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Moist Cherry Sheet Cake is topped with a homemade almond buttercream frosting. It is easy and SO delicious!!
Cherry sheet cake is packed full of delicious cherry flavors!!! If you love cherry desserts like I do, you’ll also love Cherry Cheesecake Cupcakes, Cherry Almond Cupcakes, and Glazed Cherry Bars.
WHO LOVES CHERRIES?
The family loves cherries! Do you?
I know, I know – Maraschnio cherries are filled with sugar and have lost some of their true flavoring, but they are SO good in drinks and desserts – like today’s Cherry Sheet Cake!
With cherries all through out and a delicious almond buttercream frosting, this cake is so moist and so tasty!
Cherry and almonds are just a perfect pairing. We have tried a lot of fruity cakes recently, but this one has to be my favorite. If you love cherries, then you gotta try this dessert. It’s AMAZING!
How to make cherry sheet cake
PREP. Preheat oven to 350.
BLEND. Begin by adding your cherries to a blender or food processor and blending.
COMBINE. Mix cake mix, eggs, oil and water in a large bowl until well blended. Add JELL-O mix and pureed cherries. Mix well.
BAKE. Pour into a greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cake cool.
FROST + ENJOY! While cake is cooling make frosting by creaming together the butter and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar, almond extract, and milk – blend well. Frost cake and enjoy!
Variations
This recipe uses cherry Jell-O gelatin powder for flavoring. This means you can easily substitute the cherry flavor for strawberry or raspberry and the maraschino cherries for cut strawberries or raspberries.
Also, this cherry flavored cake would pair really well with chocolate. You can top the current recipe with chocolate chips or chocolate shavings. You can even replace the cream cheese almond frosting with a chocolate frosting. No matter what you choose for flavoring I’m sure it will be delicious.
RECIPE Tips
If the frosting is too runny, add a bit more powdered sugar. If it’s too thick, add a bit of milk. STORE any leftover frosting in the freezer in an airtight container for 3 months.
Homemade Cake: Sometimes I like to make a recipe the quickest, easiest, but still delicious, way possible. Enter the boxed cake mix. If you would like to use your favorite white cake mix from scratch, you can definitely do that. Once you have the batter mixed, follow the rest of the recipe to add the cherries and flavored Jell-O and, of course, the frosting.
Size of pan to use for this cake: For this recipe I used a 9×13 cake pan. But you can easily use other pan sizes. The directions for cook time should be on the cake mix box, but here are some basic guidelines in case you need them. Keep in mind different ovens cook a little differently so begin checking a few minutes before the suggested time. Use a toothpick to insert in the center of the cake. When it comes out clean, pull the cake out of the oven.
- 11×13 pan: bake at 350°F for 20-25 min
- Two 8” rounds: bake at 350°F for 30-35 min
- Two 9:rounds: bake at 350°F for 25-30 min
- Cupcakes: Bake at 350°F for 15-20 min
Storing Info
This cake can sit out on the counter for about a couple hours before covering the pan with plastic wrap and STORING it in the fridge.
FREEZE the cake for up to 4 months:
- Frosted: Flash freeze first by placing the whole cake or as individual slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place in the freezer for a few hours or until the outside has frozen.
- Unfrosted: Properly wrap the plain or frosted cake with plastic wrap. Then you can either wrap the cake again with aluminum foil or place the cake in an airtight freezer safe container.
For Other Fruity Desserts, check out:
More Collections: Cakes That Feed A Crowd
Cherry Sheet Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 package white cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 oz cherry Jell-O
- 10-12 oz maraschino cherries drained
Almond Buttercream Frosting
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Begin by adding your cherries to a blender or food processor and blending.
- Mix cake mix, eggs, oil and water in a large bowl until well blended. Add JELL-O mix and pureed cherries. Mix well.
- Pour into a greased 9×13 pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Let cake cool.
- While cake is cooling make frosting by creaming together the butter and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar, almond extract, and milk – blend well. Frost cake. ENJOY!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I mix by hand or do I need to use an electric hand mixer?
