Easy Cherry Bundt Cake

Make this delicious cherry bundt cake by mixing everything in one bowl. Add cherries and cocoa and swirl them to make a cool design in the cake. Easy and fun baking!

A hassle-free yet impressive cherry bundt cake to share with your family and friends. You only need some cherries, straightforward baking ingredients, and a bundt cake pan. 

And should you want to try another delicious dessert made with this summer fruit, check out our Cherry Chocolate Bundt Cake, Cherry Almond Cake Recipe, or Cherry Coconut Cake. Or make some delightful Cherry Chocolate Muffins or Cherry Scones.  

Why will you love baking this cake?

• Effortless baking: One-bowl mixing simplifies the process. 
• Marbled cake: Adding fresh cherries and swirling creates a stunning pattern.
• Versatile: You can use any cherries (sweet, sour, fresh, frozen, canned), you can replace them with other fruit or berries, or you can bake a simple marbled bundt cake without any fruit. 

Recipe ingredients 

• Cherries: Fresh sweet, or sour cherries or a combination of both. 
  • Also suitable: Frozen and defrosted cherries or cherries canned in light syrup. I often use these homemade canned cherries. 
  • The cherries are weighed after pitting. To get 375 g/ 13 oz pitted fruit, you will need about 400-425 g/ 14-15 oz fruit with the stone inside (a little more or less than that is fine). 
• Large eggs at room temperature. 
• Oil: Use a neutral-tasting oil such as vegetable oil, canola oil, or grapeseed oil. These oils won't overpower the cake's flavor and will allow the other ingredients to stand out.
• Whole milk adds a creamy richness to the batter, making the cake soft and moist. You can replace it with half and half or with heavy cream.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder to mix into approximately half of the batter to create a marbled effect when combining the two types of batter.
• Other ingredients: Granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, baking powder, vanilla extract, and salt. 

Optional ingredients

• Powdered sugar for sprinkling over the cooled cherry bundt cake or a simple glaze made of powdered sugar and lemon juice/ milk/ water.
• A small handful of semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips to the cake for extra chocolate flavor. 

Equipment

• Bundt cake pan: You can use a regular one; make sure to grease and flour it well. Alternatively, you can use a silicon bundt pan that doesn't require any preparation.
• Electric hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. 
• One large bowl. 

How to make cherry bundt cake?

• Plain batter: Place flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer and combine them using a spoon.
• Add eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla extract to the flour mixture, and mix the dry and wet ingredients using the electric mixer on medium speed until just combined. Scrape the side of the bowl if necessary (1).
• Bundt pan: Pour ½ of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Spread about ⅔ of the cherries on top (2). 

• Cocoa batter: Add cocoa powder to the remaining batter in the bowl and combine on low speed (3).
• Pour the batter into the bundt pan as well. Spread the remaining cherries on top (4).

• Marble the cake using a fork or a skewer. Swirl it around the mixture in the pan a few times to create a marbled effect (5).

• Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 
• Let the cake stand in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then invert it onto a cooling rack, gently tapping it to release the cake. Cool completely on the wire rack before sprinkling the top of the cake with powdered sugar or glazing it. 
• Serve the cake with whipped cream, ice cream (vanilla, stracciatella, chocolate, and so on), vanilla sauce, or custard.

Expert Tips

• Most important tip: Use a digital kitchen scale in baking; it guarantees the best results (the Amazon link opens in a new tab). Measuring flour using cups is tricky, and even though I made an effort to measure accurately with cups, I still recommend (almost insist on) using a scale for the best outcome.
• Prep Your Pan: To prevent sticking, grease your bundt cake pan thoroughly with butter or cooking spray.
• Use ingredients at room temperature: Ensure the eggs, oil, and milk are not too cold before mixing. This helps make the cake batter smooth and even.
• Be gentle with mixing: Combine the ingredients until they're just mixed. Avoid overmixing, which can result in a dense cake.
• Gentle Swirling: For the marbled effect, gently swirl the cocoa batter with a fork or a skewer into the plain batter. Don't overdo it; a few swirls are enough.
• Bake without cherries: If you leave out the fruit, check if the cake is baked through about 10 minutes earlier.

