Cherry desserts are the sweetest way to make the most of cherry season. These 21 recipes include French clafoutis, pies, cobblers, cakes, brownies, creamy gelato, sorbet, popsicles, and plenty of chocolate-cherry favorites.
Fresh cherries don’t need much help to become dessert-worthy. Their juicy sweetness works beautifully on its own, but cherries are also especially good with dark chocolate, almonds, hazelnuts, creamy dairy, and a splash of liqueur—which explains why they turn up in everything from simple summer bakes to elegant French desserts.
Most of the fresh cherry desserts in this collection are designed to take advantage of ripe seasonal fruit, but several recipes work just as well with frozen cherries.
And if you’re looking for easy cherry desserts, there are plenty of low-effort options alongside a few more ambitious projects for when you feel like baking something special.
Not sure where to begin? Use the quick chooser below to match your mood, then browse the recipes by category to find exactly the kind of cherry dessert you’re craving.
Quick chooser: Which cherry dessert should you make?
If 21 delicious options somehow make choosing harder, here are a few good places to start:
- For a classic French dessert: Start with my Cherry Clafoutis with Brown Butter—custardy, fruit-forward, and surprisingly simple to make.
- For an easy cherry dessert: Try the Cherry Almond Cake, an unfussy one-bowl cake made with almond flour and sweet cherries.
- For fresh cherries at their peak: The Homemade Sweet Cherry Pie combines ripe cherries with raspberries, lemon, and a hint of cardamom.
- For serious chocolate cravings: Go straight to the Chocolate Cherry Brownies for fudgy centers, chewy edges, and plenty of juicy cherries.
- For something easy to share: My Brown Butter, Hazelnut & Cherry Clafoutis Bars turn French clafoutis into a portable, picnic-friendly treat.
- For a gluten-free dessert: The Cherry Almond Ricotta Cake is moist, tender, and equally good for brunch or dessert.
- For a creamy frozen treat: My Cherry Gelato layers silky cherry gelato with ribbons of concentrated cherry puree and diced fruit.
- For the simplest hot-weather treat: These Cherry Popsicles use just a few ingredients and can be made with fresh or frozen cherries.
Fresh or frozen cherries?
Fresh cherries are wonderful when you want the fruit to keep its shape and texture, and many of the recipes below are perfect for making the most of a beautiful basket of ripe summer cherries. If you’re starting with fresh fruit, a cherry pitter makes prep especially quick: simply pit the cherries before proceeding with the recipe.
But you don’t have to limit cherry desserts to the relatively short fresh cherry season. Several of these recipes work beautifully with frozen cherries, too, including the gelato, sorbet, crisp, ricotta cake, cherry chocolate cake, and Black Forest cheesecake. Check the individual recipe before substituting, since instructions for thawing and draining the fruit can vary.
Fresh cherry desserts: pies, cobblers, crisps, and clafoutis
These fresh cherry desserts let ripe summer fruit take center stage, from classic French clafoutis to bubbling cobblers, crisp, pie, and a Breton-inspired bread pudding.
1. Cherry clafoutis with brown butter
Of all the classics in this collection, this cherry clafoutis is the one I reach for when I want something elegant without much work. Juicy cherries bake into a lightly sweet, custardy batter flavored with nutty brown butter and maple syrup, with toasted hazelnuts as an optional finishing touch. Serve it warm or at room temperature for dessert—or even brunch.
2. Homemade sweet cherry pie
By Style Sweet
A homemade cherry pie is hard to beat when cherry season is at its peak. This version pairs fresh sweet cherries with tart raspberries, lemon juice, and a hint of cardamom, all wrapped in a flaky all-butter crust. The raspberries melt into the filling as it bakes, adding little pockets of tartness among the sweet cherries.
3. Fresh cherry cobbler with drop biscuit topping
By Delicious Little Bites
This easy cherry cobbler is exactly the sort of relaxed summer dessert that works well when there are several people around the table. A juicy cherry filling bubbles underneath buttery drop biscuits that bake until golden brown, so there’s no rolling, shaping, or fussy pastry work involved. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream while the cobbler is still warm, and dessert is taken care of.
4. Cherry crumb pie
By Delicious Little Bites
If you love pie but would happily skip making a top crust, this cherry crumb pie is for you. A juicy filling made with sour cherries is covered with a brown sugar and cinnamon crumble, giving you a crisp, buttery topping over juicy fruit.
5. Cherry crisp with cornmeal and almonds
By Family Style Food
This cherry crisp keeps things beautifully rustic, with sweet cherries tucked underneath a crunchy cornmeal-and-almond topping. It uses frozen cherries, which makes it especially useful when fresh cherries are harder to find, and the recipe includes a gluten-free option as well.
6. Cherry bread pudding
By Pardon Your French
This cherry bread pudding from Brittany sits somewhere between cozy bread pudding and cherry clafoutis. Brioche or pain au lait gives it a creamy texture, while ground almonds play naturally with the cherries. Serve it warm with ice cream or simply spoon it straight from the dish at room temperature.
Easy cherry desserts: cakes, brownies, and bars
Looking for easy cherry desserts that don’t require an elaborate pastry project? These simple cakes, brownies, and bars deliver plenty of cherry flavor with relatively little fuss.
7. Cherry almond cake
By Living Chirpy
This cherry almond cake is an easy one-bowl option with a soft, tender crumb and plenty of almond flavor. Almond flour and sweet cherries keep it moist, honey provides the sweetness, and slivered almonds add a little crunch on top. It’s naturally gluten-free and contains no refined sugar.
8. Chocolate cherry brownies
By Anna Banana
Chocolate and cherries need very little introduction, especially when they meet in a pan of chocolate cherry brownies. These are fudgy and gooey in the middle, with chewy edges, a thin crackly top, and juicy pieces of cherry scattered throughout. They’re also quick and uncomplicated to make, which only adds to their appeal.