The sheet cake portion can easily be mixed by hand, but it might be trickier to mix the buttercream frosting without an electric mixer. To mix the frosting by hand, make sure the butter and cream cheese are softened, then use a sturdy whisk and a lot of arm strength to whip up the ingredients.
I loved it! It was tasty.
Looks great. If I wanted to make the cake in a 12″x17″ what modifications would I need? Thanks
Made this today and it was amazing! The cake was moist and flavorful and the frosting was perfect. I saved a tablespoon of cherry juice to make the frosting pink. This was a 10/10.
Two teaspoons of almond extract I’m the frosting is absolutely way too much. I had to throw it out and start all over.
Thanks for sharing your feedback and for giving the recipe a try!
Hi, is this recipe gluten free? If not, how can I make it that way?
No, the cake mix we used was not gluten free. I haven’t made this using a gluten free cake mix, so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out or if any other ingredients would need to be adjusted.
Cherry-tastic! Super delish! So moist and such incredible cherry flavor!! YUM!
This is so fun and flavorful. I love how easy it is to throw together too!
My husband and I love maraschino cherries, and this cake was fantastic! And it is such a pretty color. 🙂
Yay! So glad you both enjoyed the cake. I love the color too!
The cake looks beautiful! I used a recipe for a white cake mix, as I didn’t have one at home. It calls for flour, sugar, salt & baking powder. The cake didn’t rise as well as I’d hoped, and the cake seemed way too sweet, especially after icing. I may try again with a store bought box mix. If anyone has thoughts about why my cake was so sweet. Or maybe it was because it didn’t rise as well. I don’t know, but your cake looks so pretty I’ll probably try again. Thank you!
Love the beautiful color!! I take this to my in-laws anytime I am in charge of dessert. It is always a hit & makes plenty!
We love cherry flavored anything. This cake does not disappoint. If you like cherries you’ll love this cake!
I have a church picnic/potluck in a few days and decided to make this cake. I am going to decorate it for the July 4th celebrations which were just last week. Now, onto finding a Mexican layered dip for the same event. I think I will browse your recipes to see if I can find a good one to take along with the cake. Thanks for your recipes and input.
You’re welcome! I hope the cake is a hit and that you were able to find another recipe that might work for your dip. A few of my favorites are our 7 Layer Bean Dip, Cream Cheese Bean Dip and our Chicken Enchilada Dip, but we have even more Mexican dips on our site too. 🙂
Made this cake today. To me it was overly sweet. Next time I’ll leave out the cherries and add one tablespoon of the syrup to the frosting.
Let me know how it goes the second time around. I would love to hear!
I was so hurt, don’t know why but my cake sunk in the middle!
I’m so sorry! Sometimes ovens are calibrated a little differently and the resulting temperature is slightly different and that can cause a cake to sink in the middle. I’m not sure if this is what happened in your case but I hope this recipe works out for you next time. Thanks so much for trying it!
Can I use 1/2 cup of orange juice instead of water? I think I’m going to make this cake recipe for Christmas this year.
Every year for mY husband’s birthday I make him a cherry cake. Every year they were just so-so. Tried this reCipe and EVERYONE just raved about how good it was. It was so flavorFul and moist. I made a two layer cake. I doubled the icing recipe, we love icing. It did dip a little in the center but i just filled it with icing to make it level. Lol
Perfect!! I am so glad you tried this & it was a hit! Thank you!
Do you have a picture of your 2 layer cake?
I love cherry anything, and im making this cake but all i have is black cherry jello, will this work?
Yes, for sure 🙂 I’ve tried it with so many flavors! Enjoy!
Hello! I made this for Fathers day tomorrow. How should i store it? Fridge or counter?
I like to keep this one in the fridge, because of the cool whip 🙂
Can you use black cherry jello iN this or does it have to be regular cherry
You sure could 🙂
Looks good.Making it this weekend.My grandkids will love this recipe.we are sure going to Enjoy it.
I hope you did!!!
There is mo such thing as instAnt chErry jellO
I love your FOOD it looks so delicious i would really like to make this
Awe, thank you so much! I hope you so try this!!
where can u get the cherry jello instant recipe calls for is it pudding are regular jello
It is jello & you should be able to find it in the baking aisle 🙂 Hope you try it!
