sour cherry bundt cake

sour cherry bundt cake

• 12 Jan 2026

Christmas in Australia heralds the start of the cherry season. I just love cherries and since their arrival in the shops, I've treated myself to a few bags. With some leftover dried sour cherries from Christmas plus fresh cherries in the fridge I wondered if there was a recipe out there which combined both cherry types in a single cake.

I found a recipe online from Signe Johansen which looked promising but when I looked closely, the quantity of butter in the recipe had been omitted. I used the recipe as my starting point and took it from there. I baked the cake in a small bundt tin but you could always bake the cake in a floured 17cm tin lined with baking paper. The cake would need to bake a bit longer, probably an hour or so.

I decided to glaze the cake and made the icing using some of reserved soaking liquid. The icing was coloured the most vibrant cherry pink hue and of course I had to top the cake with a few fresh cherries.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a small bundt cake or a 17cm cake. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Sour Cherry Bundt Cake, inspired by Signe Johansen

Cake goo
10g softened butter
10g neutral oil
10g plain flour

Ingredients
50g dried sour cherries
50g pitted and halved cherries, fresh or frozen (I used frozen sour cherries)
50 mls lemon juice or boiling water 

112g refined spelt flour (or plain flour) plus extra for dusting
¾ tsp baking powder
pinch fine sea salt
30g almond meal
100g room temperature unsalted butter 
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
60 ml buttermilk, yoghurt or sour cream

Glaze
75g icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbs reserved cherry liquid 
6 fresh cherries (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 180⁰C, conventional. To make the cake goo, combine the ingredients in a small bowl and mix until it forms a smooth paste. Using a pastry brush, thoroughly coat the inside of a 1.2 litre bundt cake tin with the cake goo. Place the cake tin to the fridge while you prepare the batter.

Place the dried sour cherries in a bowl and cover them with lemon juice or boiling water. I used lemon juice and warmed it in the microwave on 'high' for 30 seconds. Set aside to steep for an hour or overnight.

Sift the flour, baking powder and sea salt into a separate bowl and stir through the almond meal, removing any lumps in the process.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter with the caster sugar for about 5-8 minutes or until pale and fluffy, then add one of the eggs along with a spoonful of the flour mixture and beat again until the egg is fully incorporated. Repeat the process with the remaining egg and then add the remaining flour mixture. Gently fold in the flour along with the vanilla extract and buttermilk. Stir until the mixture is nice and smooth.

Drain the dried cherries (keep the liquid to use for the glaze) and in a small bowl combine them with the fresh or frozen cherries. Sprinkle a tablespoon of spelt flour over the cherries and mix gently to combine. Spoon a few tablespoons of the cake batter into the bottom of the bundt tin, then using a spatula, fold the cherries into the remaining batter. Once the cherries are folded in, spoon the batter into the prepared bundt tin and level the top. 

Place the tin on the centre rack of the preheated 180⁰C, conventional oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a metal skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean, the top of the cake looks golden, feels springy and a little firm to the touch, and the cake comes away slightly from the sides of the tin. 

Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack. Cool completely before icing.

To make the glaze, combine the icing sugar with a small quantity of the reserved liquid to make an icing which has the consistency of runny honey. 

Drizzle the icing over the cake and allow the icing to set before decorating with the fresh cherries if using. 

This was a lovely buttery cake, studded with cherries then topped with a zesty lemon flavoured cherry hued icing.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian