Homemade Cherry Bread Recipe
Cherry Bread is an easy quick bread that you can serve as a snack cake or breakfast treat. It’s made with fresh cherries just like our Homemade Cherry Cake, but don’t worry – if you can’t find fresh, you can make this bread with dried cherries or even frozen cherries so you can make it all year round.
I love when I find fresh cherries at the store. The season is short (usually late spring to mid-summer), so it’s always special to buy a big batch and then use them to make all kinds of baked goods like quick bread, cakes, muffins, cherry crumb bars and this easy fresh cherry bread. Or why not try this Simple Yogurt Bread recipe if you have leftover yogurt in your fridge.
Well, that is if we can resist eating all of the cherries straight from the bag. It’s a good idea to hide them if you plan to bake with them. At our house, they will disappear in no time if they are left out.
If you’re not a big cherry fan like us though, this strawberry bread might be something you’d prefer making, unless citrus is your go-to flavor, then I suggest you try this Orange Bread!
If you can only make one thing with the cherries you find, it should be this bread. It’s easy to make with just a few ingredients, and the cherries are the star. Every bite has a sweet and tart flavor.
I love this bread with fresh fruit, but you can make it with dried or frozen cherries, too. That means you don’t have to wait for cherry season. You can make it whenever you want a soft, delicious sweet bread bursting with cherry flavor.
Table of Contents
Ingredients for the Cherry Bread
- All-purpose flour: Is best used in this recipe, it helps keep the cherries from sinking to the bottom
- Granulated sugar : Adds sweetness and flavour to the bread.
- Baking powder: It’s a leavening which helps the batter to rise.
- Salt: Flavours the bread.
- Cold butter: It helps with leavening, moisture and adds flavour.
- 2% milk: It will help hydrate the dry ingredients and also adds flavour.
- Large eggs: They help to bind the recipe together.
- Vanilla: A flavour enhancer.
- Pitted cherries cut in half: I used fresh dark sweet cherries for this recipe, but frozen or even dried will work also.
How to Prevent Quick Breads from Sinking
- Make sure that the loaf stays in the oven for the right amount of time. Don’t follow the suggested baking time blindly. You want to make sure that the loaf creates a nice rounded dome on top and to be sure it’s baked, test it with a toothpick. Place the toothpick in the centre of the bread and if it comes out dry, with minimal to no crumbs attached to it then your bread is ready!
- Leavening Agents aka: Baking Powder and Baking Soda. If your leavening agents are expired your loaf won’t be able to grow and it will probably sink. Make sure to test your leavening agents before using them if you think they might be outdated.
To test them: Mix a teaspoon of baking powder with a bit of hot water, if it bubbles then it’s ready to be used. For the baking soda, mix one teaspoon with a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar. It should produce bubbles.
- Don’t overmix your batter. If you mix it too much you can add too much air to the batter which will create air bubbles inside the loaf and it will collapse in the oven, or you might work it so much that it starts creating too much gluten which will give your bread a rubbery consistency.
- Make sure that your oven is at the right temperature. Every oven is slightly different, get to know your oven’s temperatures and remember to leave the oven door closed until the loaf has reached its final shape. You don’t want the heat getting out every time you open the oven. It will make your loaf collapse.
How to Make Cherry Bread
Once you have your cherries, it’s time to make the bread. You will need to grease and flour a loaf pan and pre-heat the oven.
Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt with a whisk, add the chopped butter and mix to form a coarse crumbly mixture. Remove and set aside 3/4 of a cup of this mixture – you will use it for the crumble topping. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. It’s okay if the batter is a little lumpy.
Fold in the cherries and pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping over the top and bake the bread until done.
Leave the bread in the pan until it’s cooled, and then turn it out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Once cooled, slice and serve your delicious cherry bread.
More Quick Bread Recipes with Fruit
Ready to make more delicious easy bread recipes? Here are a few more classic recipes with fruit you might like to try, too.
- Blueberry Bread is soft, moist, and delicious with a pat of warm butter.
- Everyone needs a great Banana Bread recipe.. or 2! Double Chocolate Banana Bread brings together two of the best ingredients! Chocolate and Bananas!
- Apples are also a big classic and Fall is the best time to let this fruit shine so here are a couple of my favourite apple quick bread recipes: Apple Pie Bread and Cinnamon Apple Bread!
- Coconut is one of my favorite fruits so this Coconut Bread is a must!
Pour a hot cup of coffee to enjoy with your homemade bread. It’s wonderful as a snack cake in the afternoon. Or slice and serve it with warm butter and honey for breakfast. Enjoy!
Homemade Cherry Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup butter (cold cut into pieces)
- ¾ cup milk (I used 2 %)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1-2 cups cherries (pitted and cut in half)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375F (190C). Grease and flour a 9 inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, add the butter and mix to form a crumbly mixture. Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture (this is your crumb topping) and set aside.
- In a medium bowl with a fork or whisk beat together the milk, eggs and vanilla. Add it to the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula just until combined. The batter should be a little lumpy. Do not over mix.
- Fold in the cherries and transfer to the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle with the crumb topping. Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. Let cool in the loaf pan then move to a wire rack to cool completely before serving. Enjoy!
