Shirley Temple Cake

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A light and delicious bundt, this Shirley Temple Cake will evoke the inner child in us. Full of lemon lime and cherry flavor this cake is truly addicting!

Please don’t tell me that I was the only one as a child who got to enjoy the iconic Shirley Temple Drink? Oh man how I loved them! It was the perfect mocktail of my youth!

I can honestly say it’s been ages since I’ve had one and it took me creating this bundt cake to realize that. I hate when it happens that way! But I’m so happy I got to take a little trip down memory lane. This Shirley Temple Cake is the perfect grown up throwback to your childhood!

slice of cherry 7up cake on a plate

Why you’ll love this recipe:

  • 100% homemade
  • Uses 7UP pound cake base
  • Infused cherry juice and whole cherries
  • Sweet glaze
  • A great make ahead dessert

What is Shirley Temple Cake?

This cake is a traditional 7Up flavored pound cake with cherries mixed into the batter. It bakes up beautiful and golden brown. It’s then poked and poured with cherry juice and glazed with a delicious sweet lemon glaze. These flavors just burst in your mouth and the saturation of the cherry juice right under the top is AH-MAZING!

ingredients for shirley temple cake on a table

Ingredients

  • Butter. We use salted butter 99% of the time in baking because that is what we keep on hand. You can use either unsalted or salted.
  • Sugar.
  • Eggs. Use large eggs. Room temperature eggs mix into cake batter more easily than cold eggs.
  • Flour. To measure the flour, spoon it into the measuring cup lightly, then level off with a knife. If you get too much flour the cake will be dry.
  • Lemon extract. For a boost of flavor!
  • 7UP. You’ll notice this cake does not have baking soda or baking powder. The 7UP helps give the pound cake rise.
  • Maraschino cherries. It’s important to note that some maraschino cherries do not have red food coloring. You can still use those if you’d like, but they won’t have the vibrant red color that this cake has. If you want bright red, find cherries with food coloring.

Glaze ingredients are powdered sugar, lemon extract and milk to thin.

How to Make Shirley Temple Cake

  • Prepare. Preheat oven to 325º Fahrenheit. Grease a 10″ bundt pan with shortening, then dust it with flour. Or you can use cake release.
  • Mix. In large bowl mix together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in your eggs and continue to mix until blended. Add in your flour and mix again until smooth.
  • Pour and fold. Pour in your lemon extract and 7up and beat to combine. Fold in your cherries.
  • Bake. Spread the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 70-90 minutes or until center is set. The exact time will depend on your oven and pan so watch it closely.
pouring cherry juice over a cake

The next step is to poke holes in the cake and pour over the maraschino cherry juice. You can do this one of two ways: while the cake is in the pan or after you take it out. The red will be on top of the cake if you take the cake out first. The red will be more on the bottom of the cake if you pour the juice while it is in the pan.

shirley temple bundt cake on a plate

Powdered Sugar Glaze

Powdered sugar glaze is one of the easiest frostings to make to add flavor and beauty to your cake. You can make the glaze thicker to have a pretty contrasted drizzle, or you can make it thinner and have it look more like donut glaze.

Shirley Temple Cake
Shirley Temple Cake

Shirley Temple Cake

4.71 from 184 votes
A light and delicious bundt, this Shirley Temple Cake will evoke the inner child in us. Full of lemon lime and cherry flavor this cake is truly addicting!
Servings 12
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

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Ingredients
 

For the cake:

  • 1 1/2 cups butter (softened)
  • 3 cups granulated sugar
  • 5 large eggs (room temperature)
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • 3/4 cup 7up soda
  • 10 ounces maraschino cherries (1 jar, drained and juice reserved)

For the glaze:

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 325º Fahrenheit.
  • In large bowl mix together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Add in your eggs and continue to mix until blended.
  • Add in your flour and mix again until smooth.
  • Pour in your lemon extract and 7up and beat to combine.
  • Fold in your cherries.
  • Grease a 10″ bundt pan with shortening, then dust it with flour.
  • Spread the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 70-90 minutes or until center is set. The exact time will depend on your oven and pan so watch it closely.
  • Allow the cake to cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan.* (see note below about juice)
  • Turn the cake onto serving dish. Using a skewer, poke holes all over the top of the cake and pour your reserved cherry juice slowly over the top making sure the juice gets soaked up. It's ok for it to seep to the bottom to soak as well.
  • Let cool completely.
  • Meanwhile mix together your glaze ingredients and drizzle over the top of your cake.
  • Top with more cherries if desired.
  • Store the cake at room temperature in an airtight container for 3 days. Refrigerate for up to 5 days. This cake also freezes well.

