Cherry Quick Bread – Baked From Scratch
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Fresh beautiful juicy cherries loaded into a tender quick bread makes a delicious cherry bread in less than an hour. It’s slightly sweet and perfect as a snack or any meal of the day.
This easy cherry quick bread recipe is all about the cherries. Beautiful dark cherries are distributed throughout this homemade cherry bread making it a loaf you’ll want to share.
Growing up, we had two cherry trees in our back yard. We couldn’t wait for that beautiful fruit to ripen. The pies that were made with those cherries were culinary masterpieces.
The biggest problem we had was that the birds didn’t wait as patiently as we did. My sister and I would climb up into those trees and hang tin pie plates from string onto the branches. When they fluttered in the breeze it would scare all but the bravest birds away.
Regardless, we knew that if we wanted some pie we’d have to pick those cherries as soon as they were ready. The best cherries were at the top of course but that didn’t deter my sister and I. Our reward was worth the climb.
What are the best cherries for baking?
In my humble opinion, you don’t have to worry about the variety of cherries used in baking. I’ve seen recipes using all kinds of varieties. I do have a few tips that may help you, however.
- Tart cherries may require slightly more sugar in your recipe. Sprinkle the sugar called for right over the cherries.
- You can use frozen cherries. Set the cherries in a colander over a bowl so the liquid can drain off them. Tap them lightly with a paper towel to remove any additional moisture from the cherries before adding them to your recipe.
- Extra-large cherries can be diced before adding them to a recipe. Smaller cherries just need to be pitted.
- You can pit cherries with a small pairing knife or a cherry pitter specifically for this purpose.
We can’t always get our hands on fresh cherries. This Frozen Cherry Muffin and our Gluten Free Almond Cherry Muffin is proof that fresh or frozen cherries make delicious recipes. Our Cherry Scones recipe uses dried cherries and can’t be beaten!
What is Quick bread?
It doesn’t mean quick as in fast. Quick bread uses leavening agents other than yeast or eggs such as the baking soda and baking powder in this Cherry Quick Bread recipe.
That being said, cherry bread is faster than bread recipes requiring yeast as a leavening agent because there is no need to wait for it to rise. I love quick bread recipes!
It’s Freaky Friday! What’s that?
I wish I could take credit for this Cherry Quick Bread recipe but I can’t! This Cherry Bread recipe is a part of the #freakyfridayrecipes series that I participate in about 4 times a year.
The Freaky Friday blog hop, organized by Michaela who runs An Affair From the Heart, is a group of bloggers that are secretly assigned each others’ blogs from which we choose a recipe appropriate for the theme. It’s so much fun and there are so many quality recipes.
The theme of this blog hop is “Summer”. I was given Erin’s blog, The Speckled Palate. I knew that this was going to be both easy and difficult!
You see, Erin and I have a lot in common. We both believe that homemade is best and like using simple ingredients. We also love feeding the people we cherish and making memories together. That’s the easy part.
The difficulty was deciding on one recipe! Her blog is full of delicious recipes!
- Quick Rosemary Drop Biscuits which I’ve actually made with my fresh from the garden rosemary.
- Super Easy and Flavorful Beef Taco Pasta Salad. A delicious recipe that won’t heat up the kitchen and can be put on the table in a jiffy.
- Strawberry Melon Salad – My fresh mint is going wild right now and just begging for a beautiful salad like this one.
A few gadgets that you may need
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- Cherry pitter – Make your life easier and use a pitter!
- Glass Bowls – I have two sets of these bowls. I like the rounded bottom which makes blending ingredients easier.
- Zester – I love this tool and use it all the time!
- Citrus juicer – This is the star of my margarita’s and any time I need to juice a lemon or lime!
- Loaf pan – I like this pan for my quick bread recipes. They’re a little larger and I like the shape of my finished loaf.
I hope you enjoyed this delicious recipe as much as we do. Drop me a comment below, and don’t forget to give it a star rating. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Your comments and ratings help others decide if this recipe is for them too.
Cherry Quick Bread – Baked From Scratch
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Cherries Any variety pitted and largely diced plus additional halves for the top of the bread
- 1¾ cup Unbleached All-Purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 4 tbsp coconut oil *melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract I recommend using pure
- 1/4 cup applesauce unsweetened
- 1 lemon zested & freshly squeezed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Heat the coconut oil in a covered large glass bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir after 15 seconds. Remove and allow to cool slightly. Add the sugar and stir together until smooth. Add the egg, vanilla, salt, applesauce, and the zest and juice of the lemon. Stir to combine.
