Cherry Extract substitute

Substitutes for Cherry Extract with ratios

1. 2Freeze-dried cherry powder or ground dried sour cherries

   Different texture

   Use 2 tbsp powder for every 1 tsp cherry extract

   Dried cherries ground fine, with all the flavour and none of the water.

   What changes

   Best for

   buttercream, cake batter, shortbread, Black Forest cream, macaron shells

   The best real-fruit option and much deeper than any extract, tart and slightly winey rather than sweet and candied. It adds a dusty rose colour and no liquid at all, which is why it is the only cherry you can put safely into a macaron shell. Sour or Morello cherries taste far more like cherry than sweet ones, so buy dried sour cherries if you have the choice, and sift after grinding.

2. 3Kirsch or cherry liqueur

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 1 tbsp kirsch or cherry liqueur for every 1 tsp cherry extract

   Cherry spirit, and the traditional flavouring in German and Swiss cherry baking.

   What changes

   Best for

   Black Forest cake, cake soaks, ganache, whipped cream, cherry clafoutis

   Kirsch is dry and stone-fruity with a strong almond edge from the cherry pits, while sweet cherry liqueur is rounder and more jammy. Either one gives a grown-up, less candied cherry note. The alcohol mostly bakes off in a cake and does not in whipped cream or an unbaked ganache, where you will taste it clearly, so add it gradually. Reduce another liquid by a tablespoon to compensate.

3. 4Almond extract

   Different taste

   Use ¼ tsp almond extract for every 1 tsp cherry extract

   The surprising one, and the reason maraschino cherries taste the way they do.

   What changes

   Best for

   cakes and cupcakes, frostings, cookies, fudge, cherry pie filling

   Cherry and almond share the compound benzaldehyde, which is why a drop of almond extract makes things taste cherry-ish and why almond is in almost every commercial cherry flavouring. Alone it reads as marzipan rather than cherry, so it works best alongside jam, dried cherries or maraschino syrup, where it lifts the fruit and makes it taste more like itself. A quarter teaspoon is plenty for a whole cake.

4. 5Cherry preserves or cherry pie filling, blended

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 2 to 3 tbsp blended preserves or pie filling for every 1 tsp cherry extract

   Cooked cherries in sugar syrup, blitzed smooth.

   What changes

   Best for

   cake fillings, swirls in cheesecake, buttercream, thumbprint cookies, glazes

   Good in fillings, heavy in batters. Preserves bring a cooked jammy flavour, real fruit colour, sugar and often cornflour from pie filling, which thickens whatever you add it to. Reduce the recipe's sugar by two tablespoons and take the liquid out of the milk. In a light sponge, three tablespoons of pie filling makes the crumb noticeably damper and denser.

5. 6The honest verdict on cherry extract

   Different texture

   Maraschino syrup plus a few drops of almond extract beats it

   Where the bottle you are trying to replace actually sits.

   What changes

   Best for

   cherry cake, cherry frosting, cherry soda

   Cherry extract is one of the weakest fruit extracts on the shelf, and many bottles taste faintly of cough syrup. For most home baking, two tablespoons of maraschino syrup with a couple of drops of almond extract, or a spoonful of ground dried sour cherries, gives a better result than the thing you went looking for. Save yourself the trip and use what is in the fridge.