Cherry Coffee Cake
Tender cherry coffee cake with bursts of fresh cherries, creamy layer of cream cheese, and the most luscious vanilla glaze.
You’re going to fall in love with this easy Cherry Coffee Cake recipe. It’s moist, soft, creamy, and tender with a burst of fresh cherries. To top it off, we drizzle this coffee cake with a luxurious vanilla glaze that is so smooth and pushes this recipe over the top.
Enjoy this cherry coffee cake with a cup of tea for a brunch spread, or a guilty breakfast indulgent treat. If you love summer desserts, try our plum torte.
Reasons to Love This Recipe
The richness of this cake from the buttermilk and sour cream base that’s intertwined with the creamy cheesecake layer is one mouthwatering bite. Plus the fresh flavors of the cherries and creamy vanilla glaze, there’s so much to love about this cherry coffee cake recipe.
- So Moist – For this coffee cake the batter is made with buttermilk and sour cream. This results in an irresistibly moist, rich, yet light cake.
- Easy – For someone who wasn’t always a baker, this easy coffee cake comes together with ease. Just like our icebox cake, there are a few different steps, but this recipe is easy to follow and you’ll be happy you gave it a shot.
- Family-friendly – This may be a guilty indulgence for yourself, and I get that. But the whole family will love this coffee cake with cream cheese glaze. You may want to double the batch!
Ingredients
Grab your mixing bowls, this fresh cherry coffee cake recipe has 5 layers of deliciousness. It starts with a layer of cake batter, followed by the creamy cheese layer, the remaining cake batter, then the cheese layer, followed by the freshest sweet-tart cherries.
Cake Layer
- Dry Ingredients – all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda
- Wet Ingredients – an egg, sour cream, buttermilk, avocado oil, vanilla extract
- Fresh Cherries – pitted and sliced in half.
Cream Cheese Layer
- Cream cheese – use room temperature cream cheese so it is soft enough to blend evenly with the sugar.
- Sugar – the cream cheese layer for this coffee cake works best with granulated sugar or cane sugar.
- Egg – you’ll need one large egg for this layer.
Glaze
- Cream cheese and unsalted butter – These should also be at room temperature.
- Powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract
How to Make Cherry Coffee Cake
This cherry coffee cake with fresh cherries is layers of sweet cake, creamy cheesecake, and fresh chopped cherries. Just a few steps to make one tasty coffee cake.
Preheat the oven and prepare a loaf pan.
For the cake batter: whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together the wet ingredients.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix and beat to combine.
For the cream cheese layer: use a hand mixer or whisk and beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and egg until combined.
Assemble cake: add half of the cake batter to the loaf pan followed by half of the cream cheese mixture. Repeat this with the remaining mixes.
Top with cherries and bake until cooked through.
After the cake has cooled for a few minutes, remove it from the loaf pan to a wire rack to finish cooling.
For the glaze: beat together ingredients and add more milk if needed.
Top cherry coffee cake with glaze, slice and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Use fresh cherries – For the best cherry coffee cake, fresh cherries make a difference! They are sweet and tart. Make sure to buy them only in-season.
- Don’t skip the buttermilk – This does wonders for baking a moist coffee cake. It’s thicker and has a wonderful flavor for the batter. Mixed with sour cream, this is a dense, moist cake with each layer even more inviting than the next.
- Allow to rest – Of course, you can dig right in once you add the glaze, but I must say, letting this cherry sour cream coffee cake rest overnight deepens the flavor and enriches the texture to a moist crumb.
- Double the cream cheese glaze recipe – This glaze is so yummy and can be used in more ways like as a fruit dip or to fill sweet delicate crepes.
Substitutions
Cherry coffee cake with cream cheese is so moist and tender. Each bite is full of the best flavors. Here are a few substitutions you can make for this coffee cake recipe that will still give you tasty results.
- Berries – Instead of cherries you can substitute them for berries. Frozen cherries or berries could also be substituted, but the freshness and texture of the fruit may differ.
- Glaze – For a lighter glaze, you can make one of just powdered sugar, milk, and a splash of lemon juice.
- Buttermilk – No buttermilk on hand? Make your own! Take milk and add a teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes for the milk to curdle.
Variations for Coffee Cake
This is actually a versatile recipe and can be made in different ways. Enjoy this cherry cheese coffee cake by adding and building on this already delicious sweet bread.
- Add a crumble – Mix together flour, sugar, brown sugar, and melted butter, and top the cherry loaf cake with a streusel topping. No need to alter the baking time.
- Cherry cream cheese filling – Add chopped cherries to the cream cheese mixture for even more cherry flavor.
- Bake as muffins – Use a muffin pan lined with parchment paper to make muffin coffee cake bites. You can switch up the fruit on each muffin for a variety of flavors to enjoy during the week. Reduce baking time to about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Storage
Store at room temperature, covered, for 1-2 days.
If stored in the refrigerator after baking, keep in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.
Freezing – freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator and then on the counter to room temperature.
