Cherry Almond Cake

Cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup maraschino cherries, chopped
4 tablespoons cherry syrup, from jar of cherries

Frosting:
10 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup half & half
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 sticks of butter, softened
2 cups sugar

Filling:
2 cups frosting (above)
1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped
1-2 tablespoons cherry syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Cake:
Cut circles of parchment paper to fit in three 8" round cake pans. Spray pans before placing paper and again after paper. In a mixer, combine cake mix, flour, sugar and salt. Using the whisk attachment, stir on low until combined. Add eggs, sour cream, water, almond extract and cherry syrup. (What I do is get a cup of warm water in a pyrex measuring pitcher and add the eggs to the water and let them sit while adding the rest of the ingredients, this way the eggs reach room temperature quickly.) Beat on low speed for 30 seconds to combine, then increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add in chopped cherries and stir to combine. Pour the batter evenly into all three pans and bake for 30 minutes, checking with a toothpick. Can bake an additional 3-5 minutes if needed. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack until completely cool.
Frosting & Filling:
In small-medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine milk, half and half and flour, whisking constantly until thickened, this takes about 5-8 minutes. Make sure you whisk constantly to avoid scorching. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely--I usually put my saucepan in the fridge on a heating pad about 10 minutes or so and this cools it quickly. Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugar in your mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Once the flour mixture has cooled, whisk in the vanilla until combined and pour into the butter and sugar mixture. Turn the mixture to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Take 2 cups of the frosting and put in another bowl and mix the chopped cherries & cherry juice into it; this will be your filling.
Assembly:
Place your first cake layer on your cake stand or plate or whatever you will use to serve and spread half of the filling on that layer, using an offset spatula to spread evenly to the edges. Repeat for second layer. Place third layer on top and put about 2/3 of the frosting from the mixer bowl on top and spread evenly with your offset spatula to cover as well as possible, creating a crumb layer of frosting. Refrigerate the entire cake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from fridge and frost with remaining frosting, spreading evenly to cover any thin or bare spots. Dip offset spatula in warm water to smooth out the frosting, repeating until you reach the desired look. You can now accent with decorating tips or additional cherries as desired.



This cake is absolutely just as delicious as it is pretty. My husband requested it for his birthday and immediately proclaimed it the best cake he's ever had. I recommend having 2-3 large jars of maraschino cherries on hand as you will go through them a lot quicker than you think! I was hoping to have some to top the cake with, but I ran out of cherries and only had the syrup left so instead I flavored the filling with a bit of extra syrup since I was short on cherries. It seems like a lot of directions, but it's actually really easy to make compared to a lot of others I've done, and quicker also. One of my cake pans was MIA so I used a foil one, which led to a smaller top layer, but I just filled it in with frosting to make it even--you can see this in the photo, the top layer has a thicker outer coat of frosting than the other two. Also the middle layer got more brown on the bottom than I would've liked, so next time I will rotate the cake pans a little more than halfway as opposed to right at halfway through the baking time. This cake will definitely be a regular in our house, it was a hit in our family and everyone got up this morning wanting it for breakfast!

*Adapted from www.lemon-sugar.com*