Shirley Temple Cake
Relive your childhood memories with this easy shirley temple cake made in a bundt pan with cherry powdered sugar glaze.
Who remembers having Shirley Temples growing up? I’ll be honest. I don’t know that this famous childhood drink was part of my younger years. But now that I’m older? I totally want to jump on the Shirley Temple bandwagon…especially when it comes to this Shirley Temple Cake! It’s a traditional bundt cake with maraschino cherries baked inside. Then the cake is infused with a powdered sugar lemon glaze. Feel free to make it use vanilla or almond flavoring if you don’t like so much tart lemon.
7Up Cake
Don’t let the fact there there is no baking powder or baking soda fool you. This dense, yet moist doesn’t need it because of the 7Up! 7Up pound cake is a classic recipe, and this cherry filled cake is a fun twist on that old fashioned recipe.
Cherry Bundt Cake
Bundt cakes are easy to mix together. There are just a handful of ingredients and you mix them as you would any other cake. Drain the cherries before you add them to the batter, but be sure to reserve the cherry juice. You’ll poke holes in the baked cakes and pour that sweet juice in. It gives the cake a pretty look…and makes it taste delicious.
How do you grease a bundt cake pan?
It is important to do two things when greasing a bundt cake pan. First, use shortening to grease the pan generously. If your cake pan has an intricate design, be sure to get it in the crevices of the cake pan. Second, after greasing the pan with shortening, dust the pan with flour. These two steps will ensure your cake does not stick!
How long do you let a bundt cake cool in the pan?
In general, it is a good idea to let the bundt cake cool for only about 10 minutes before turning the cake out to a plate to cool completely. If you let the cake cool longer, it may stick. There are of course exceptions to the rule, so be sure to follow the instructions your specific recipe gives.
Other Bundt Cake Recipes
Tools to Make This Cake
- Nordic Ware Heritage Bundt Pan: They make some beautiful bundt cake pans and this is one of my favorites!
- Stand Mixer: A hand mixer will work, but I always find it easier to make cake batter with a stand mixer.
- Bundt Cake Carrier: Store your cake in this carrier to keep it fresh and easy to transport!
Shirley Temple Cake
Relive your childhood memories with this easy shirley temple cake made in a bundt pan with cherry powdered sugar glaze.
Servings 12
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 ½ cups butter (softened)
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 3/4 cup 7up
- 10 ounces maraschino cherries (drained and juice reserved)
For the Glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 3-4 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- In large bowl mix together your butter (1 ½ cups or 3 sticks) and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in your eggs and continue to mix until blended.
- Add in your flour and mix again until smooth.
- Pour in your lemon extract and 7up and beat to combine.
- Fold in your cherries.
- Grease a bundt pan with shortening, then dust it with flour.
- Spread the batter into a greased & floured bundt pan and bake for 1 ½ hours or until center is set.
- Allow the cake to cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan.
- Turn the cake onto serving dish and let cool slightly and then using a skewer poke holes all over the top of the cake and pour your reserved cherry juice slowly over the top making sure the juice gets soaked up. It’s ok for it to seep to the bottom to soak as well.
- Let cool completely.
- Meanwhile mix together your glaze ingredients and drizzle over the top of your cake.
- Top with more cherries if desired.
Video
Notes
The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 12 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake with glaze. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate.
Nutrition
Calories: 665kcal | Carbohydrates: 105g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 138mg | Sodium: 237mg | Potassium: 78mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 80g | Vitamin A: 840IU | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 1.9mg
How can I rate the Shirley Temple Cake if I can’t get the recipe.
The recipe is here: https://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/shirley-temple-cake/
What temp should the oven be set? I didn’t see it anywhere or maybe I am just over looking it.
325. Sorry about that! I fixed the recipe.
It is the 1st instruction. It is ti be set at 325ยฐ
I notice the cake calls for all purpose flour but no baking soda, powder or salt. Is this correct?
Yes!!
She stated that the 7 Up would make it rise.
Can you use Cake Flour instead of all purpose flour
Can I make the Cake the night before and then poke and pour the juice the next day?
I think you could!
I’ve got one baking in the oven right now!! Smells amazing!! I’ll update on the taste in a few!
Mine is in the oven right now, Hubby loved the extra batter out the bowl so, I’m thinking this is going to be so good !!
Mines done
It looks lovely
Thanks to whomever shared this recipe!
Looks so good! Thanks for sharing. Also, I wonder if this would be better with sour cherries? Yummm.
Mmm…love sour cherries! it would be worth a try.
I read ur instructions but it does not say how long to bake it for???
Thank you
It says 1 1/2 hours…about 70-90 minutes depending on your pan size.
Mine was completely cooked in 60 minutes so keep an eye on it!!
Do i use left over cherry juice with other ingredients for the glaze?
No, you use the reserved cherry juice when you poke holes in the cake after baking and drizzle the juice over the cake. It will soak in and make the cake delicious!
Could you do a cake like this and use cherry pie filling??
You might be able to but I haven’t tried it.
