Baked from scratch by Bella!

This was the BEST cake I have ever tasted! 7 people and 6 hours later….

Bella picked out a cherry cake recipe for today, and it is absolutely delicious! The pink color of the cake is beautiful with no added food color. The color comes from the maraschino cherry juice. However, when I checked the ingredients on the label, the processor had added a red food color to the cherries while canning. If you look, you might be able to find a brand that does not add coloring. If you do, please make a comment with the brand on this post!

Cake Ingredients

• 1 whole egg
• 4 egg whites
• 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 4 t. baking powder
• 3/4 C butter
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 3/4 C sour cream
• 1/4 C milk
• 1 C maraschino cherry juice (reserved from draining cherries)
• 3/4 C chopped maraschino cherries (2 of the large jars)

Frosting Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C butter softened
• 1 1/2 C crisco
• 12 C powdered sugar
• 5-6 T. maraschino cherry juice (reserved). It took a lot more than this!
• Additional cherries with stems for decorating (We forgot to buy these so Bella just used some of the ones without stems.)

Method for Cake

Step 1: Grease and flour 3 eight inch cake pans and set aside. We did not have 3 eight inch pans so me made a tiered cake with 3 different sized pans.

Step 2: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Step 3: Beat 3/4 C butter and 1 1/2 C sugar on medium for 4-5 minutes.

Step 4: Add 3/4 C sour cream and 1/2 t. vanilla–mix well.

Step 5: Add whole egg and mix well.

Step 6: Add 4 egg whites and mix well.

Step 7: In separate bowl sift together 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour and 4 t. baking powder.

Step 7: Add 1/4 C milk to the 1 C reserved cherry juice

Step 8: Starting with the flour, add it alternately with the cherry juice/milk mixing well after each addition. Add about 1/3 at a time. Do not over mix.

Step 9: Stir in the chopped 3/4 C cherries. (No need to flour these)

Step 10: Divide the batter evenly between the 3 pans and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Step 11: Let cool in pan about 5 min and then turn out onto wire wrack to cool completely before frosting.

Method for Frosting

Step 1: In VERY LARGE bowl, mix 1 1/2 C crisco and 1 1/2 C butter until smooth.

Step 2: Add the powdered sugar 4 C at a time followed by 2-3 T. cherry juice. Keep doing this until you have used up the 12 C powdered sugar. Used enough cherry juice to make frosting soft enough to spread without breaking cake. At end add 1 T. at a time until desired consistency as to not get it too soft.

Step 3: Spread between layers and on top. Bella wanted a naked cake, so she did not spread on sides but she did cut the corner off of a ziplock bag and piped dollops around the sides.

Step 4: Add cherries on top to decorate. The original recipe called for cherries with stems but we forgot to buy these.

A video of cutting the cake–This cake is incredibly moist but holds together and does not crack or crumble when cut!

If you try this recipe, pease drop Bella a comment! Thanks for all your views!