Swirled inside of this soft cake is a homemade cherry "filling" that is almost as thick as you might expect with a jam. Just a little granulated sugar to sweeten and cornstarch to thicken is added to a healthy three cups of the dark sweet fruit. A little kirch and lemon zest is stirred in to deepen the cake's flavor - if you don't use alcohol or don't care to buy a nip for a recipe, you can go ahead and use fresh orange juice. Since cherries and almond pair exquisitely well, the mixture is given a splash of almond extract once removed from the heat.
Soft in texture, the cake achieves this by mixing a combination of light cake flour and whole-wheat pastry flour. If you don't have the more nutritious pastry flour, you can get away with using all-purpose. To lend a buttery flavor, yet not require the use of a full stick, a few tablespoons are combined with a healthier canola oil. While the cake is still fairly low in the fat department, don't think that it will be dry by any means - just over a cup of vanilla yogurt added will keep the cake moist while adding an alluring tang.
To bulk up the vanilla flavor in the yogurt, a good dose of vanilla extract is added to the cake batter. And lest we forget about that splash of almond extract in the filling, we also added a bit to the batter to tie the two together. When you swirl the batters together, the jam will inevitably ooze out a bit, so be sure to prepare your baking pan well. For bundt cakes especially, I always use a baking spray that has flour added (like Baker's Joy or Pam with Flour) and have yet to have a cake stick on me. I didn't think that this cake needed any fancy drizzles of frosting or glazes, but I did dust the top with confectioners' sugar right before we sent it into the office which gave the cake a more finished look.
Recipes
Dark Cherry Bundt Cake
Dark Cherry Bundt Cake