Quick, easy and delicious sweet cherry kuchen, drizzled with a sweet, vanilla glaze. This one starts with a bit of yeast, but no kneading is required and it rises in the pan! Has an overnight rise option, too!
This delicious sweet cherry kuchen recipe is leavened with a bit of yeast, so it’s lovely and light. Don’t worry though, even though there’s yeast involved, there are no super-long rising times and absolutely no kneading required!
Studded with sweet cherries and drizzled with a sweet vanilla glaze, this dish works as a sweet morning or afternoon treat or as a summer dessert, maybe with a dollop of whipped or ice cream.
Ingredients and substitutions
Cherries – sweet cherries are suggested, either fresh or frozen. For using frozen cherries, thaw and bring to room temperature before using. Using the cherries from frozen will make for a cold batter, that will inhibit yeast rising.
Yeast – you can use either Active Dry Yeast or Instant Yeast for this recipe.
Recipe tips
This recipe was halved from a larger recipe, hence the 1 1/2 eggs :) It’s plenty at this size for normal family fare, but if you’re feeding a crowd, you can double the recipe and bake up in a 9×13-inch pan.
I love to bake this up in my skillet, for a rustic presentation. My skillet (shown) is 8-inches across the bottom and 10-inches across the top. You can also bake this in an 8-inch square or round baking pan.
Making ahead
You can make this kuchen ahead and bake it later. Instead of setting it to rise to bake up immediately, cover it tightly with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours. This is perfect for mixing up the night before, and then baking up first thing in the morning!
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Ingredients
Batter:
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
- 5 Tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 large eggs, add 1 egg, then beat another egg in a small bowl and add half of it
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, spooned and levelled
- 3/4 tsp. salt
Topping:
- 3 cups sweet black cherries, fresh or frozen, pitted
- 2 Tablespoons turbinado or brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Glaze:
- 1/2 cup icing/confectioners’ sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cream or milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- *For frozen cherries, thaw and pat dry before using.
- Lightly great a 10-inch skillet (8 inches across the bottom/10 inches across the top) or an 8 or 9-inch round or square baking pan. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk, brown sugar and butter until warm to the touch, and the butter has almost melted, about 105F. Remove from heat and stir in the yeast. Let stand 5-10 minutes, until foamy.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Add the eggs and the milk/yeast mixture and gently stir, mixing just until the wet ingredients are incorporated. Add the batter to the prepared pan and cover with plastic wrap that is sprayed with cooking spray on the underside.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Place the pan in a warm spot in your kitchen and leave it to rise for about 45 minutes – 1 hour (I like to set it on top of my pre-heating oven). *Note: If you want to make the night before for enjoying in the morning, you can refrigerate this for up to 8 hours, then bake up.
- When dough has risen, remove plastic wrap and evenly distribute the cherries over-top. Sprinkle with turbinado or brown sugar, then drizzle the melted butter over-top.
- Bake in the preheated 350 F. oven for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 F. and bake a further 10-15 minutes, or until the top is golden and the sides are pulling away from the side of the pan.
- While the cake is baking, make the glaze by whisking together all the ingredients until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the warm cake and serve immediately.
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Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Jen, I made this last night. I had it for breakfast with a cup of coffee. It is heavenly. It is the first time that I have ever baked anything with fresh cherries. i love it because it is not super sweet. it is just perfection. I don’t have an iron skillet. i made it in a Pyrex pie dish and it came out really good. Heavenly, can’t wait to share with my readers. Thank you Jen! Hope you had a great Canada Day!
Thanks Despo. So glad you enjoyed it! Happy 4th to you :)
Oh my goodness, this kuchen looks KILLER!! Love the sweet cherries in here and that glaze is to die for!! Seriously, I want to eat that entire skillet! Cheers, friend!
Thanks so much, Cheyanne :)
Hi
I just made this recipe with iron pan( I’m using by SUKIYAKI japanese iron pan). It looks exactly same as this picture . That’s amazing myself : )
This bread cake ?! texture is so good, crispy outside .I was using only 15 ~18 pieces cherries.
Love it !
Again, not so sweet at all ! That’s what I liked about your recipe all the time.
Thank you !
So glad you enjoyed it Yuri :) And yes, I love cakes that are lightly sweet, so they are great any time of day!
Cherry season is one of my favorite seasons! We always go cherry picking each year and this is just the perfect way to use up some of the many cherries we get. So gorgeous.
Thanks so much, Amanda and yes, it’s a worthy destination for some lovely cherries!
So glad to hear, Cathy and how nice with that Muskoka coffee :) Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Made this morning to go with a cup of Black Bear Musoka coffee. It was so easy the hardest part was pitting the cherries. The kitchen smells fantastic. Very light and tasty and willing be making this again.
Such a pretty skillet cake, and that glaze is lovely!
Thanks so much, Laura :)
What a glorious looking cake! I definitely appreciate your rustic presentation.
Thanks so much, Sarah :)
So pretty and very enticing Jennifer. I grew up on kuchen – apple, blueberry, peach, raspberry and lots of cherry kuchens. I though everyone in the world ate kuchen till I left home :) Yours looks super moist and I love how simple it is to make.
Thanks Chris and yes, kuchens are perfect with any fruit, for sure!
Such a lovely dessert Jennifer, and perfect for all those summer cherries! Just bought a cherry pitter myself yesterday! Been pitting pounds of cherries ever since! Ha! Adding this beauty to my list!
Thanks Mary Ann. I have a vintage cherry pitter. Weighs a ton, but gets the job done :)
Looks perfectly fluffy, moist and tasty! Awesome job here!
Thanks so much :)
Thanks Sue and yes, these are great cakes for morning snacking, for sure :)
I just happen to have a couple pounds of fresh cherries in the fridge, yay! I love old fashioned cakes like this for breakfast, and the skillet makes it look so beautiful, perfect for a brunch buffet!
Oh, this looks so tasty, Jennifer. I never seem to get enough cherries in me before the season is over but that’s the price we pay for living in Canada, I guess!
The presentation in the skillet is so lovely!
Thanks Robyn and yes, I can’t ever get enough either. I make due with the frozen ones the rest of the year, though.
I could eat my weight in cherries Jennifer – and always sad when the season is over. I’ve never tried making a Kuchen but love the idea of baking with yeast. I will have to give this a try! The vanilla drizzle looks perfect!
Thanks Tricia. I loved how easy these are to whip up with just about any fruit, too!