Recipe FAQ

How to store?

• To keep any leftover cherry bundt cake fresh, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container. It's good at room temperature for a day or two, and you can refrigerate it for even longer.
• Freezing option: For freezing, wrap the cake well with plastic wrap and then use aluminum foil or an airtight container. It stays great in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• Individual slices can be frozen too: To freeze individual pieces, first, freeze them on a baking tray until they're solid. Then, transfer the slices to freezer bags or another airtight container for easy storage.

More bundt cake recipes

Easy Cherry Bundt Cake

Whip up a yummy Cherry Bundt Cake with one-bowl magic! Mix, add cherries & cocoa, and swirl for a stunning design.

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Course: Cakes, Dessert

Cuisine: American, German

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 14 servings

Calories: 374kcal

Author: Adina

Equipment

• ▢
  Bundt cake pan
• ▢
  Electric mixer or stand mixer
• ▢
  Large bowl

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Ingredients 

• ▢ 375 g cherries 13 oz, Note 1
• ▢ 400 g all-purpose flour 14 oz/ 3 cups, Note 2
• ▢ 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ 250 g granulated sugar 9 oz/ 1 ¼ cups
• ▢ pinch salt
• ▢ 250 ml neutral-tasting oil like canola, 1 cup
• ▢ 250 ml whole milk 1 cup
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 4 large eggs
• ▢ 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• ▢ 1-2 teaspoons powdered sugar or sugar glaze, optional, Note 3

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F.

Pan:

• Prepare the bundt pan. Grease it well, including all the nooks and crannies. Dust it with a bit of flour and turn it around to coat it with the flour all over.
• Turn the pan over the sink and gently pat it on the bottom to remove the excess flour. If using a silicon bundt pan, there is no need to grease and flour it.

Cherries:

• Wash, dry, and pit the cherries. Set them aside.

  375 g/ 13 oz cherries

Cake batter:

• Dry ingredients: Place flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Mix them with a spoon.

  400 g/ 14 oz/ 3 cups flour + 3 ½ teaspoon baking powder + 250 g/ 9 oz/ 1 ¼ cups sugar + 1 pinch salt
• Wet ingredients: Add oil, milk, vanilla extract, and eggs. Mix with the mixer on medium speed until combined, don’t overmix.

  250 ml/ 1 cup oil + 250 ml/ 1 cup milk + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract + 4 large eggs
• Pour ½ of the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan. Scatter ⅔ of the pitted cherries on top.
• Mix the remaining batter in the bowl with the cocoa powder (on low speed) and carefully pour it into the pan as well. Scatter the remaining cherries on top. 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
• Marble the cake: Take a fork or a skewer and swirl it around the mixture in the bundt cake pan a few times to create a marbled effect.
• Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Invert the pan onto a wire rack, gently tapping it to release the cake. Allow to cool completely before dusting it with powdered sugar or glazing it.

  1-2 teaspoon powdered sugar.

Notes

1. Please use a digital kitchen scale in baking; it guarantees the best results (the Amazon link opens in a new tab). Measuring flour using cups can be challenging, and even though I made an effort to measure accurately with cups, I highly advise using a scale for the best outcome.
2. Cherries: You can use fresh sweet or sour cherries, frozen and defrosted cherries, or canned cherries in very light syrup (well drained).
   The cherries should be weighed after pitting. You will need about 400 – 425/ 14-15 oz g of cherries with their pit in.
3. Optional glaze: Mix the 100 g/ 1 cup powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add more lemon juice if necessary; the glaze should be thick yet slightly pourable. Pour over the cherry bundt cake and let it set.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 374kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 55mg | Sodium: 136mg | Potassium: 149mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 124IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 99mg | Iron: 2mg

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