Sour Cream Cherry Pound Cake

Cherry Pound Cake is a traditional Newfoundland favourite, especially at Christmas time.  

This sour cream pound cake is a lovely, rich tasting and slightly dense celebration cake.  Red or green candied cherries can be used but I like the red ones best.

This is the fourth year I've attempted to post this recipe. Every year I took pictures and never got it posted.  But 2018 is the year!  I've had quite a collection of pictures from which to choose starting in 2015 up to 2017.  So no excuse this year.  I actually started writing this the end of last year so now I only have a little editing to do and hit "publish" and finally this recipe has been posted.

Pound cake is very versatile when it comes to flavours.  You can use any extract you like.  I made this cake for Peter and Vicki's wedding cake way back in 2009 and used orange and vanilla extracts and orange zest in  the batter.  I found the cake so good I've used it as a base for one of my favourite Christmas cakes--Cherry Pound Cake.  It also makes a great base for a gum drop cake.

Printable recipe at end of post.

Sour Cream Cherry Pound Cake

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups flour, divided
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt (½ teaspoon if using unsalted butter)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond or lemon extract
• 1 pound candied cherries

How to make it:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or two 9x5-inch loaf pans.  Loaf pans may also be lined with parchment paper for easy removal.

Remove ¼ cup of flour and set aside to flour the cherries. Cream butter for the cake, gradually adding sugar; beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each. In separate bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Stir in the extracts and floured cherries.

Pour batter into greased and floured 10 inch tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely.

The cake is best eaten a day or two after it is made or can be frozen for several months.  Some people like a thin layer of vanilla buttercream icing or cream cheese icing on their cake but I prefer mine plain.  

Makes 1 large tube or bundt cake.

Because a pound cake relies on air incorporated into the batter to rise, make sure you beat the butter and sugar until fluffy and then add the eggs one at a time and beat until well mixed.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. The flour and sour cream are added alternately starting and beginning with the flour.  You will do three flour and two sour cream.  Don't forget to add the flavourings.  

 Beat lightly after each addition until you have a thick batter.

Although this is a cherry cake the batter can also be used for gumdrop cake.  Be sure to remove some of the flour to sprinkle on the fruit or candy.  This prevents the cherries from sinking to the bottom of the cake.

 Fold the cherries through the batter.

Sometimes I divide the batter and do half cherry and half gumdrop. 

 But my usual cake is all cherry baked in a bundt or tube pan.

Beautifully baked.  I can almost smell that wonderful aroma of cake just out of the oven.

Now, which one is this?  Cherry or gumdrop?

Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes and then turn them out on a cake rack to thoroughly cool before storing them in airtight containers.

I love that top crust on a pound cake.  I'm looking up at it from the cooling rack. This cake was baked in a bundt pan.

And this cake was baked in a tube pan.

Cherry Pound Cake slices beautifully.

 A favourite cake any time of the year.

 A tasty, traditional Newfoundland Cherry Cake.

To print click on arrow upper right side.⇩