Sheila, I’ve made a chocolate cherry cake that is amazing. Chocolate fudge cake mix, 2 eggs, 1 TBS of almond flavoring and can of cherry pie filling. Hand mix all ingredients well, pour in 9×13 pan and bake in 350 oven for 25-30 min. Frosting…melt 5Tbs butter, 1/4c milk & 1cup sugar on mdm heat. Boil 1 minute, take off heat & add 6oz semisweet chocolate chips. Mix well and add 1 cup chopped pecans if desired. Pour over warm cake. Cool completely before serving
Can I substitute ginger ale for 7-up?
Yes!
How can a Shirley Temple cake not contain grenadine, which is half of what makes a Shirley Temple a Shirley Temple?
This is just my opinion since it’s not my recipe, but my mom always used the juice that came in the maraschino cherry jar to make a Shirley Temple when I was a kid. So for me, this cake is exactly how I recall a classic Shirley Temple to be since you use the juice from the cherries to pour over the cake, instead of grenadine. I’m making this now and looking forward to trying it tonight! =)
Thanks for your hints!
So you do use the Cherrie juice for glaze?
This was an awesome cake! Some people donโt like cherries, so Iโm going to make this cake without cherries and make it totally a lemon cake, my son loves it easy to make too I thought it had enough sweetness to it! Iโm also going to make a lemon glaze to go with it
YUM!!! Sounds so good!
This cake was a huge hit! I’m a horrible baker so I made it with my mom’s supervision (who is an amazing baker).
We used almond extract instead of lemon (1 tea of pure extract in the cake, or 2 tea of imitation) and 1/2 tea baking powder. For the icing I used the juice from the cherries instead of milk (I missed the part of the instructions about pouring the juice on the cake) and a little almond extract.
Next time I will definitely use more than 10 oz of cherries, everyone kept asking where the cherries were…but that could have been my lack of stirring them in well enough.
Thank you for those hints!!
I think you might be right on with the almond extract as the lemon made mine very strong “extract” flavor, unfortunately.
Made it and it was VERY GOOD! Very moist and delicious. Will keep this recipe for a long time. Thanks for sharing!
Will this cake freeze well
I think it should!
Question~ should you refrigerate this cake? I’m wondering because I’m baking the cake tonight and putting the juice and glaze tomorrow. It smells so good baking!
You don’t need to refrigerate this cake!
Hi, what size bunny cake pan do you use?
Use a 10 cup bundt cake
I made this cake it came out great, we ate so much of this cake the same day immediately after baking it. It is so good, hot and cold. I did however add a cup of sour cream. Thanks for the recipe.
My son is crazy over this cake! He requests it all the time since I made it for a cookout! Making one for his birthday cake this weekend! Thank you for this recipe!
Very, very moist cake…..gave to friend on 95th birthday and she said it was the best cake she ever tasted!
Can I use cherry 7up instead of 7up
Sure!
Absolutely easy and delicious!
Love this cake, easy, but presentation is FABULOUS…every where I’ve taken it they want the recipe!!!!!
Can tis be made into a 9×13 cake?
I’ve not tried it, but it might work???
5 Stars. This was my favorite cake growing up . It is so moist and easy to make .
What cake mix can you use if you don’t want to go through all that?
You could use a white cake mix maybe??? I’m not sure it would work in this recipe though.
I am a bit confused on the butter measurement. It says 11/2 cups butter. Do you mean 2 cups?
It’s 1 1/2 cups. So 3 sticks of butter.
It’s one and a half cups which equals 3 sticks.
one and a half cups
Itโs 1 and a half cup of butter
This looks delicious! However, an authentic Shirley Temple is made with Grenadine Syrup and the cherry is only garnish, usually on a sword shaped swizzle stick. Since I remember them made with 7-Up, that part is perfect. I think there would be no problem substituting Grenadine Syrup for the cherry juice in this.
This is easy and delicious. Thank you so much for this beautiful cake.
you’re welcome!
Has anyone tried to cut corners and use box cake and add cherries. Thanks
I have a Costco size jar of cherries, measurements for juice and cherries, please. Thank you
It’s 10 ounces. A little over one cup. Most of that is cherries. And just a little bit of juice.
Looks really good!
Is this Cake Really sweet tasting?
If so, what can I use to not be as sweet? Take it down a Snotch or 2
This cake sounded really good, so I made it for Xmas. I followed the recipe exactly, but I found that after one hour it was not cooked, so I ended up cooking it for an extra 20 minutes. I put holes in the top, poured the cherry juice on top (I didn’t even use all the juice). When my Mom removed the first piece, it looked like it wasn’t cooked. It tasted horrible, was really heavy and gummy. I had followed the recipe exactly. I don’t know what happened, but I would never make it again. It was also expensive to make. I ended up throwing the whole cake in the garbage, so I would rate it “0”.
My daughter would absolutely love this cake – except sheโs vegan. Iโve looked for a vegan version, unsuccessfully. Do you happen to know of any? Thank you in advance!
I don’t ๐ Maybe find a vegan pound cake recipe, then add the cherries to the batter and the glaze on top?
Thank you for responding & for the suggestion. Iโll give it a try! ๐๐ฝ