurt instead (check out the recipe link for details and a picture).

I hardly ever miss an opportunity to use my Fiesta Ware dishes.

And I’ve only been working with fresh Bing cherries (chopped, quartered, and halved).  I can’t wait to work with canned cherry pie filling, candied cherries (typically seen in holiday fruit cake), cherries in a can, and waiting-not-so-patiently…the cherry chip layer cake.

When I bake the triple-layer cake and smother it with buttercream, I'll post more pictures.  In the meantime, I'll be working on the cherry marmalade and cream cheese recipe for filling these little beauties.

For now, I am happy with the results.  And it’s not perfect.  Go me!