Moist Cake With Tart Cherries

This is a traditional Serbian cake served with coffee (or any beverage) in many Yugoslavian households.  This recipe has been in our family for a very long time. Moist and not too sweet, it is always made with tart cherries as it was with generations beforehand. Delicious!

The Serbian name is

“Višnjak Torta” – Cherry Cake

Moist Cake With Tart Cherries

3 cups all-purpose flour 

2 Tsp baking powder

¼ Tsp salt

3 eggs

1 ¾ cups sugar

2 Tsp vanilla

1 cup buttermilk*

½ cup vegetable oil

2 cups frozen tart cherries thawed**

2-3 Tbsp flour

Powdered Sugar for Dusting

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Have a greased 9”x13” baking dish ready.  

In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.

Using a stand mixer, mix eggs, sugar, and vanilla until pale and well combined. 

Then add buttermilk and oil, and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture. Mix on low speed. Will be thick consistency, muffin like batter.  

Place thawed and drained cherries in their own bowl. Add about 2 Tbsp of flour and shake them so they get coated with flour, this is very important to assure they don’t sink during baking.

Add cherries to the batter and fold in gently. 

Transfer to the baking dish. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and it is a nice golden color. Edge of cake may brown slightly. We usually cut the edges off before serving.

Remove from oven and let cool. Dust with powdered sugar. Cut into squares. Tastes wonderful warm but even better completely cooled or the next day. Nice treat to make ahead.

*If you don’t have buttermilk, in a measuring cup add two tablespoons lemon juice and fill rest with milk to the 1 cup line. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes. Since buttermilk is generally not in our household, we use this method to make our own buttermilk in recipes.

**May substitute with fresh tart cherries. Rinse and dust with flour also.