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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.
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?