Easy Cherry Cake with Fresh Plums

This cherry cake is everything I want from late-summer baking: soft and buttery in the center, lightly golden around the edges, and studded with juicy fresh cherries and slices of ripe plum in top. Greek yogurt keeps the crumb tender, while a little olive or canola oil gives the cake enough moisture to stay lovely even the next day.

Best of all, this is an unfussy cherry cake recipe made with everyday ingredients. No layers, no piping bags, no complicated cherry filling—just a simple homemade cake that lets beautiful seasonal fruit do most of the work.

Table of Contents

• Why I Love This Cherry Cake Recipe
• Ingredients You'll Need
• Substitutions and Variations
• Directions
• How to Store Leftover Cherry Cake
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Final Thoughts

By the end of summer, my kitchen always seems to have a handful of fruit that needs a purpose. Maybe there are a few cherries left in the refrigerator, one particularly ripe plum on the counter, or peaches that suddenly decided to ripen all at once. Instead of treating that as a problem, I think of it as an excuse to bake.

This is the kind of cake I make in those moments.

I love recipes that are flexible enough to follow the season rather than requiring another trip to the grocery store. Cherries and plum are wonderful together—the cherries are sweet and juicy, while the plum brings a little tartness—but the real beauty of this recipe is that it isn’t precious. Use what looks good.

It’s exactly the kind of everyday cooking I want more people to come back to: good ingredients, a straightforward method and just enough technique to make something simple feel special.

Why I Love This Cherry Cake Recipe

This is one of those recipes that looks much more impressive than the amount of effort involved.

It’s a simple cherry cake recipe made completely from scratch, but you only need familiar baking staples and a little seasonal fruit. The combination of butter and oil gives the cake both flavor and moisture, while Greek yogurt adds tenderness without making the batter heavy.

I also love that it isn’t overly sweet. The fruit gets to be the star.

Serve the cake as it is for an afternoon snack, dust it with powdered sugar, or add softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream when you want dessert to feel a little more celebratory.

Ingredients You’ll Need

½ cup butter, softened
Use unsalted butter if possible. Make sure it is truly softened rather than melted—it should give easily when pressed but still hold its shape. That makes it easier to cream with the sugar and gives the cake a lighter texture.

2 tablespoons canola oil or mild olive oil
I like using butter and oil here. Butter brings flavor, while a small amount of oil helps the cake stay moist. If using olive oil, choose something mild rather than intensely peppery.

1 cup granulated sugar
This is enough to sweeten the batter without covering up the natural flavor of the cherries and plum.

2 large eggs, at room temperature
Using eggs at room temperature helps them incorporate smoothly into the butter mixture.

½ cup plain Greek yogurt
The yogurt is one of my favorite parts of this cake. It gives the crumb a lovely softness and subtle tang. Full-fat or 2% Greek yogurt are my first choices.

1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Yes, a full tablespoon. Vanilla rounds out the fruit and gives this very simple cake a beautiful bakery-style aroma. If your recipe card displays ingredients as “1 tablespoon vanilla” rather than “1 teaspoon vanilla,” that is intentional here.

1¾ cups all-purpose flour
Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it rather than packing it down.

1 teaspoon baking powder
The baking powder provides the lift for this cake.

¼ teaspoon salt
A small amount of salt makes the vanilla, butter and fruit taste brighter.

½ cup cherries, pitted and sliced
Look for firm, ripe fresh cherries without bruising. I like to slice them rather than leave them whole.

1 ripe plum, sliced
Choose a plum that gives slightly when pressed but isn’t so soft that it falls apart when sliced.

Substitutions and Variations

One of the reasons I come back to this recipe is how easily it changes with the season.

• Use peaches or nectarines. Replace the plum with one small peach or nectarine. Thin slices work beautifully across the top of the cake.
• Add blueberries. Replace some or all of the cherries with blueberries. There is no need to cut them.
• Try frozen cherries. Frozen cherries can work when fresh cherries aren’t available. Let them soften only enough to slice if necessary, then blot away excess moisture before adding them to the batter.
• Add almond extract. Cherry and almond are natural partners. Replace ¼ teaspoon of the vanilla with almond extract if you enjoy a more pronounced almond flavor.
• Add chocolate. Fold in about ⅓ cup chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips for an easy chocolate-cherry variation. It won’t become a full chocolate cake, but you get those lovely little pockets of melted chocolate with the cherries.
• Make it all cherry. Skip the plum and increase the sliced cherries to about 1 cup for a straightforward fresh cake with cherry throughout.
• Finish it simply. A dusting of powdered sugar is plenty, but whipped cream, crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream are all excellent alongside a warm slice.

I don’t recommend substituting canned pie filling directly for the fresh fruit in this particular recipe. A cake with cherry pie filling recipe is formulated around the extra sugar, starch and liquid in the filling, while this batter was designed for fresh fruit.

