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This Cherry Christmas Cake is simple to make, comes together quickly and really tastes like Christmas! Thankfully, frozen cherries are available year round and it’s just such a treat to have a cherry cake in December! I served a slice to my little niece and she found me after she was done to say, “this is the best cake in the whole world!” – in her sweetest 5-year old voice. I about melted.
This is why I will continue to make cakes for my family. It’s such an amazing feeling to watch my nieces, nephews and my own kiddos eyes light up. One of my baby girl’s first words were “cake” (true story). The littles have come to expect my Sunday cakes so if I don’t make one, they’re instantly disappointed and I just can’t have that!
I’m ridiculous about Christmas and pretty much beside myself when we hit December! I’ll be the old lady who’s house is so decorated, you might have a hard time getting through the door!
It’s snowing outside as I type, there’s sweet Christmas music playing in the next room, and the birds are perched in a tree outside my window with snow flurries all over the place. So beautiful! Makes me want a mug of coffee and a slice of cake actually! I hope you love this Cherry Christmas Cake! It’s quite a treat :).
Ingredients for Cherries in Syrup:
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp corn starch
1 lb (4 cups) frozen sweet cherries
Ingredients for Sponge Cake:
3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1/4 tsp baking powder
Ingredients for Frosting:
3/4 cup (6 oz) cold heavy whipping cream
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Ingredients for Toppings/Decor:
Shaved chocolate
Maraschino cherries
Green gel food coloring
Wilton 67 frosting tip and 10″ Atteco piping bag
Make the Cherries in Sauce First:
1. In a medium saucepan, stir together 1/4 cup water, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 Tbsp sugar and 2 tsp cornstarch and place over medium heat, whisking constantly. As soon as it starts to thicken, add 4 cups frozen cherries and cook until lightly boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
How to Make the Sponge Cake:
1. Line bottom of 9″ cake pan or springform pan with parchment paper (do not butter the pan). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat 3 eggs for 1 minute on high speed until foamy. With mixer on, gradually add 1/2 cup sugar and beat together 7 to 8 min on high speed or until a thick ribbon forms when you lift up the batter (if using electric hand mixer, add 2 minutes to mixing time).
2. Whisk together 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 tsp baking powder then sift them in two increments, folding gently into egg mixture with a spatula. Fold just until flour is incorporated without streaks of flour, scraping from the bottom of the bowl to make sure you don’t miss any pockets of flour.
3. Transfer batter to pan and bake at 350˚F for 25 min. Cool 5 min then run thin spatula around the edges to loosen from pan, transfer to a wire rack and peel back the parchment paper. Let cake cool completely to room temperature.
How to Make the Frosting:
1. Beat cold heavy cream until whipped and spreadable – transfer to medium bowl. In same stand mixer (no need to wash it), beat together 6 oz softened cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar until fluffy and whipped (2 minutes on high speed). Use a spatula to fold in whipped cream until well blended. Reserve 1/4 cup cream and tint with green food coloring then transfer it to a small piping bag fitted with Wilton 67 frosting tip to make leaves on top later.
Assembling the Cherry Christmas Cake:
1. Place cooled cake on serving platter and poke all over the top with a fork. Top with cooled cherries and let it rest 5 minutes for the cake to absorb some of the syrup. Spread frosting over the top, top with grated chocolate. Pipe holly leaves onto the cake and top with maraschino cherries.
Do you have any special pre-Christmas food traditions? Let me know in a comment below! I’m always looking to try something new 🙂
Cherry Christmas Cake

Ingredients
For the Cherries in Syrup:
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp corn starch
- 1 lb 4 cups frozen sweet cherries
For the Sponge Cake:
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
For the Frosting:
- 3/4 cup 6 oz cold heavy whipping cream
- 6 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Toppings/ Decor:
- Shaved chocolate
- Maraschino cherries
- Green gel food coloring
- Wilton 67 frosting tip and 10" Ateco piping bag
Instructions
Make the Cherries in Sauce First:
- In medium saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 Tbsp sugar and 2 tsp cornstarch. Place over medium heat, whisking constantly. As soon as it starts to thicken, add 4 cups frozen cherries and cook until lightly boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool.
How to Make the Sponge Cake:
- Line bottom of 9" cake pan or springform pan with parchment paper (do not butter pan). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk, beat 3 eggs for 1 min on high speed until foamy. With mixer on, gradually add 1/2 cup sugar and beat 7 to 8 min on high speed or until a thick ribbon forms when you lift up the batter (if using electric hand mixer, add 2 min to mixing time).
- Whisk together 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 tsp baking powder then sift them in two increments, folding gently into egg mixture with spatula. Fold just until flour is incorporated without streaks of flour, scraping from bottom of bowl to catch any pockets of flour.
- Transfer batter to pan and bake at 350˚F for 25 min. Cool 5 min then run thin spatula around the edges to loosen from pan, transfer to wire rack, peel back parchment paper and cool cake to room temperature.
How to Make Frosting:
- Beat cold heavy cream until whipped and spreadable (approx 2 min) - transfer to medium bowl. In same stand mixer (no need to wash it), beat 6 oz softened cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar until fluffy and whipped (2 minutes on high speed). Use spatula to fold in whipped cream until well blended. Reserve 1/4 cup cream and tint with green food coloring then transfer it to a small piping bag fitted with Wilton 67 frosting tip to make leaves on top later.