This bread is so good!! Love the crumb topping. I added 1/2 tsp of almond flavoring as well as vanilla…delicious!! Thanks for the recipe 🍒
Amazing Sheri! Glad you loved it! 😀
Moist and delicious – wouldn’t change a single thing
Thank you! So happy to hear 😀
This recipe is amazing! (I’ve commented before but I didn’t see the post.) I forgot to toss the cherries in flour, but they seemed to be okay, all didn’t sink to the bottom. I’ve made it twice now and did it again he second time. I must have a mental block on that part. I had to lower the oven temp to 350; at 375 it browned too fast and at 350 it just took about 10 minutes longer, around 70 minutes to bake. I checked it frequently.
You say that it can be made with different fruit. Would I have to change the recipe if I used apples? Thanks for the advice.
Hi Carol, I’m so happy to hear you loved this bred, it’s one of our favourites! Definitely switch the fruit, but keep the process the same 🙂 Happy baking!
Just made this bread using fresh dark sweet cherries. The flavor was good, but my bread wasn’t done in the very center of the bread. I didn’t realize it was still raw in the center until we ate half the loaf & started running into raw dough. Maybe I should have cooked it longer but my cake tester came out clean e.xcept I did have melted butter on the tester. I used a 9×5 pan. Should i have used a 9×6? Should I have cooked it longer but put foil on the top of the bread to prevent over browning?
Hi Pam, you can use either pans, but definitely cover it with foil if it’s not done yet and it’s getting too brown on top. A long tester will be your best option, so you’ll be able to check that the middle of the bread is done as well. Hope that helps! 🙂
Had to try this and was thrilled. The bread browned more than I thought it should after 55 minutes. The toothpick was sticky after 50 minutes but the extra 5 minutes was too long. Therefore, I’ll lower the temp to 350 – all ovens are not the same. Of course I forgot to toss the cherries in flour but they were fine – just a few sunk to the bottom. I’ll renew next time. The overall result was very tasty- not too sweet – with the crumb topping adding just enough sweetness. Many thumbs up. A keeper!! Thank you.
I just followed your recipe except I made 8 mini loaves and baked for 43 minutes. I haven’t tried them yet but they smell and look amazing! I’m sure the taste will be fabulous!
It’s amazing! But I did fully mess up your recipe 🤦🏻♀️ I just looked at the ingredients and added them all to my mixer and mixed. I never took any out for the crumble topping. The only thing I changed was in the 3/4 cup that was for milk I filled the milk up to the 1/3 line and the rest I used a cherry compote I made for the topping. It turned out awesome! I did have to bake it longer however but after the initial 55min bake I did 20 more minutes covered with tinfoil and it was perfect I probably didn’t need the entire 20 minutes. I do wish I would have done what I usually do when baking fruit bread and added some water to a baking sheet located at the bottom rack to keep the crust soft but overall it is delicious! My sons and husband have been eating it since it came out of the oven last night!
It sounds like it turned out just perfect Brooke! 😀 Enjoy!!
I would like to make this bread but I also would like to put in some apples. Just how much regular pieces of apples would I need.
I would add half to one apple cut into pieces but also remove half a cup of cherries.
good cherry bread but a little dry husband said he said was not the best bread I have ever made. I follow the instructions to the tee
Hi Sue, I’m glad you enjoyed the taste of it, it’s not a dry bread at all. Your oven might be hotter than mine and the bread got baked for a bit too long. That could be a reason for the dry bread.
can you use a yellow cake mix instead of the flour, soda , salt and sugar
No, Sorry Sue for this recipe it’s best to use all four ingredients.
Could you m make this cherry bread with maraschino cherries?
Thx
Rhonda
Hi Rhonda, I would say no to the maraschino because they have additives for colour and they are sweetened, better to use frozen If you can’t get fresh. Hope that helps! 😊
I followed this recipe almost completely. The only change I made was adding 1/4 cup of water as the dry ingredients, plus butter weren’t coming together properly to make a crumbly dough. It was leaving out too much flour. The only thing I would do differently next time is maybe quartering the cherries. Half is just too big. Otherwise, amazing recipe, absolutely delicious.
Thanks for sharing! Glad you liked it!
Would Amareno cherries work in this recipe? Any suggestions on how to adjust the recipe for their use?
Hi Linda, Amareno are similar to maraschino cherries, in the sense that they have additives and they are sweetened, if you want you can try using them but I advise using regular fresh or frozen cherries for this recipe.
what size is the loaf pan
Hi Stephanie, the loaf pan is 9 inches. Take care!
Yes, I made this yesterday. Very easy to follow and it turned out perfect! I used frozen cherries and only 1cup sugar. This will be my go to recipe from now on.my neighbour and family like it .Thankyou for sharing your recipes . Kelly
Hi Kelly! Glad you, your family and your neighbours enjoyed it!
I made this yesterday, I had a big bag of dried cherries, find this recipe.
It was amazing!!
All I had was almond milk and chanced it and came out great!
The crumbled topping really made it flavorable!
Definitely making this again;
Hi Janice, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