These delicious cherry cake bars are like a mixture of cherry pie, sweet vanilla pound cake and sugar cookies. The soft, sweet cake batter blends deliciously with the ruby cherry pie filling and simple vanilla syrup.
My favorite cherry cake bar.
Have you ever had kuchen? It’s a German dessert, a bit like an American pie. In other words, it is a cake-like batter baked with fruit, somewhere between a cake and a pie. The drippings are traditional, but not required.
We love the classic cherry cake! We also love this beautiful chocolate bar, derived from the traditional cherry cake. The whole thing is sweet and drizzled with glaze instead of custard. Also, there is no need to use yeast. A simple cookie bar with a glossy fruit filling is a wonderful addition.
Another great option is the Cherry Cake Bar, perfect for Valentine’s Day. Dark, delicious red cherries are the symbol of Valentine’s Day. The deep red color of the cherry filling and the vanilla cookie dough make a beautiful presentation, especially when topped with a glaze. I like to eat them with a cup of hot coffee.
Recipe Ingredients.
You will notice that this recipe calls for jarred cherry pie filling. Not many people have this jar lurking in their cupboard, do they? I’m sure you usually do. I usually do! But if you want to make your own, that’s totally fine too.
Cake Bars.
- Shortening Shortening is something that you may not get to use very often, but it’s very useful! You can use it half and half with shortening. This is because using half shortening and half butter keeps the cake batter from becoming too flat.
- Butter. You will need one stick of butter, or half a cup, for this baking.
- Eggs: Three large eggs will give the cake batter a rich texture. Delicious.
- Vanilla For best flavor, use pure vanilla extract.
- Baking powder: 1.5 teaspoons is required.
- Sugar: 1.4 cups granulated sugar. Raw sugar, kiwi sweetener, etc. can be substituted. Keep in mind that some sweeteners, even honey or maple syrup, vary in strength, so you may need to adjust the amounts.
- Salt.
- Flour: I usually use regular all-purpose flour for baking. If you want to try a gluten-free all-purpose flour, I think it would work well. Be aware that flour substitutes such as almond flour and tapioca are not usually 1:1 substitutes for AP Flour.
- Cherry Pie Filling. You will need a 21oz can of cherry pie filling, but you will need about the same amount of filling if you make your own.
For the filling.
- Icing Sugar: An iron rule when making frosting or icing, mix about 1.5 cups of icing sugar with a few tablespoons of milk to make a creamy drizzle.
- Vanilla essence: can be omitted if desired, but a teaspoon of vanilla makes the icing extra special.
- Milk: use non-dairy, whole milk, skim milk, or whatever you prefer.
Other Fruit Varieties
What about other types of fruit fillings? Honestly, almost any kind of fruit will do. And if you make your own fruit filling, you can customize it with rhubarb, strawberries, or anything else you like.
How to make a Cherry Cake Bar (Cherry Pie Bar)
Making these bars is very easy and fun. The bright colors of the fruit and the soft texture of the dough naturally draw you in, making this a great recipe to make with children. Making the icing is fun and easy too.
- Prepare oven and pan. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 15 x 10 baking pan. You can line the baking pan with parchment paper if you like.
- Begin whisking the dough ingredients. In a large bowl, beat the ghee and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 1 minute. Next, add the eggs and vanilla until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Finally, add the baking powder, sugar, and salt. Stir until combined.
- Add the flour mixture. Add the flour mixture one cup at a time, mixing with an electric whisk until the batter is too thick. Then switch to a wooden spoon and stir in the remaining flour mixture.
- Make the bottom “crust” and bake: reserve 1 1/2 cups of dough and press the remaining dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven.
- Fill with filling and remaining dough. Spread the cherry pie filling evenly over the baked dough. Then, using a spoon, place a small amount of the reserved dough on top. You can use your hands to shape it if you like!
- Finish baking and let cool. Bake for another 30 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool in pan for 10 minutes.
- While the cake is cooling, make the icing by mixing the icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk in a small bowl. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. When chocolate bars are cool, drizzle with frosting, cut and serve.
Tips for Making the Best Cherry Bites
Since this recipe may be new to you, here are my best tips for making the perfect cherry cake bars.
- Don’t overcrowd the batter. Remember, the cake batter is wheat-based, so you want to mix it well but not too stiff. The more you mix and stir the wheat-based dough, the more the gluten will activate and add a firm, elastic texture to the dough. This dough should be soft like a sugar cookie and not overmixed.
- Adjust the sweetness. This recipe calls for a sweet dough, prepared fruit filling, and a sugar glaze. You can do this by reducing the amount of sugar in the dough, skipping the glaze, or making your own filling with less sweetener. You can also make all three at the same time.
- Chill the bars. These chocolate bars are delicious at room temperature, but they taste even better when chilled in the refrigerator. Simply place them in the refrigerator for an hour or so to enjoy their intense juiciness and rich sweetness.
How to store leftovers
- You can wrap the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate, or you can take them out one at a time and wrap them, and they can be frozen.
- They can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Can I freeze homemade chocolate bars?
- Yes, you can! Double wrap in cling film and place in an airtight container or freezer bag.
- They can be kept frozen for several months.
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