The Scoop
The food version of a 90s rom-com!
This pink-glazed, cherry-studded loaf is giving ultimate romantic comedy montage vibes, and we are here for it. Coating chopped maraschino cherries in flour before folding them into an almond-infused batter is such a brilliant grandma trick to keep them from sinking to the bottom.
It’s sweet, oh-so-retro, insanely soft, and a total showstopper for brunch or coffee dates.
Ingredients
For the bread:
- cooking spray with flour, to taste, for greasing the pans
- 1 (10-ounce) jar maraschino cherries, plus the juice
- 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- salt, optional, to taste
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the cherry-almond glaze:
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more, to taste
- red food coloring, optional, to taste
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Coat two (8x4-inch) loaf pans with the floured cooking spray.
- Transfer the cherries from the jar to a cutting board. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the juice for the glaze, and reserve the rest of the juice for the bread.
- Roughly chop the cherries.
- Sprinkle the chopped cherries with 2 tablespoons of the flour and toss to evenly coat.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the remaining flour, the granulated sugar, the baking powder, and the salt, and whisk to combine.
- In a small mixing bowl or a glass measuring cup, add the eggs, the canola oil, the cherry juice reserved for the bread, 1 teaspoon of the almond extract, and the vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
- Pour the wet ingredients mixture into the dry ingredients mixture and stir until just combined. The batter will be very thick.
- Gently fold in the chopped cherries.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared loaf pans, smoothing the tops lightly with a spatula.
- Bake until the loaves are domed on top, are set, are springy on the top, and until two toothpicks inserted into the centers come out clean or with a few moist crumbs clinging to them, about 40 minutes.
- Allow the loaves to cool in the pans for 15 minutes.
- Transfer the bread loaves from the pans to a wire rack to cool completely.
- In a medium bowl, add the reserved 1/4 cup of the cherry juice, the remaining almond extract, and 1 cup of the confectioners' sugar and whisk until smooth and glossy. Optionally, add some of the red food coloring, one drop at a time, to make the glaze more pink or red.
- If the glaze is too thin, add more of the extra powdered sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency.
- Drizzle the glaze over one or both of the loaves. The bread will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Do not glaze the bread if you are going to store it instead of serving it immediately.
- Slice and serve.
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