Assembling the Cherry Christmas Cake:
- Place cooled cake on serving platter and poke all over the top with fork. Top with cooled cherries and let rest 5 min for the cake to absorb some syrup. Spread frosting over the top, top with grated chocolate. Pipe holly leaves and top with maraschino cherries.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Do you have any special pre-Christmas food traditions? Let me know in a comment below! I’m always looking to try something new 🙂
Do the cherries have to be frozen? Can I just use the same maraschino cherries from the jar?
Hi Andy, I definitely prefer cherries either fresh or frozen. The maraschino cherries won’t have that sweet and tangy contrast and I think you’d miss it in this cake. I haven’t experimented with maraschino either so I can’t recommend them.
Hi, can I use 8 inch pan for this? Or 2 of them? That’s all I have
Hi Nhi, I haven’t tried a different pan size, but I bet that could work with a few adjustments!
Hi Natasha,
This cake looks amazing and I want to make it for my son’s birthday. He prefers a chocolate cake though. Could I replace some flour with cocoa or do you suggest using another cake recipe for the base? Thanks, I Love your recipes!
Hi Kate, I haven’t tested that but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Hello Natasha, I really like your cherry Christmas cake recipe. I really want to try it for my daughter’s birthday on December 22nd. But she is allergic to eggs. Would you please share the recipe for eggless sponge cake? Or can I use egg substitute? Please let me know.
Thank you
Hi Chandni, I have not tried this with an egg replacement. The sponge cake relies on the volume of the eggs.
My 11 year old and I just tried to make this and it appears to have caved in during the baking time. He will be devastated when he comes back inside…is that what happens if we overmix it because I’m afraid that’s what we might have done…
Hi Amanda, Overmixing can be a culprit but the most important thing with this cake base is to make sure to adequately beat the eggs and sugar. Check out our video tutorial on how to make a European sponge cake. I hope that helps!
Hi Natasha
I always try your dessert & they come out beautiful .
I have a question , can we not use cream cheese & what to use instead or none at all is okay? Thank you & Happy New Year.
Hi Magy! Happy New Year! I haven’t tried making this without cream cheese as it’s an important part of the recipe.
This is AMAZING! My family was just crazy about it. It’s smooth, juicy, light.. everything as we like. Thank you so much for this easy and really quick cake. I made it a bit smaller (18 cm form) so I used 2/3 of the ingredients, it worked perfectly. On the second day, it was even better 🙂 Highly recommend everyone to try this one 🙂
I’m so happy you enjoyed that, Katya. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Hi Natasha, me and my sister made this cake yesterday and my family loved it! Thx for the wonderful recipe!!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Samlie!
would this recipe work with whole frozen strawberries instead of Cherries?
Hi Anita, I do think it would taste great with strawberries!! 🙂 If you try it, let me know how you like it 🙂
Hi, Natasha. Do you have any idea how could I transform the ingredients into grams? We do not have oz here, in Romania. I cannot find the Metrics substitution. Thanks!
Hi Lavinia, We are currently working on adding metric measurements to all of our recipes but it is taking some time as we have to add them one at a time. Thank you so much for being patient! In the meantime, check out our post on measuring which should help
Thank you very much, Natasha and good luck with adding the measurements! We’re looking forward to them, so that we can try these easy and delicious recipes!
hey what can i use aussie ingredients i live in australia
Hi Dillon, I would love to help with this. What ingredients in the recipe are you having trouble finding?
Very tasty, easy to make. Made it two times for Christmas. I wish I could leave my picture here.
Hi Natalie, I would love to see it! If you post it on social media, please tag me @natashaskitchen and #natashaskitchen so I can find it. Thanks and Merry Christmas!
I made it but my cream cheese frosting was far too runny, any idea why?
Hi Sally, it could be due to using cream cheese that was over softened or using regular whipping cream (which doesn’t beat as well) rather than HEAVY whipping cream with higher fat content. Also, make sure to beat the whipped cream adequately until it is stiff and spreadable. I hope that helps to troubleshoot.
Yeah, I think it was because I used normal whipping cream, and then overmixed it.
Hi Natasha,
Do you use unsweetened chocolate? What do you recommend?
Hi Lilly, it is semi-sweet chocolate and just add it to taste. There was maybe 1/4 cup of shaved chocolate over the top.
Also, can I freeze the cherries myself, if so how would I remove the seed
Hi Sana, to remove the seeds you can use a pitter like this one here.
Hi natasha! Is there a video for this recipe?
Hi Sana, we don’t have a video for this one just yet.
Looks delicious, love all photos you posted, step by step easy to follow, I’ll try this :)0. 5 stars for you Natasha(like).
I’m so happy you found this helpful! Thank you for that awesome review!
I made this cake for a big family party for New Year’s Eve. I used bigger baking pan and just increased ingredients. I also used juice from cherries as a syrup and just poured over the cake layer. It turned out delicious and even better on next day! Everyone liked it! Thank you, Natasha for your great recipes!
I’m so happy to hear that, Inessa! Thank you for that great review!
I made this cake for New Year’s Eve for a big family party. I used bigger baking pan and just increased ingredients. It turned out to be delicious! Everyone liked it! Thank you, Natasha for your great recipes!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it.
What a delicious cake!! Thank you so much for your recipies! This is the fifth cake I’ve made from your blog, and as always with your cakes, it was a huge hit! I wish I could post the pictures of it. Looking forwarding to trying more of your cake recipies. Merry Christmas!!!
You’re welcome Olga! I’m happy to hear how much you are enjoying the recipes! Thanks for sharing your great review! Happy Holidays 🙂