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This cake batter is a delicate pink with flecks of red diced maraschino cherries. My mother used to bake it in a tube pan for birthdays or in heart-shaped layer pans for Valentine’s Day. She never added the chopped nuts but frosted it with 7-minute frosting which was pretty but too sweet for my tastes, even as a child.

A whipped cream cheese frosting would be a good substitute. If making in a tube or bundt cake pan, drizzle with a simple confectioners sugar frosting.

If desired, tint the frosting with extra cherry juice and/or diced cherries and decorate the frosted cake with some reserved cherries.

Maraschino cherries are bright red, come in a jar and can be found at any grocery store.

—Mary Beth Smetzer

Maraschino Cherry Cake

  1/2 cup shortening or butter

1 1/3 cup sugar (reserve 1/3 cup)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup cherry juice

18 maraschino cherries cut in eighths

2 1/4 cups cake flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tsp. vanilla

4 egg whites

1/2 cup nut meats chopped fine (optional)

  Cream butter and one cup of the sugar.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Alternately add the flour mixture, milk and cherry juice to the creamed mixture. Stir in the vanilla, chopped cherries and (optional) nuts.

Beat the egg whites with the 1/3 cup reserved sugar until stiff and fold in last.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes for two in 8-inch or 9-inch greased pans; 30-35 minutes for one in 9-by-13-inch pan.

For a greased and floured tube cake pan or bundt cake pan, bake for 40-45 minutes or longer until tester comes out clean.