Video

Notes

*Another option is to poke holes in the cake while it is still in the pan. Then drizzle the juice over. This contains the juice in the pan and may be less messy. Your red will end up more on the bottom of the cake, so it really depends on the look you want to have. Either way will work!
The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 12 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**

Nutrition

Calories: 623kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 129mg | Sodium: 233mg | Potassium: 70mg | Sugar: 71g | Vitamin A: 815IU | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1.8mg
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Calories 623
Keyword bundt cake, cake recipe, cherry cake, shirley temple

About Julie Clark

I'm Julie Clark, CEO and recipe developer of Tastes of Lizzy T. With my B.A. in Education and over 30 years of cooking and baking, I want to teach YOU the best of our family recipes.

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Cherre
2 years ago

5 stars
I add Cherry 7-Up for a little extra Cherry flavor!

Carolyn
6 years ago

5 stars
This is my second Shirley Temple cake in the oven within a week…friends really love it ????

Peggy Weber
6 years ago

Ohhhhhh boy look what you did now!!! Now I am going to have to add an additional dessert to my Easter buffet. Pink Champagne cupcakes with white chocolate Champagne buttercream, almond buttery pound cakes dipped in candy coating with little flowers on top, crem brulé pots with raspberry topping, now this ❤ I will tell everyone it’s for the kids????. I have a feeling by the end of Summer this year I will be hauling my stomach around in a wheelbarrow from trying all your recipes. Thank you for the yummy recipe.

Tina
1 year ago

I can use a different pan?

Christina
1 year ago

Made this (Dec 2021) bundt cake as my hubby’s birthday cake & it was amazing! It’s been added to the “favorites” list. Thank you for sharing! I also made this recipe as cupcakes for a coworker’s birthday treat (Feb 2022). The flavor was still great but wasn’t as tender as the bundt cake. I adjusted cook time & made sure to make other adjustments as needed. Any suggestions? One other adjustment made… For the first attempt I couldn’t find 7-UP so I used “Squirt” soda. For the second attempt, I used the 7-UP. I think I’m gonna stick with the… Read more »

Kathy Ann
1 year ago

BTW Everyone LOVES this cake!!! It’s always a big hit and goes quickly! 🙂

Latasha Baldwin
2 years ago

If baking in a gas oven how long would you recommend baking it?

Betty Minton
2 years ago

5 stars
I didn’t have lemon extract so we used the juice of a lemon and lime; just divided it up between the cake and glaze. This was one of the best cakes I’ve had in a while! The texture is amazing…dense and moist, very smooth!

Tonya L Brookins
2 years ago

5 stars
Love this

Carolyn
3 years ago

5 stars
My daughter requested this cake for her birthday. It was amazing. She was pretty happy. Thank you for sharing.

Joanne
3 years ago

5 stars
So delicious

Susi
4 years ago

Would it make a difference in the cake if I chopped up the cherries?
Thanks!!

Tasha
4 years ago

5 stars
I made this cake and it’s delicious! I did use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour and I added sour cream to the cake mix. I wasn’t able to put 100% of the cake mix in the bundt pan, I was able to put like 95% of the cake mix into the bunt pan and it didn’t overflow.
Thank you for the recipe!

Shannon Champion
4 years ago

5 stars
I’ve made this a few times now, and it’s amazing!!!!

Stephanie
4 years ago

Just made this cake today . I went by the exact directions. However when I started poking holes in the whole thing just fell apart not sure why