Sweet Soft Cherry Bread with Cherry-Almond Glaze

By vealam

Ingredients

• Cherry Bread:
• one 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries, divided
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch salt, optional and to taste
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
• cherry juice, reserve 1/4 cup
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cherry-Almond Glaze:
• 1/4 cup reserved cherry juice
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 about 1 1/2 cups+ confectioners' sugar

Details

Servings 8
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 75mins
Adapted from averiecooks.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray two 8x4-inch loaf pans with floured cooking spray or lightly grease and flour the pans; set aside. Recipe may be baked in one 9x5 pan, as 4 mini loaves, or as muffins, although I have not tested it that way. Adjust baking time accordingly.

Cherry Bread:
Remove cherries from jar and place on a cutting board. Roughly chop them.
Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons flour (prevents them from sinking during baking) and toss to coat evenly; set cutting board aside. Set jar with the cherry juice aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add 1 3/4 cups flour, sugar, baking powder, optional salt, and whisk to combine; set aside.
In a small mixing bowl or glass measuring cup, combine eggs, oil, all the cherry juice from the jar except 1/4 cup to be reserved for the glaze, almond extract, vanilla extract, and whisk to combine.
Pour wet mixture over dry ingredients and stir to combine; don't overmix. Batter will be very thick.
Lightly fold in the chopped cherries.
Turn batter out into the prepared pans, smoothing the tops lightly with a spatula. Strategically place a few cherries on top for visual appeal.
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until bread is domed, set, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Allow bread to cool in pans on top of a wire rack for about 15 minutes before removing and allowing to finish cooling completely on rack. While bread cools, make the glaze.

Cherry-Almond Glaze:
In a medium bowl, combine 1/4 cup reserved cherry juice, almond extract, about 1 cup confectioners' sugar, and whisk to combine until smooth and satiny. Add sugar until desired consistency is reached. Glaze the bread prior to serving. After the photos were done, I glazed much more liberally, spreading the glaze like butter on the interior of the slices. Bread will keep airtight at room temp for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Do not glaze bread until ready to serve if you plan on storing long-term.