9. Brown butter, hazelnut, and cherry clafoutis bars
By Food Nouveau
These cherry clafoutis bars turn the classic French dessert into something you can pick up and take along to a picnic, BBQs, or summer gathering. A hazelnut crust supports a firmer brown-butter clafoutis filling dotted generously with fresh cherries, giving the bars an almost blondie-like texture.
10. Cherry loaf cake
By Maple and Thyme
This pretty cherry loaf cake layers fresh cherries into a light cake made with sour cream and buttermilk, with almond extract tying the flavors together. A ribbon of cherry jam runs through the center and cherry icing goes over the top, making a humble loaf cake feel just festive enough for brunch or dessert.
11. Cherry almond ricotta cake
By From Scratch Fast
Ricotta and almond flour give this cherry almond ricotta cake an especially moist, tender texture, while olive oil and almond extract round out the flavor. It can be made with frozen pitted cherries and gluten-free flour, and it’s equally at home beside an afternoon coffee or topped with whipped cream for dessert. Better still, the cake freezes well.
Chocolate cherry desserts and Black Forest favorites
Chocolate and cherries are a classic pairing, and these chocolate cherry desserts range from a rich French clafoutis to layer cakes and creamy Black Forest cheesecake.
12. Cherry chocolate cake
By Zoë Bakes
This cherry chocolate cake takes the essential elements of Black Forest cake—dark chocolate cake, whipped cream, cherries, and kirsch—and gives them a deliberately relaxed presentation. The cherry filling can be made with fresh or frozen cherries and prepared ahead, making this a good choice when you want an impressive layer cake without intricate decorating.
13. Blackberry, cherry, and chocolate clafoutis
By Food Nouveau
This chocolate clafoutis takes the creamy, custardy texture of the French classic in a decidedly richer direction. Cherries and juicy blackberries are baked in a dark chocolate batter that lands somewhere between a rich pudding and a fruit cobbler. Serve it warm with whipped cream or vanilla gelato.
14. Black Forest cheesecake
By Sense and Edibility
This Black Forest cheesecake is one to plan ahead for—in a very worthwhile way. A chocolate cookie crust supports kirsch-scented cheesecake, and the whole thing is finished with a homemade topping packed with dark sweet cherries. Both fresh and frozen cherries work for the topping.
15. Black Forest cake
By Liv for Cake
For the full celebration-cake treatment, this Black Forest cake layers rich chocolate cake with fresh cherries, cherry liqueur, and softly whipped cream. It’s a classic combination and an obvious choice for birthdays, dinner parties, or any occasion that calls for a proper showstopper.
Frozen cherry desserts for summer
These frozen cherry desserts turn fresh or frozen fruit into creamy gelato and ice cream, refreshing sorbet and granita, and easy homemade popsicles.
16. Cherry gelato
By Food Nouveau
This cherry gelato is built around a silky Sicilian-style gelato base, but the cherries remain firmly in charge. Cherry puree flavors the base, then more concentrated puree and diced cherries are layered through the freshly churned gelato for ribbons of bright fruit in every scoop. You can use fresh or frozen cherries, and there are dairy-free and vegan adaptations, too.
17. Cherry sorbet
By What a Girl Eats
Bright, intensely fruity cherry sorbet is a lovely counterpoint to all the richer desserts in this collection. Bing cherries are blended with sugar and citrus, with a little Amaretto or cherry liqueur as an optional addition that also helps keep the sorbet smooth. Frozen cherries can stand in when fresh ones are out of season.
18. Cherry yogurt popsicles
By Recipes from a Pantry
These cherry yogurt popsicles are creamy, refreshing, and easy enough to turn into a summer kitchen project with kids. Greek yogurt is layered with cherries and granola for a frozen treat that works just as well by the pool as it does after dinner. They’re also naturally gluten-free.
19. Cherry popsicles
By Jello Joy
Sometimes the simplest frozen desserts are exactly what you want. These cherry popsicles need only fresh or frozen cherries, water, and a little sugar or honey, with optional gelatin for a softer, less drippy texture. They’re an especially easy way to deal with an abundance of ripe cherries on a hot day.
20. Cherry granita
By My Kitchen Love
No ice cream maker? This cherry granita keeps things refreshingly uncomplicated. Freeze cherry juice, sugar, and water until firm, then scrape into icy crystals for a light dessert that’s especially welcome at the end of a hot summer meal.
21. Cherry bourbon ice cream
By The Bake School
For a more grown-up frozen dessert, this cherry bourbon ice cream folds bourbon-infused Bing cherries into homemade vanilla bean custard ice cream. You can mix the cherries through the churned ice cream or swirl them in afterward, depending on whether you want fruit in every bite or more distinct ribbons throughout.
Frequently asked questions about cherry desserts
Can I use frozen cherries instead of fresh cherries?
For many cherry dessert recipes, yes. Several recipes in this collection specifically allow frozen cherries, but check the individual instructions before substituting: some recipes require the cherries to be thawed or drained first, while others can use them straight from the freezer.
What flavors pair well with cherries in desserts?
Chocolate and almond are two particularly good partners for cherries. Vanilla, lemon, warm spices, hazelnuts, kirsch, Amaretto, and other cherry or almond liqueurs also complement their sweet-tart flavor beautifully.
What are some easy desserts to make with cherries?
Clafoutis, cobbler, crisp, simple cherry cakes, brownies, popsicles, and granita are some of the simplest desserts to make with cherries. If you want the least hands-on choice, start with clafoutis or one of the frozen fruit treats; if you want a warm baked dessert for sharing, cobbler or crisp is hard to beat.
