Gluten Free Cherry Cake Recipe
Updated Apr 02, 2020, Published Jun 11, 2012
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With Father’s Day coming up this weekend, I have started planning how I will celebrate with my own father. I am lucky to be able to spend the day with three significant fathers in my life that day; my Dad, my hubby and my son – all great fathers.
Of course for us, all celebrations revolve around a meal. In trying to decide what to serve, I looked to my grandmother for inspiration. Why? Because I firmly believe that we as mothers play a great part in determining what kind of fathers our sons will be.
Trust me I am not trying to hijack Father’s Day away from the men; great Dads need and deserve to be celebrated. I am just trying to point out that mothers play a huge role in the making of future fathers.
My own father is sweet, compassionate, patient and kind. He will go out of this way to help others. His whole life, he has taken on the responsibilities of others; he served his country, his family and his friends with the same dedication and determination to do the right thing. I can’t help but feel that his own mother played a huge role in the type of man and father he became.
Even though my grandmother is no longer with us, I can still get food inspiration from her, thanks to a box of recipes I got from her. It is a little plastic box stuffed full of treasures – hand written and typed recipes on file cards, newspaper clippings and scraps of paper.
I found a recipe for a cherry cake that seemed to fit the bill for this Father’s Day perfectly – a sweet, simple, charming cherry cake. I made a few modifications to the recipe aside from converting it to a gluten free cherry cake recipe. The original recipe called for candied cherries, which I substituted with maraschino cherries, and the top of her cake was sprinkled with crushed sugar cubes, which I changed to sliced almonds and a sprinkling of turbinado sugar. I simply substituted all-purpose wheat flour with gluten free all-purpose flour and I used my appliances to do the work for me instead of things like “beat the butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon for 10 minutes.’ Tradition is fine and dandy, but seriously, ten minutes with a wooden spoon? Hello electric mixer!
There was no mention of whipped cream in my grandmother’s recipe but I found this cake to be even better with a dollop of lightly beaten, unsweetened cream!
I hope that this year when you are celebrating the fathers in your life, you take just a second to think about the women who raised them and helped them to become the men they are today!
Gluten Free Cherry Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- Gluten free, , non-stick cooking spray
- 1½ cups sliced almonds – use divided, (you can substitute 1 cup almond flour and ¼ cup sliced almonds if desired)
- 1¼ cup maraschino cherries, , stems removed and quartered
- 1½ cup all-purpose gluten-free flour blend
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, , at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs, , at room temperature
- 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 inch cake pan (or 8 inch springform form pan) well with cooking spray. If using a cake pan, line with parchment paper on the bottom and sides.
- Grind 1¼ cups of almonds in a food processor until finely ground (or use 1 cup almond flour). Place in a bowl with the cherries. Place the flour in a separate mixing bowl. Take out 1 tablespoon of the flour and add to the almonds and cherries. Stir to combine. To the remaining flour, add the baking powder and salt; whisk to combine.
- Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the flour mixture to the butter and fold together. Stir in the cherry/almond mixture. Finely grate the lemon peel into the batter and add the juice of the lemon; stir to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of sliced almonds and the tablespoon of turbinado sugar on top and bake for 1 – 1 ¼ hours or until the cake is golden brown, starting to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Serve topped with whipped cream if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Im going to try this! Thanks
Thank you Mary, enjoy!
It’s watered my mouth..Looking very very delicious…
Your pictures are always so beautiful and your cake looks delicious! Thanks :)
Thanks so much Cassidy!
I love the sentiment and the cake! I hope your Dad enjoys Father’s Day.
Thanks Joy, I am sure he will.
This sounds wonderful and I’m making it for my hubby for Father’s day. Thanks and wishing all the men in your family a Happy Day!!
What a lovely sounding recipe indeed. How nice to have a heritage of love and cooking to pass on through the generations :)
Aww, thank you! That’s the great thing about food and recipes, right?
How lovely! I too wish all Daddies out there a Happy Father’s Dy and I am making this for my men!
Thanks Anita, enjoy!
Made this cake for hubby for Dad’s day and he loved it. I also put coconut in the cake, he loves that with the cherries and almonds. I put a little more almonds and turbinado sugar on top and it made it like a coffee cake. Thank you = it is a keeper!!!!
Thanks for reporting back Lynne and so happy the hubby loved it too! Love your alterations!
I have printed this recipe off so that my wife can try for me. In the past, she has always had a problem with the cherries sinking to the bottom of the mixture whilst cooking.
Is it possible for you to convert the measures to English cooks particularly:
1 cup flour =
1 cup sugar =
1 cup almond flour =
3/4 cup butter =.
Many thanks
Hi Laurence,
Here’s what I found for conversions:
1 cup flour = 4 1/4 ounces or 120 grams (but the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups flour, so just make sure you factor that in – making it 6.375 ounces or 180 grams) (also, this may vary on the flour you use, but if you use a cup-for-cup all-purpose gluten-free flour it should be accurate)
1 cup sugar = 7 ounces or 198 grams
1 cup almond flour = 3 3/8 ounces or 96 grams
3/4 cup butter = 6 ounces or 171 grams (or 12 tablespoons)
I hope this helps, and I hope you and your wife enjoy the cake!
xo,
Carol