- In another large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda. Whisk to combine. Add the cherries and stir.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold together until mixed.
- Spoon mixture into the prepared pan and dot the top with additional cherry halves.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes. Cover the top toward the end of baking if the top gets too brown.
- Cool on a baking rack for 15-30 minutes and then remove the bread from the loaf pan.
- Store at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.
Erin also has meal plans all spelled out for you. Make your life easy and check out her blog, The Speckled Palate! Just go see for yourself all of the amazing recipes. I’ll guarantee you’ll want to stay awhile. While you’re at it, take a look at what these other Freaky Friday participants are cooking up!
Take a look at all of our Summer 2019 Freaky Friday Recipes:
- An Affair from the Heart –Summer Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Poppy Seed Dressing
- Aunt Bee’s Recipes – Greek Chicken Salad with Lemon Oregano Dressing
- Bowl Me Over – Mexican Coleslaw
- Hostess at Heart – Cherry Quick Bread
- House of Nash Eats – Instant Pot Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes
- Lisa’s Dinnertime Dish – Thai Shrimp Curry
- Take Two Tapas – Caprese Empanadas
- The Speckled Palate – Cherry Bourbon Slush
- West Via Midwest – Cornbread Tamale Pie
- Who Needs a Cape? – Warm Bean Dip a.k.a. Texas Trash
Tried it tonight and like others it did. Not Rise much and it’s a very heavy /thick batter. Used a bread loaf pan, used unsalted butter instead of coconut oil and left the lemon zest out but put in the lemon juice on the cherries
Baked for 40 mins at 350 and it was done
Taste was good but a bit dry
This is indeed a thick batter that doesn’t rise much. Exchanging the coconut oil with butter and the other changes you made may have affected your outcome. I do appreciate you stopping by and hope your comment helps other readers.
My bread didn’t turn out good. I think the flour should be 1 3/4 cup instead of only 3/4 cup.
I’m so sorry Murni! You’re so correct, the flour is 1-3/4. I’ve corrected the recipe and appreciate you pointing this our for us!
We enjoyed this bread for Mother’s Day brunch for the 4 of us. It was moist and satisfying, more like custard than bread in my opinion. I followed the recipe exactly but used gluten free flour instead. It didn’t rise very much and at most if eaten as a dessert, it would serve 8 people. We finished the whole thing at brunch today. Thank you for the recipe.
Using Gluten-free flour is going to act differently than the flour I used but am very glad you enjoyed it.
This recipe sounded good, but didn’t turn out very good. Didn’t hardly raise. The bread is only an inch high. I should have doubled the recipe to make one loaf. Also it is VERY crumbly and doesn’t slice well.
What sized pan did you use? Several people have made this recipe and didn’t have your experience? You may want to test your baking powder and baking soda to make sure they’re still good.
I’m currently in the biggest cherry growing region in Michigan while on vacation. Definitely picking up some beauties so I can make this when I return home.
Oh my gosh, I’ve got to get to Michigan pronto! Thank you, Lori!
I have everything in my fridge to make this right now! I am so excited!! Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you, Michaela! I had to get more cherries today for round 2!
What a fun memory! I wish we had cherry tries! This bread is next on my baking list!
Thank you, Amy! If it’s related to food I remember it otherwise I’m not so lucky LOL!
Quick breads are my favorite, too, and quick breads like this cherry one make me so incredibly happy! It also makes me incredibly happy that you made this recipe of mine to share for our collaboration. It’s so perfect for the summer. I also love the tips and tricks you added in–so helpful!
I’ve got some cherries in my fridge now, so it might be time to bake…
Thank you Erin for such an amazing recipe! I bought more cherries today because our loaf only lasted two days!
Quick breads are perfect for summer, especially with all the cherries, and I am really looking forward to making a few batches of these for the holidays!
Thank you Jennifer! This bread would make a great Holiday bread!
Oh my this bread sounds really fantastic and so easy!! I’d love to have this for breakfast, toasted with a little butter! Yum! A must try! Thanks!
Thank you, Angela! Toasted would be amazing!
I can’t wait to make this bread, it looks so good!
Thank you!
This is another recipe Im keeping for our potlucks. I love how it was and yet it was the most delicious cake — Thank you!
Thank you, Michele!
We had a yellow Rainier tree when we kids and it was the same thing! We’d pick them the instant they were ready or they would be gone that fast. I can’t wait to try this new recipe, it looks just delicious!
Wow, I’d love a Rainier tree! I’d have a constant belly ache from devouring them.