The middle of my cake sunk as well. The cake and the frosting were both very disappointing.
Love the different unique recipes Thk U
Thank you!! Hope you find some to try!
My frosting came out nothing like the picture. Your recipe is 2-3 tablespoons of milk? Frosting was runny. What’s the secret!? Thanks in advance!
Add more powdered sugar, if it’s too runny. If it’s too thick, then you would add more milk. Enjoy!
If I use a round cake pan. Will this be the same recipe or will I have to alter it?
I haven’t made it in a round pan, but I’m guessing you would divide the batter into two, since those are a lot smaller. Usually the cooking time is a little longer, since it is smaller, but I wouldn’t know how long. It’s one of those, where you’d need to just keep an eye on it.
Can I add 2cups of sugar instead of 3 to the frosting, will it alter the the consistency too much?
You can start with 2 cups of powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk, then if you wish, add a little more of each until you reach your desired consistency.
Made the cherry sheet cake for our pizza bingo party at church. Could not find instant cherry jello
A employee googled it and said I could get it on ebay. Well not going that route so tried another
Store no luck. So I tried it with the regular cherry jello and baked it for the same amount of time
It turned out delicious and worked. So those of you who can not find instant jello just a note regular
Works.
Enjoy!
Thank you for sharing that!! I am so glad it worked and that you liked it!
I also made the sheet cake with a chocolate cake mix and it was very good as well. I used extra cherries and it was very tasty. I made the cherry bars also and the bottom came out very soggy..what do u think went wrong?
So yummy! One of the best cakes I’ve ever made. I made them into cupcakes for a church event and everyone loved them!
Oh, thank you!! We love this recipe, too!! That’s a great option, to make them into cupcakes! I’m honestly not sure what happened with the cherry bars. I haven’t had that happen before. I’m sorry!
Is this the instant gelatin cherry jello?
Yes 🙂 Hope you like it!! Thanks!
This cherry cake was a big hit with my boys and hubby! Thank you!
That makes me so happy to hear!! Thank you for letting me know & thank you for giving it a try!
Back again on another of your absolutely delicious & heavenly looking recipes 🙂 I want to try this one but am wondering about the JELLO again. Here in Canada we have JELLO Instant Pudding mixes (99-113g approx. depending on flavor) and JELLO Jelly Powder (Gelatin) comes in 3oz (85g) packages, but this gelatin is not instant … only the pudding is instant. The Gelatin powder is usually mixed up with 1 cup boiled water & one cup cold water, poured into dessert dishes and requires chilling in the fridge to set up. I am going to take a wild guess, based on the size you ask for in your lovely recipe of 3 oz (85g) that you are indeed referring to the JELLO brand gelatin (jelly powder) not the JELLO instant pudding mixes? Not sure I have even seen Jello instant pudding mixes in cherry flavor, only the gelatin powder in cherry, but that does not mean one does not possibly exist in the instant puddings lol 😉
I’m about to make the cherry cake but I could not find cherry INSTANT jello – just regular jello. Will that work??
Honestly, I haven’t tried. It will just take longer, but it should be ok. I’d love to know!!
I really like your foods, this looking so pretty and testy, i think it will be best for good fitness.
We love this cake!! Hope you give it a try and like it 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Hi! I am wondering if this cake needs to be refrigerated since it has the milk and cream cheese frosting?!
I just made it for a camping outing and didn’t even think about it till now.
Thanks!
I would suggest keeping it in the fridge. Could you keep it on ice in a cooler?
I love cherries! This is so delicious, I use an 11″x15″ jelly roll pan and cut into bars.
We do too!! Thanks for stopping by and sharing that!!
Wow, really, I can’t get over that delicious taste! So simple and yet – sooo great. Thank you for this recipe – it’s a real keeper
Haha..thanks!! We love this cake!!! I’m glad you liked it and thanks for letting me know!!
Hi! My daughter loves cherries. 2 questions. would this work as a 2 layered round cake? and second, how about chocolate frosting? Thanks!
