This almond cake with cherry buttercream is a super moist cake with a hint of almond flavor, then covered with a creamy, delicious maraschino cherry frosting.
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Hey there! Before you scroll, there’s lot’s of important stuff in the post!…including the FAQ section, which may answer any questions you might have about this recipe. Enjoy!
A while back, I got a request from a YouTube subscriber that I make an almond cake with cherry buttercream. She mentioned it was her favorite cake and it sounded like a great idea to me, so off I went to create it.
The almond cake is based off my favorite vanilla bean cake recipe. It’s virtually the same except you’ll be adding in more almond emulsion.
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Now, I use almond emulsion instead of almond extract because I think it just has a better flavor, but if you only have the extract, that’s totally fine. If you can, you really need to try almond emulsion though. You can really tell the difference when you’ve used this. I use Lorann Oils and you can find that here: Lorann Oils Almond Emulsion
You’ll also add slivered almonds around the base of your cake. So, you’ll have a nice almond flavor inside the cake and a nice crunchiness to the outside.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about cherry buttercream, but I was really surprised at how much I like it. I’ve had things with cherry flavor in it before and I was really afraid it would taste like medicine. That cough syrup taste still sticks in my mind.
Well, that’s not what happened with this buttercream. We’re not using an added cherry flavoring. We’re just using chopped maraschino cherries, so there’s no ‘fake taste’ going on here…just a delicious cherry flavor and a sweet pink tint to the buttercream frosting.
The mixing method for this cake, is the reverse creaming method, so it may be a little different than what you’re used to. Instead of creaming the butter and sugar together, you’ll be adding the butter to the dry ingredients. This makes a super tender cake. It’s so worth it.
When the cake was finally cool, I added the buttercream. I first just added a crumb coat. I let that chill in the fridge for a bit, then added a thicker layer on top and around the cake.
I filled a piping bag and just piped a couple of small buttercream dollops on the top, added some slivered almonds in between and then a cherry on top of each dollop.
Doesn’t this cake look like something out of the 1950s? I don’t know why I think that, but somehow it reminds me of the 50s.
Tips & FAQs for the Almond Cake:
- The mixing method for this cake is a little different, but it’s worth it. It makes for a really tender texture.
- Make sure the butter is almost room temperature (it can be a bit cooler than room temp.) Don’t heat it in the microwave though, you’ll just want it to come to room temp on it’s own, make sure you don’t allow it to get too warm though.
- Cut your butter into chunks before you slowly add it to the dry ingredients.
- What if I don’t have cake flour? Well you’ll get the best results with cake flour, but if you can’t get it, you can substitute with all purpose flour with these changes: For every cup of cake flour called for in the recipe, use one cup of all purpose flour instead and remove two tablespoons of it, then replace that with two tablespoons of cornstarch.
- I don’t have almond emulsion, where do I get those? I have a link in the post above where you can purchase that. If you don’t want to do that, you can always omit the almond emulsion, however you won’t get the almond taste in your cake. You could also use regular almond extract. The taste isn’t quite as good, in my opinion, but it works in a pinch.
- I want a stronger cherry taste in the buttercream, can I add more cherries? Yes you can! Just add them in sparingly though while you’re mixing up your buttercream because the more you add, the thinner your buttercream will be.
- Can I make this into cupcakes? Yep you sure can! There are instructions for how to do that in the recipe card below.
Have a question that wasn’t answered? Feel free to leave it in the comments below.
Now onto the recipe.
Note About Recipe Measurements: I write recipes using volume (cups) measurements because here in the U.S., this is what people are more familiar with and I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated when baking. For metric/weight measurements, click the ‘metric’ button under the ingredients in the recipe card below. The weights are converted by a program, not me, and it’s just a best guess. I can’t guarantee that weighing the ingredients will produce the exact same results, since I test recipes using volume measurements.
Recipe:
Almond Cake with Cherry Buttercream
Ingredients
Almond Cake
- 3 cups cake flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter room temp
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or canola oil)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1 teaspoon almond emulsion or extract
- 3 eggs
- slivered almonds optional – for the base of the cake
Cherry Buttercream
- 1 cup butter room temp
- ¼ teaspoon almond emulsion or extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 6 cups confectioners sugar
- 2 tablespoon milk (or cream)
- ½ cup chopped maraschino cherries
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Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 inch round cake pans.
