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!
Table of Contents
Fresh Cherry 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.
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.
Cherry Tips
Fresh cherries: There are over 1000 varieties of cherries – so many I can’t name them all! The availability will depend on where you are from, so I suggest picking one that you enjoy eating. Some are sweeter, while others are more tart.
Frozen cherries: If you want to use frozen ones, thaw them first, drain the excess liquid, and pat them dry. You want them dry, so you don’t have extra liquid in your bread.
Dry cherries: Yes, you can even make dried cherry bread. Depending on how large they are, you might want to roughly chop them first. Also, you can add them straight to the batter, but if they are very chewy, I recommend soaking them first and then pat them dry. This will plump them up. You can do this in water or try a liqueur if you would like a boozy kick.
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 for about an hour.
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. Enjoy!
How to Store Cherry Bread
Once the cherry bread is completely cool, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap, and it will keep at room temperature for up to three days.
Cherry Bread can also be frozen. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container. It will last up to three months in the freezer.
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!
Merry Christmas Rosemary
Please share how to adjust sugar if using tart cherries instead of sweet.
Thank you
Hi Sharon, depending on how sweet you like it I would say 1/2 cup extra, maybe more. I hope that helps.
Heyy, I was making this recipe and I am using a old gas oven, done 50 mins but still completely raw and liquid inside, I don’t know if it’s the temperature or if I added too much or too little of something. Any idea why this happened?
Hi Rubyanne, I think it might be because the oven isn’t heating properly. Maybe check with a thermometer to make sure that it’s heating at the correct temperature.
Thank you for the recipe! I wanted to use up some ingredients and this bake was the perfect inspiration. The key changes from your recipe, based on what I had available, were: frozen sweet dark cherries – thawed, buttermilk instead of milk, and added a cup of chopped pecans and a half cup of milk-chocolate chunks. I also baked it in a round spring-form pan as I never have good luck with loaves finishing in the center. Just tried my first bite and YUM!! Can’t wait to make the original next time when cherries are in season.
Hi Andy, Amazing! love your changes and happy that it worked perfectly for you! Enjoy and I hope you love the original as well! 😀
Hi Andy I have trouble sometimes with undone centers too. Sometimes it helps to bake on top third of oven since it’s hotter. But also I bought a 12×4 tea loaf pan and problem solved! Pan is longer so batter is spread out more. Slices are smaller but loaf is cooked! Hope that helps
Made this yesterday and had canned cherries to use up. Turned out great. My husband and I love this bread! Just want to know if it’s uprose to be a heavy bread? Mines heavy but still very good! I did exactly what was called for.
Hi Julie, I’m so happy you both loved this bread! It’s definitely not a light bread, breads that contain fruit are usually pretty dense, and it might be a bit denser because you used canned cherries. Hope that helps! 🙂
the center turned out raw even after baking it a extra 20 minutes. what can i do to prevent that in the future?
Hi! It could be that your oven temperature is off. Check to see if it’s hot enough, sometimes it happens. If that’s ok, try covering the bread with foil and continue baking it until it’s cooked all the way through. Check with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean then the bread is done.
I made one batch of cherry and the other blueberry. Made into smaller loaves to be given away. Fabulous..
That’s such a great gift idea Sandy! I love doing that as well! 🙂
Do you use a mixer for the dough? Mine is not becoming crumbly
Hi Rachel, no beaters were used. Mixing butter with dry ingredients has to become crumbly. Did you watch the video? Let me know.
I made 2 loaves (separately, did not double recipe) and because my granddaughter is egg and dairy allergic, I adapted the recipe by using Just Egg plant substitute and almond milk plus plant butter. They came out light,fluffy and yummy. Next time I’ll add a TB of orange or lemon juice as well.
Hi Carol, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it and it worked for your granddaughter. Take care.
Hi Rosemary,
I think your recipes are all very unique, and I have tried several of them – the almond cookies, the Lemon cake, and a few pasta dishes are the house regulars! I definitely am going to try this Cherry bread as well.
I appreciate you mentioning the baking dish sizes in the recipes, but I do have a question about the baking, as a rule, do you always bake the cakes/muffins in the middle or middle lower of the oven? How about the cookies?
And I started to realize the color of the baking dishes also make differences in the final product, I wonder if I should adjust the baking temperature or time accordingly?
Thank you for all the beautiful recipes and demonstrations, I value your expertise, looking forward to your advices.. ????❤️
Hi Faye thanks so much. I always bake in the middle of the oven on the middle rack. I find Italian ovens smaller so I can only get 1 medium pan in the oven, but everything is centred. I hope you enjoy the cherry bread. Take care.
This recipe is perfect. It was so easy to make and it is so good. I made 4 mini loaves. I will definitely be making this again.
Hi Pam, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. Take care and have a great weekend.
Amazing bread! It was perfect at 55 minutes. I sliced it up and served it with coffee. Incredible.
Hi Mallory, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. Take care and have a great weekend.
Turned out great but I about lit my kitchen on fire baking this! I followed the recipe to a t and put it in 4 small loaf pans. They all started looking butter so I put a cookie sheet underneath after a few minutes. They dropped a TON of butter onto the sheet. Lots of smoke, open windows, and help from my husband later, we all survived and ate delicious bread. Not sure where I went wrong!
Hi Lauren, I think maybe you used loaf pans that were too small and filled them too full. Unless you added too much butter. Take care.
Thank you for this recipe. The bread is delicious and the texture was beautiful. Definitely making this again.
Hi Elizabeth, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. Take care and have a wonderful weekend.
I absolutely love this recipe! First time used frozen cherries and it was delicious. Also have substituted blueberries, and other fruit. Recipe works great in an 8×8 cake pan too, there is plenty of crumb topping.
Hi Melinda, thanks so much so glad you like it. Take care and have a wonderful Sunday.
Can you use a sugar substitute?
Hi Taja, yes I think a sugar substitute would work. What one were you thinking of using?
I added chocolate chips to the batter. Yummy it was.
Hi seagypsy, great idea. Glad you enjoyed it. Have a wonderful Sunday.
Hi Rosemary! I used the maraschino cherries, I just rinsed off the syrup. It turned out pretty good. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Tiffany, good idea. Glad you liked it. Have a great weekend.
Hi I was just wondering if I could use maraschino cherries for this bread?
Hi Tiffany, apparently you can, although the bread will be sweeter because maraschino cherries are sweetened. You might want to cut back just a bit with the sugar in the recipe (maybe less 1/4 cup?). Hope that helps.
Hi
Can I use dried cherries in this?
Hi Iris, yes you can although you should soak them in boiling water for about 10-15 minutes, then drain well. If you put them in dry they will use up too much liquid in the bread which could make the end result dry. Hope that helps. Let me know how it goes.
So yummy. The cherries are incredible this year and this recipe really showcases them.
Hi Stefanie, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. Have a great weekend.
Made this bread this morning. Came out perfect and was absolutely delicious!!! Will definitely make again and again. I did cut the sugar down to 1 cup it was fine.
Hi Paula, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it. Take care.
I had sour cherries in the freezer from 5 years ago, and only skim milk on hand. Bread still turned out wonderful. I can only imagine how super it would be with fresh sweet cherries and 2% milk. This is an overall winner.
Hi Deb, thanks so much, glad it worked out with the frozen cherries and skim milk. It is pretty versatile. Have a great weekend.
Could I use a cherry extract instead of vanilla? I am making this loaf today, can’t wait to try it! Thanks. ?
Hi Tammy sure that would work, let me know how it goes. 🙂
I used the cherry extract and the loaf was delicious!?
Hi Tammy, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. Take care.