Almond Cake with Spiced Roasted Cherries

This gorgeous almond cake with spiced roasted cherries and cream cheese frosting brings together all your favorite flavors in one unforgettable slice.

Ingredients

• Almond extract: Provides the signature almond flavor that complements the almond flour. It's concentrated, so a little goes a long way. Without it, you'd lose the distinctive nutty taste that makes this an "almond cake" rather than just a cake with almond flour.
• Greek yogurt: Adds moisture and tanginess while keeping the cake tender. The acidity in yogurt also helps activate the leavening agents and creates a finer crumb structure.
• Super fine almond flour: Creates the cake's rich, nutty flavor and moist, dense texture. The "super fine" grind ensures smooth incorporation without grittiness, giving you a refined texture rather than a coarse, rustic one.
• Cherries: Provide a tart-sweet contrast to the rich almond cake and cut through the sweetness of the frosting.
• Honey: Acts as a natural sweetener for the cherries while helping them caramelize during roasting.
• Cardamom: Brings warm, aromatic complexity to the roasted cherries. This spice has floral and slightly citrusy notes that pair beautifully with both almonds and cherries.
• Cream cheese: Forms the base of the frosting, providing tangy richness that balances the sweet cake.

Substitutions and variations

• Fruit: Try this recipe with another fruit, such as strawberries, peaches, or plums, adjusting the roasting time accordingly.
• Spices: You can switch up the spices for the fruit, replacing them with a combination of cloves, allspice, or even star anise.
• Citrus: Add lemon or orange zest for a subtle citrus flavor.
• Gluten-free: Substitute flour with gluten-free all-purpose flour.

Recipe

Print Recipe

Almond Cake with Spiced Roasted Cherries

Total Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cake

Servings: 12

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Almond cake

• ½ cup butter, softened at room temperature (113 grams)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt (57 grams)
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (180 grams)
• 1 ½ cups super fine almond flour (180 grams)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk (250 ml)

Spiced roasted cherries

• 4 cups pitted cherries
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon cardamom
• pinch of nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream cheese frosting

• ½ cup butter, softened at room temperature (113 grams)
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 3 cups powdered sugar (360 grams)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Remaining ingredients

• ¼ cup toasted sliced almonds (23 grams)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
• Make the almond cake. Cream together softened butter with granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, and Greek yogurt, stirring to combine.
• Combine the dry ingredients including all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add ⅓ of dry ingredients to the cake batter followed by ½ of the milk. Add another ⅓ of the dry ingredients, followed by the remaining milk, then the remaining dry ingredients.
• Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
• Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F.
• Gently toss the pitted cherries with honey, cinnamon, cardamom, a pinch of nutmeg, and vanilla extract. Spread the cherries on a lined baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes or until softened. Cool completely.
• Make the cream cheese frosting. Beat together softened butter with cream cheese until well combined. Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract and beat until creamy.
• Spread the cream cheese frosting on the almond cake and top with roasted cherries. Sprinkle sliced almonds, slice, and serve.

Video

Notes

You can use fresh or frozen cherries.

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Make cake batter

Every fruit has a list of ingredients that it best pairs with. Cherries pair exceptionally well with almonds, so I decided to make an almond cake. Use a combination of all-purpose flour and superfine almond flour for the base and add your standard baking ingredients, including sugar, milk, butter, and eggs.

I prefer using blanched super-fine almond flour as opposed to unblanched almond flour because of its lighter texture. Unblanched almond flour or almond meal still has the almond skins, making a denser flour. Denser flour means denser cake.

Add the wet ingredients and dry ingredients to the batter, alternating between the two.

Why can't we just add all of the flour at once or the milk? If you add all the dry ingredients at once, you can over-mix the batter, trying to incorporate all of the flour. Overmixing flour will activate the gluten and yield a tough cake. If you add all of the milk at once, it can cause the creamed butter and sugar to separate. There's a reason for everything!

Step 2: Roast cherries

Pour the cake batter into a 9x13-inch baking dish and spread it in an even layer. You can also create a layered cake and use two 8x8-inch round cake pans.

Bake the cake until it's golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

While the cake is cooling, make the spiced roasted cherries. All you have to do is pit some cherries and toss them with honey, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and vanilla.

Roast the fruit until softened and jammy. You might want to make a double batch of these cherries and top them on...everything...

Step 3: Decorate cake

Cool the cherries and make the final component, the cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese frosting is probably my favorite type of frosting. It's rich, it's perfectly sweet, and it's so easy to make. Just beat together softened butter with cream cheese and add powdered sugar and vanilla.

Frost the cake and top it with the prepared cherries. For the finishing touch, sprinkle toasted sliced almonds on top.

And there you have it, folks! Enjoy this almond cake with spiced roasted cherries and cream cheese frosting with a cup of joe or after dinner for a special treat. A beautiful, elegant dessert that has so many layers of flavors!

For another lovely cake recipe, check out this blackberry lavender chiffon cake and roasted strawberry mousse cake!

Make-ahead and storage

• Make-ahead: The unfrosted cake can be made 1-2 days ahead and stored covered at room temperature. The roasted cherries can also be made ahead and refrigerated. Add the frosting and toppings just before serving.
• Store: Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days due to the cream cheese frosting. Bring to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving for the best flavor.

Frequently asked questions

More cherry desserts

Looking for more cherry dessert ideas? Try these: