Cream Cheese-Swirled Cherry and Mixed Berries Cake

Cream Cheese-Swirled Mixed Berry Cake — No mixer is needed for this easy mixed berry cake, which is as simple as making muffins! A mix of fresh or frozen fruit can be used, perfect for using up what’s seasonal or what you have on hand.

Easy Berry Cake Recipe 

Baking berries into cake and getting big juicy surprise bites of fruit is so much fun. And swirls of cream cheese are an added bonus. The cake is based on my Blueberry Muffin Cake, which also spawned this Peach Cake.

I adore this cake base because it produces a soft, moist, tender cake and the batter is fast and easy to make. The cake reminds me of the Entenmann’s cream cheese coffee cakes I used to buy in college when cooking was a foreign concept.

The cake is soft, springy, and fluffy, without being airy. It’s got just the right amount of density and is so moist.

There’s sour cream (or Greek yogurt) in the batter, along with buttermilk, and a bit of oil, all of which do wonders for cakes.

Plus the cream cheese swirls and abundance of berries just add to the soft and supple factor.

The lightly sweetened cake is the perfect canvas for all that juicy fruit. I love baking with fruit and only good things can happen.

The creaminess and tanginess of the cream cheese complements the juicy fruit wonderfully well, and you can’t ever go wrong with adding a little cream cheese.

This cake base has yet to let me down. So much so, that I keep making more cakes with it. Stay tuned.

What’s in the Mixed Berry Cake? 

To make this mixed berry coffee cake, you’ll need: 

• All-purpose flour
• Granulated sugar
• Baking powder 
• Cinnamon 
• Nutmeg
• Salt
• Egg
• Buttermilk
• Sour cream
• Oil
• Vanilla extract
• Frozen mixed berries
• Cream cheese
• Confectioners’ sugar

How to Make Mixed Berry Cake 

This mixed berry cake comes together with a whisk, and is as easy as making muffin batter. A bowl of dry ingredients, a bowl of wet ingredients, fold wet into dry, and pour in a pan. So easy.

I had a little bit of cream cheese staring back at me from the bottom of an almost-used container, which I swirled into the cake batter.

I didn’t go too crazy with swirling because I wanted bigger patches of cream cheese, rather than small streaks. Cream cheese seems to disappear while baking so I kept the swirls on the thicker side.

Then, it’s just a matter of baking the cake until it’s set. Let it cool for about 30 minutes in the pan before slicing and serving. 

Can I Omit the Cream Cheese Swirl? 

If you don’t have cream cheese on hand, just omit it. The cake will still be wonderful without it and you can instead glaze it with one of the glazes suggested in the recipe.

Can I Double This Recipe? 

Yes! This berry cake recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9×13-inch pan. The bake time should be roughly the same, but I can’t say for sure. 

Tips for Making a Mixed Berry Coffee Cake 

I used a frozen cherry and berry blend with blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. I always bake with frozen and save my fresh berries for eating. Use whatever combination of cherries and berries, fresh or frozen, that you have.

If you’re using fresh fruit, the baking time will likely be much less, by as much as 20 minutes or so. When I used this cake base with fresh peaches, my baking time was a solid 10 minutes less.

With all cakes and baking in general, watch your cake and not the clock. Bake until it’s done. Simple as that.

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4.67 from 3 votes

Cream Cheese-Swirled Mixed Berry Cake

By Averie Sunshine

No mixer is needed for this easy mixed berry cake, which is as simple as making muffins! A mix of fresh or frozen fruit can be used, perfect for using up what’s seasonal or what you have on hand.

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 52 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 2 minutes minutes

Servings: 9

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Ingredients  

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• ▢ 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 tablespoon for tossing with berries
• ▢ ¾ cup granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon for mixing with cream cheese
• ▢ 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ▢ pinch salt, optional and to taste
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ ½ cup buttermilk
• ▢ ⅓ cup sour cream, thick, full-fat Greek yogurt may be substituted
• ▢ 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 cups frozen cherries and berries – blueberries, blackberries, raspberries (don’t unthaw, add them to the batter frozen; see below in item 6 about using fresh)
• ▢ ¼ cup cream cheese, softened (light is okay)
• ▢ confectioners’ sugar, optional for dusting or see glaze suggestions below

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Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, optional salt; set aside.
• In a separate small bowl, whisk together the next 5 wet ingredients (through vanilla).
• Add the wet mixture to the dry, mixing lightly with a spoon or folding with a spatula until just combined. Lumps will be present and this is okay. Don’t overmix or try to stir them smooth; set aside.
• In a small bowl, toss the fruit with 1 tablespoon flour. The flour helps to prevent the fruit from sinking while baking.
• Gently and briefly fold the fruit into batter.
• Turn batter out into prepared pan; set aside.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the cream cheese with 1 tablespoon sugar until smooth.
• Dollop the cream cheese mixture haphazardly over the cake batter. With a toothpick, gently and lightly swirl the cream cheese. I don’t do much swirling because I like to see bigger, noticeable patches of cream cheese rather than thin streaks in my cake; personal preference.
• Bake until done. I hesitate to give a baking range because you must watch your cake, not the clock. Bake until center is slightly domed and set, golden and rosy in color, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. I estimate 50 to 55 minutes is a good range if using frozen fruit. At any time your cake is beginning to look a bit too golden brown before you suspect the center will set up, tent it with a sheet of foil laid across the top. I baked for 52 minutes total, and at the 45 minute mark, I tented with foil. Baking times will range dramatically based on if baking with fresh or frozen berries; ranging from 30 to 60 minutes depending on the temperature of the berries going into the batter and how much water they release.
• Place pan on a wire rack and allow cake to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
• Optionally, dust with confectioners’ sugar or a simple glaze. This vanilla cream cheese glaze, this buttery vanilla glaze, this browned butter glaze, or this lemon glaze are all excellent, quick, and easy options.

Notes

Fresh vs Frozen Fruit: I used a frozen fruit blend with cherries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. If using frozen, add the fruit frozen and do not thaw because frozen fruit runs and bleeds less than if  thawed. If using fresh fruit, baking time will be significantly (possibly drastically) less because the fruit is much warmer and won’t chill down the batter overall, nor will it release any where near the water into the batter that frozen fruit does.

Storage: Cake will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Adapted from Blueberry Muffin Cake and Peaches and Cream Fluffy Muffin Cake.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 305kcal, Carbohydrates: 51g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 34mg, Sodium: 186mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 38g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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