Directions

I use a 9-inch round cake pan for this recipe. Grease it well and line the bottom with parchment paper for easy removal.

1. Prepare the oven and pan

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Grease a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment.

Pit and slice the cherries. Slice the plum into thin wedges.

2. Cream the butter and sugar

Add the softened butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl.

Beat until the mixture looks noticeably lighter and creamy. Add the oil and mix again until smooth.

You can use a hand mixer or stand mixer at medium speed, but you don’t need to spend ages beating it.

3. Add the eggs, yogurt and vanilla

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.

Add the Greek yogurt and vanilla and mix just until everything comes together. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl so there are no streaks of unmixed butter.

4. Combine the dry ingredients

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and fold or mix on low just until the flour disappears.

Once the flour goes in, I try not to overwork the batter. A few turns with a spatula at the end are usually all it needs.

5. Add the fruit

Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Arrange the plum slices an cherries over the top, pressing them very lightly into the surface.

This is where such an easy cake suddenly looks special. The fruit settles into the batter as it bakes, creating those beautiful little pockets of juicy cherry and plum.

6. Bake

Bake at 375°F for about 45 minutes.

Begin checking slightly earlier because ovens and cake pans vary. The cake is ready when the top is golden, the center springs back lightly when touched, and a tester inserted into the cake portion—not directly through a piece of fruit—comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.

If the top is becoming deeply browned before the center is done, loosely tent the cake with foil for the final few minutes.

7. Cool and serve

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before turning it out onto a rack.

You can serve it slightly warm, but for the cleanest slices, let it cool completely.

Finish with powdered sugar if you like. For company, I love it with softly whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

How to Store Leftover Cherry Cake

Let the cake cool completely before storing it so condensation doesn’t make the surface soggy.

For short-term storage, cover the cake and keep it at room temperature for about a day if your kitchen is cool. For longer storage, refrigerate it in an airtight container and bring individual slices back toward room temperature before serving.

The cake is also excellent made a day ahead. I actually like serving this style of fruit cake after it has had a little time to settle because the crumb stays moist and the fruit flavor comes through beautifully.

To freeze, wrap individual cooled slices well and place them in a freezer-safe container. Thaw at room temperature before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make this cherry cake with frozen cherries?

Yes. Frozen cherries are a useful option outside cherry season. Let them soften only enough to cut if needed, blot away extra moisture and add them to the batter. You may find that the cake needs a few additional minutes of baking depending on how cold the fruit is.

Can I use cherry pie filling?

I wouldn’t use it as a direct substitute in this cherry cake recipe. Cherry pie filling contains additional liquid, sugar and starch and will change the balance of the batter.

If what you’re after is a cherry filling cake recipe, cherry cake filling, or a cherry filled cake, I would use a recipe specifically designed for layers or filling rather than trying to convert this one.

Can I make this with only cherries?

Absolutely. Leave out the plum and increase the fresh cherries to around 1 cup. It’s an especially good option at the height of cherry season.

Can I use a different fruit?

Yes, and I encourage it. Peaches, nectarines, blueberries, raspberries and other tender late-summer fruit are all wonderful directions to take this recipe.

That flexibility is really the point of the cake: use what is ripe and delicious.

What can I serve with cherry cake?

For everyday eating, I serve it plain.

For dessert, try whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche. You can also dust the top lightly with powdered sugar immediately before serving.

Can I use almond extract?

Yes. Add about ¼ teaspoon almond extract, either alongside the vanilla or in place of a small amount of it. Almond is quite potent, so I would start small.

Could this work as a birthday cake?

Yes, particularly for someone who prefers simple fruit desserts over heavily frosted cakes. For an easy cherry birthday cake, I would dust the cooled cake with powdered sugar, pile a little whipped cream in the center and finish with fresh cherries on top.

It gives you that celebratory cherry on cake look without turning an everyday seasonal cake into a complicated layer cake.

Why is my cake taking longer than 45 minutes?

Ovens, pans and fruit moisture all affect baking time. Look at the cake rather than relying only on the clock. The center should be set and spring back lightly, and a tester inserted away from the fruit should come out without wet batter.

Final Thoughts

This easy cherry cake recipe is exactly the kind of baking I love most: uncomplicated enough for an ordinary afternoon but beautiful enough to bring to the table for friends.

There are no elaborate fillings, no special decorating skills and no long list of ingredients. It’s simply a tender homemade cake with cherries, ripe plum and the warm flavor of vanilla.

And when summer begins slipping into fall, I think that’s the best way to cook—look at what you already have, choose the fruit that tastes wonderful right now and make something with it.

Today that might be a cake with cherry and plum. Next week it might be peaches and blueberries.

That’s how I want cooking to feel: approachable, seasonal and just elevated enough to remind you why making something at home is worth it.