You Heard Me -- Maraschino Cherry Cake!

By Addie

A Childhood Tradition

When I was growing up, my mother's go-to cake for all of our birthdays was a colorful confection we dubbed Maraschino Party Cake. It came from a 1933 cookbook called All About Home Baking, published by the General Foods Corporation. The book is clearly well used, its yellow plaid cover faded, its pages butter-stained. But "Maraschino Cherry Cake," on page 134, is the only recipe in the book with Mom's handwritten changes in the margin.

The notes say that she added cherry juice to the milk, so her cake had more cherry flavor. The recipe said to sprinkle cherries and nuts on top of the cake in lieu of frosting, but "I add them to the batter," Mom wrote. We always had frosting.

I inherited the cookbook from Mom many years ago and made the cake for my kids a couple of times, but after maraschino cherries, with their dazzling red dye, became ingredients non grata, I stopped. Sometimes I ordered birthday cakes from a bakery rather than making the old favorite. Once in a while, when I was feeling particularly sophisticated, I made a cake using a recipe written by an actual chef like Julia Child or Pierre Hermé. Basically, I made fashionable cakes more often than family favorites.

I recently saw maraschino cherries without the dangerous dye in my supermarket and decided to make the cake again. When I picked up the book, it fell open to page 134. There was my mother's distinctive handwriting. As soon as I saw it, I saw my mother making the cake. I tasted the cherries and the walnuts. I wished I had made it my tradition as well -- but it's never too late to start. My own birthday's coming up, and I know exactly what to bake.

Ingredients

• CAKE:
• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice mixed with enough milk to total 2/3 cup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, stemmed and chopped
• .........................................
• FROSTING:
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Extra walnuts for decoration

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch round cake pan.

For the cake, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Add flour alternately with milk and cherry juice mixture. Add vanilla. Beat until thoroughly blended.

Stir in walnuts and cherries. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool about 20 minutes.

For frosting, beat butter in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time and beat until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and stir until combined. Frost cake and garnish with walnuts. Serves 8.