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl, whisk and set aside.
- In another bowl, combine the sour cream, milk, oil, vanilla, almond and eggs. Mix well with a whisk and set aside.
- Cut your room temperature butter into chunks. Turn your mixer on low and add in the butter little by little into your dry ingredients. Mix on low and then medium until the flour mixture is completely coated with the butter. The mixture will be crumbly and sort of resemble sand.
- Pour in about half of the liquid mixture. Mix on low/medium until just combined.
- Pour in the remaining liquid mixture and mix on low/medium until combined. Be careful not to over mix. You just want to mix until all the ingredients are combined…not for a couple of minutes.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again on medium for only about 10 – 15 seconds.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes.
- Cool in pans on wire racks for about ten minutes, then turn the cake layers out of the pans to cool on the racks until completely cool.
For the buttercream:
- In a bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer on medium.
- Add in the almond and vanilla extracts and beat again on medium until well combined.
- Add in three cups of the confectioners sugar and one tablespoon of milk and beat again on low at first, then switching to medium until well mixed.
- Add in the last three cups of confectioners sugar and one more tablespoon of milk. Beat well on low at first, then switch to medium and beat until well mixed.
- Add in the chopped cherries and mix again until well incorporated.
- Spread icing on cooled cake layers. Pipe icing dollops around the top of the cake and add a cherry to each dollop. Add slivered almonds around the base of the cake.
Notes
Nutrition
How to Share
I’d love for you to share this recipe link or tag it, but please do not share screenshots or copy/paste the recipe to social media as the content and photographs are copyright protected and we (bloggers) work really hard on our content. Sharing the link, tagging us on socials and pinning it is super appreciated though!
If you try this one, let me know how you like it. Personally, I fell in love with that cherry buttercream 🙂
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Items & Tools Used for this Cake:
Autumn
Hello. I wanted to ask is the butter for the cake salted or unsalted? I know on the moist vanilla cake recipe it adds salt and the butter is unsalted. Is this the same for this recipe? Thanks
Kara
Hi Autumn, yes the butter is unsalted and this recipe is basically the vanilla bean cake but with more almond flavor plus the cherry buttercream and almond slices.
Pat
Why can’t I print this recipe would love to have it in my files.
Kara
Hi Pat, I’m not sure what all you’ve tried, but here’s how to do it. Just go to the recipe card, then click print. There should be a new page that pops up…the print page. If it doesn’t, you might have a pop up blocker enabled on your computer. Sometimes those block the print screen coming up. If not, you might need to use another internet browser or clear the cookies on your computer. I tried it on my computer and just asked someone else to try it and it’s allowing both of us to print, so it’s something perhaps with a pop up blocker on your end or maybe the internet browser. If you still have trouble, let me know and I will email you the print version.
Mikayla
the frosting was great! however, my cake turned out really dense….I followed the recipe step by step so I’m not sure where I went wrong. the flavor was really good, it just wasn’t the light fluffy cake I was going for.
Kara
Oh no! I’m sorry it turned out that way. Sometimes when the batter is mixed a little too long or at too high a speed, then a scratch cake can come out dense and/or dry. That may or may not have been the reason in your specific case, but in past experience, that’s generally one of the top reasons for dense cakes. Thanks so much for the feedback!
Rachel
The cake batter was very thick. I followed the recipe to a T but this batter does not pour.
The milk measurement in the buttercream portion of the recipe is way off. I think I used more like 7-8 tablespoons in total.
The cake is dense. I can confirm I did not over mix. The flavor was good.
Kara
Hi Rachel, I’m so sorry you had a bad experience with this recipe. I really don’t know what could have happened. I’ve made this cake many times as well as the frosting and I’ve just not run into these issues. The batter for my cake recipes is generally on the thicker side when compared to box mixes etc, but it still should not have been overly thick or dense. I just can’t say what could have happened. The liquid in the buttercream can be adjusted. I live in a very humid and warm climate, so a lot of times, it just doesn’t take as much here. Again, I’m sorry you had a bad experience and wish I was able to help more, but without being there, it’s really hard for me to guess what happened, but thank you for letting me know.