With cherry season just kicking off, I thought it would be neat to highlight some of my favorite vegan & gluten-free cherry dessert recipes from the blog archives.
If you are lucky enough to have an abundance of cherries, fresh or frozen, I hope you'll find some inspiration in the recipes below to keep you inspired in the kitchen! If you find something you fancy trying among the highlights below, click through the title or link in the recipe description to take you to the actual recipe.
1. Cherry Pie
This cherry pie is my favorite pie ever to date. Besides looking cute as a button, it's just plain irresistible with its beautiful gooey red filling and its "buttery" cookie-like shell. For a recipe that's so simple -- despite the fact it's gluten-free, vegan, refined sugar-free, and even oil-free -- it's a pretty sweet deal.
2. Cherry Jam
Cherry jam has always been hands down my favorite kind of jam. My husband thinks it a weird thing -- in his mind everyone always goes for raspberry jam as the obvious choice (is this true?) I do love a good raspberry jam, but given the choice I just find cherry jam more satisfying somehow. This particular cherry jam recipe is super simple, refined sugar-free, and requires no pectin or special additives.
It's a great way to use up a lot of fruit if you've got a ton on your hands, and most importantly this recipe can be used as a homemade staple for many of the recipes below which call for cherry jam.
3. No-Bake Black Forest Cake
A no-bake, gluten-free vegan spin on a classic black forest cake recipe. A delicious layer of rich chocolate cake, topped with cherry jam and vegan whip. Bonus: this recipe makes use of both fresh cherries and cherry jam -- in other words, cherries galore.
4. Cherry Topped Cheesecake
A deliciously creamy raw vegan cheesecake with a cherry topping. Gluten-free, refined sugar-free, oil-free, no-bake recipe. And with that lush red topping staring back from the photo at you, it's almost too pretty to eat.... almost... ;)
5. Cherry Almond Thumbprint Cookies
This thumprint cookie recipe combines the nuttiness of almonds with the lovely deep flavor (and pretty color!) of cherries for a super quick and extra delicious little cookie treat. The cookie lover in your life will adore these :). (Bonus: this recipe is also oil-free for those looking for that).
6. Cherry Chocolate Bliss Balls
Another quick cherry and chocolate-themed treat you can throw together in a jiffy. It's chocolatey and fudgey, with a juicy cherry surprise in the middle!
7. Cherry Chocolate Raw Cheesecake
It wouldn't be an *Unconventional Baker* dessert list without a fair representation of raw vegan cheesecake, would it now? Here's another cheesecake, this time in chocolate and cherry layers, for those who need more cheesecake options in their life :).
8. Spumoni Ice Cream
While we're on the subject of raw desserts, this raw vegan take on spumoni has a lovely cherry layer to it.
9. Cherry Garcia Banana Ice Cream
This recipe is quite an oldie on the blog, but I could never get tired of cherry-flavored nice-cream with a chocolate drizzle. A very quick recipe to throw together, especially if you have frozen cherries to use up.
10. Cherry Coconut Cauliflower Ice Cream Cake
Ok, definitely throwing an oddball recipe out at ya here, but for the odd balls among, especially those who love sneaking veggies into their desserts, this cauliflower surprise cake might be a fun option to try sometime (especially if you're baking for a nut-free vegan crowd). Definitely an "alternative" recipe through and through... :)
And that's a wrap! If you want more, you can find a few additional cherry-themed desserts and in my book Unconventional Treats.
Hope this list keeps you inspired with dessert ideas throughout cherry season!