More Sweet Loaf Bread Recipes
- Sour Cream Apple Coffee Cake
- Pumpkin Loaf Bread
- Zucchini Buttermilk Bread
- Swiss Braided Bread
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
For more summer desserts, try our Strawberry Shortcake Cake.
PrintCherry Coffee Cake
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10–12 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Tender cherry coffee cake with bursts of fresh cherries, creamy layer of cream cheese, and the most luscious vanilla glaze.
Ingredients
Cake Layer
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup pitted and halved fresh cherries
Cream Cheese Layer
- 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
Glaze
- 2 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp. milk
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a traditional loaf pan. Set aside.
- Prepare the cake layer by whisking together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the egg, sour cream, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla just until combined. Add dry ingredients gradually to the wet and beat to combine. Set aside.
- Prepare the cream cheese layer by beating the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and egg; beat just until combined.
- To assemble the cake, add half of the cake batter into the prepared loaf pan. Spread half of the cream cheese mixture over the cake batter. Add remaining cake batter and then the remaining cream cheese. You will have four separate layers when finished. Sprinkle the cherry halves over the top and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool for 5-8 minutes at room temperature before removing it to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the coffee cake is cooling, prepare the glaze by beating together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Add more milk as needed to suit your taste and consistency of the glaze.
- Drizzle glaze over the cooled cake. Slice and enjoy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 332
- Sugar: 23.5 g
- Sodium: 183.1 mg
- Fat: 19.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 34.9 g
- Protein: 5.5 g
- Cholesterol: 73.6 mg
This coffee cake was very tasty. I did not have a 9×5 pan so I used an 8×8 square pan. It was delicious. I used one can of cherry pie filling on top and one layer with the cream cheese swirled in.
Totally agree with other reviewers that this coffee cake is nice and moist! I think part of that is that the cake doesn’t totally cook at the suggested bake time. Even at 50-55 minutes, my cake was partially unbaked in the middle (which is totally tasty but heads up if you’re looking for a different texture). I made this to use up an abundance of fresh tart cherries and probably doubled the fruit, which was well worth it. I didn’t add lemon extract or zest, but agree with another reviewer that it would have really accented the flavors.
If I make this again, I’ll skip the cream cheese glaze, which is too soft (it never “sets”) and doesn’t drizzle well. A simple powdered sugar/milk glaze would have a much better texture and keep better at room temperature, plus it’s much prettier drizzled on top.
Really loved this recipe. I only made two changes … I used cherries and blueberries (both frozen, couldn’t find fresh). The second change was to the cream cheese glaze. I felt there was already a lot of vanilla flavoring going on so instead of vanilla extract I added maybe a 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract. Wow, that small amount of lemon flavor really brightened up the whole cake. I will be making this again and next time I will make sure I have lemons so I can add lemon zest. My son said this was so good that I’m not allowed to make it again … LOL.
Thank you Frankie. Happy to hear you enjoyed it.
I love baking and this is a great addition to my rotation, so delicious!
This recipe looks awesome. What size is “traditional loaf pan”? Thank you.
Thank you! I used 9″ x 5″ x 2 1/2″ loaf pan.
Thanks so much! Hope you get a chance to try some out.
Does this cake need to be stored refrigerated?
It can be stored at room temperature for up to 1-2 days, covered, but after that, I would recommend refrigerating it.
*Thanks!!!!!!!
This is a very VERY deliiiicious coffee cake!!!! Thanks????????????????
I’m so glad you enjoyed the coffee cake Lana! Thanks for your feedback. Have a great weekend!
Could you use frozen cherries instead of fresh?
Yes but I would thaw out and drain them really well to get rid of any unnecessary moisture.
I made this cake today and it was fantastic! With cherries in season right now and Greek cream cheese on sale, it’s perfect. I would certainly use this recipe with other fruits in season. Can’t wait to see what other recipes you have. Thank you!
I’m glad you liked the cake Debbie! You can definitely do any other fruits in season and I bet it would taste as good. Thank you for your feedback! Have a great evening.
What a stunning cake! I’m in love with that gorgeous swirl!
Thanks so much Sam!
Hey Katya, Its delicious soft creamy coffee cake and i always to take this with tea or coffee, Lovely dish and thanks for sharing such a great recipe.
Thank you Janine! I like mine with tea as well..or just is 🙂
This cake looks incredible! I love all the layers. The cream cheese layers gives the cake such creaminess. Fantastic job, Katya!
Thanks so much Thao!It’s super moist and creamy and I love it too 🙂
Could I substitute blackberries for the cherries?
Definitely! I think any fruit will work just fine here.
Can I use mini loaf pans?
If so, about how long should I bake?
Thanks
Hi Jackie: I haven’t tried this recipe in mini loaf pans but from previous experience with other recipes, I usually reduce the temperature to 325 F and start at 25 minutes and then test the cake. I would first do a test batch and then bake the rest. Hope that helps and let me know how they turn out for you!