I haven’t tried either those, but I bet they’d both work. Chocolate & cherry would taste great together! Let me know how it turns out!
Thank you! I’m going to try it for her 4th birthday in a couple of weeks…I’ll let you know!
Such an easy way to make a cherry flavored cake. I also love this recipe because it can feed a lot of people.
I don’t have instant jello is that gonna work????
I haven’t made this without the jello before, so I can’t honestly say how it’d turn out. The jello gives the color and added flavor. I wish I could tell you. If you try, I’d love to know how it comes out. Thanks!
Is there a substitute for the maraschino cherries? I’m not a fan of them although the cake sounds really good!
I have a recipe for lime sheet cake…https://lilluna.com/lime-sheet-cake/ or you could do this lemon sheet cake…https://lilluna.com/lemon-sheet-cake/. Do you like lemon or lime?
Have you tried using this recipe for cupcakes? I’m going to attempt it now and was wondering if any adjustments need to be made to the recipe.
Not yet, but they’d by great as cupcakes! I’d keep the same temperature, but follow what the cake mix box says for cooking time on cupcakes. Let me know how they turn out! Thanks for stopping by!
Yummy!
I only had about half a jar of cherries at home, so I added an extra packet of Jello (0.5oz)… which made the taste a little too strong. Still SO good, though!
So glad you tried it!! Thanks so much for letting me know!
For the glazed cherry bars, how big is a “large sheet cake” pan? Thanks for your help.
They look so good!
I used a 9×13, but you could use a 11×13, too. Hope that helps!!
I wanna make this for my daughter’s bday but I’m confused. The recipe calls for water but doesn’t say were to add it. Also the frosting calls for milk but doesn’t say were to add it either.
The water goes in at the beginning. It’s added to the cake mix, eggs, and oil, step 3. The milk is added in step 7, with the other frosting ingredients. Sorry to respond late…hope it’s not past your daughters bday!
Should some of the juice be drained from the cherries before processing, or should the whole amount be used? The directions don’t specify.
I have a granddaughter who is a big fan of maraschino cherries so this will be the perfect birthday cake for her.
Thank you for a great website.
Judi Curtis
I drained the cherries. I should have added that!! Thanks for asking..I’ll have to add it in. We love cherries, too! Hope she likes it!
Made the Glazed Cherry Bars for my family for Sunday Morning breakfast before church. Wow! We all loved them. Can I use other fruit fillings with this recipe?
Enjoy your recipes and craft ideas so much.
Thanks so much.
MaryEllen
It also says 1/2 cup of water and does that go in the cake mix or jello? Thanks
It goes in with the cake mix:) You’re welcome!! Enjoy!
SO glad everyone love it!! We haven’t tried it with other fruit, but I don’t see why they wouldn’t? Maybe find a jello flavor that would match your fruit. Let me know if you try it another way!
This looks so yummy! Thanks for sharing at I’m Lovin’ It Link Party.
It is delicious!! Hope you give it a try:) And, thanks for linking up!!
Thanks for linking up!! It is so good:) I hope you give it a try! Let me know what you think.
Can I use a homemade cake recipe instead of a box mix? Would I have to adjust the quantities of the cherries etc?
Thanks so much,
Rhian
Of course:) You shouldn’t have to change the cherries amount. I’d love to know how it turns out! I’d love to know what changes you make too:)
Thanks, I’ll let you know when I do 😀
Do you add the juice from the cherries too or drain off?
Thanks!
I was just wondering the same thing!
I was wondering the same thing and then I saw the picture above and it looks like she adds in the juice with the cherries.
Thanks Tammy, I see it in the blender now. Thanks for pointing that out!
Drain the juice from the can:) It would be too watery with the juice. Even draining it, it’s still plenty of liquid. Hope you give it a try!! It’s pretty tasty!!:)
Yes, they are drained:) Enjoy!!!
Yum, yum, yum. Have to take dessert to a backyard get together. Gonna make this!
It is definitely delish! Did you try it? If so, how’d you like it?
You just add the mix 🙂 Enjoy!!