A lovely creamy cake featuring maraschino cherries, festive enough for Christmas! It's a very pretty cake and easy to make for that special occasion.
I have the same recipe and make it at Christmas every year. My ingredients for this recipe is the same but my method is a bit different. The night before, I pace the cherries in a seive over a bowl to drain throughly so they are dry (so that they don't bleed into the cake and make it pink.) I sometimes use more cherries then asked for as I love cherries. Keep the juice so that you can make a glaze with icing sugar & almond extract. I spread about one-third on the bottom of a bundt pan ( Bundt pan sprinkled with red sugar)I then arrange one-third of the cherries evenly on the batter, then repeat with two more layers of batter followed by cherries; spreading evenly with spatula. Bake for 60 minutes. Drizzle glaze over top. For an added touch, sift icing sugar over the top as well. Yummy.Very presentable! - 07 Dec 2006 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
Just a perfect little cake--moist, tender crumb, with just the right amount of cherries--any more than what the recipe called for would have been overkill. This fit perfectly in one of the smaller, specialty Bundt pans and made a really beautiful presentation glazed with a mixture of reserved cherry juice and powdered sugar and just a light sprinkling of white jimmies. I found, however, that I had to bake it for a much shorter time, so I would suggest checking it after 50-55 minutes so as not to overbake--this may be the reason for the dryness some reviewers mentioned. - 15 Sep 2008 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
I loved this cake! The only thing I changed was to use almond extract in place of the vanilla. It only took an hour, and it was moist and delicious! I also made the glaze as suggested in another review using the cherry juice and icing sugar, and more almond extract. Everyone at work who tried it loved it! This recipe will definitely be added to my annual Xmas baking! ***Edit: I also tried this recipe using Splenda and it did not turn out well - the consistency of the dough was different, and it did not rise well at all, which affected the end product. It came out very heavy and didn't have a very good texture. I ended up throwing out almost all of it. Next time I make it I'll definitely stick with the sugar! - 23 Dec 2007 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)