The Story:

     My parents told me every family in Newfoundland has a cherry cake recipe, and around the holidays you’ll find one in just about everyone's house. I figured this is why our family has adopted making the dessert into our traditions too. Every Christmas, my mom bakes a cherry cake for us. It’s similar to a fruit cake, however it only includes maraschino cherries instead of dried fruit.
     This cake has been a staple every year for as long as I can remember. The recipe (or should I say recipes) come from both my grandmas, each one slightly different from the other. One is dense and covered in icing, the other is creamy and sweet. My family favors the latter.
     The dish holds special memories for everyone in my family, whether it’s my mom baking it with her mother, my dad receiving the cake in the mail from his parents while he was in college, or me and my sister putting it out for Santa on Christmas Eve.
     When this project came up I knew I had to do this recipe since it holds so many memories for all of us. It wasn’t until this project though that I learned more about how this dessert had been such a tradition for my parents too. I made the cake with my mom for the project and she told me stories of her doing the same when she was younger. I’m happy this assignment helped create more memories around this dessert with my mom, especially since so many of my favorite childhood memories are about baking with her. It goes back far with my family, all the way to the place they grew up, giving me a better connection to it all. 

ingredients - 

1- 8oz pack of cream cheese
1 cup butter
1 ½ cup sugar
1 tbs. of vanilla extract or 1 ½ tsp. of almond and vanilla extract
4 eggs
2 ½ cup flour
1 ½ tsp. of baking powder
2 bottle of maraschino cherries (drained)

how to:

1. Preheat oven to 300F degrees
2. Grease your pan with butter and dust with flour
3. Put cream cheese and butter in mixer and mix
4. Add your sugar and cream together
5. Crack eggs into a separate bowl and add the vanilla and / or almond extract to the bowl as well
6. Add in one egg at a time until all four are mixed in together 
7. Add in the flour and baking powder to the mixer and slowly mix together (tip. Make sure you put a cup towel around your mixer so the flour doesn’t go everywhere)
8. When fully mixed remove bowl from mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula
9. Add your cherries and mix in with your spatula
10. Add the batter to the pan 
11. Bake for 1 ½ - 2 hours until done
12. Cut and enjoy !!