Tender, fluffy cream scones are split and piled high with ripe sweet cherries and amaretto whipped cream in this fun take on a classic spring and summer fruit dessert. You'll love the golden-brown crust that develops on these cherry shortcakes and how easy they are to pull together - all in the food processor - with no cutting or rolling required.

Cherry shortcake on a plate with extra cherries.

Once I saw the light with swapping cherries into traditional strawberry desserts (see cherry rhubarb crisp), the idea wheels continued to turn. Since it's fresh cherry season yet again, let's do another: cherry shortcakes.

Shortcakes consist of three layers: the shortcake itself, lightly-sweetened fruit, and whipped cream. Each brings different textures, flavors, and even temperatures to result in a well-rounded dessert that tastes a little fancy but is really quite straight-forward.

I like to lean in the cream scone direction (versus biscuits), which helps these little cherry cakes develop a crisp outer crust with an ultra soft crumb beneath. They're not flaky like a biscuit, and while they can be a tad crumblier around the edges, I think the texture payoff is worth it. They make a fantastic base for cherries and whipped cream.

Cherry and almond flavoring work so well together that I included almond ingredients in two separate places here. You'll taste a hint of almond extract in the cream scone portion, while amaretto liqueur flavors the whipped cream beautifully.

Psst - also keep it in mind for the fall as it's also fantastic on pumpkin desserts.

A cream scone halved with macerated cherries and amaretto whipped cream.

Keep Things Low(er)-Fuss

Maybe it's my propensity for thinking recipes where you have to cut in butter are automatically "involved", but I wouldn't say homemade fruit shortcakes are exactly easy breezy. That said, there are a few areas of these cherry shortcakes that I zhushed to keep things on the less-fuss side of things.

Hearty fruit: Strawberries turn mushy as the hours go by - cherries don't have that issue. I've tossed the cherries with sugar and let them sit overnight (or longer) and had them hold up perfectly fine for shortcakes.
Simple prep: While you can make the dough the traditional way by hand, the food processor can efficiently handle it all, from combining the dry ingredients, cutting in the butter, and working in the liquid.
Easy shaping: No need for biscuit cutters or re-rolling dough as these shortcakes are square. Just a few slices are needed.

Recipe Ingredients

The cherry shortcakes ingredients text-labeled in separate containers.

Cherries: Use a sweet cherry variety for these cherry shortcakes, not sour. Good varieties to use are Bing or Rainier if you can find them. Not cherry season? See below for tips for using frozen cherries.

Butter: Well-chilled, please! Pockets of cold, crumbly butter yield baked goods with a tender texture. Exactly what we want for these cherry shortcakes.

Cream & Milk: If it's not labeled this way where you are, heavy cream usually has a fat percentage between 36-40%. It's important that the cream and milk are straight-from-the-fridge cold when making the shortcakes to keep the butter pieces as cool (read: solid) as possible. You'll also brush the tops of the shortcakes with cream before sprinkling sugar so there's no need to mess around with an egg wash - win!

Amaretto whipped cream - Heavy cream again, whipped with amaretto liqueur and powdered sugar. I found two tablespoons of amaretto to be the sweet spot to provide flavor without too much boozy bite.

Step-by-Step Instructions

These pictures are an overview of the steps required to make cherry shortcakes. All of the specific quantities, timings, and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Halved cherries tossed in a bowl with sugar.

Step 1: Pit cherries, then slice in half. Macerate the cherries by tossing with sugar and letting them sit for at least one hour, but overnight is just fine, too.

The butter chopped into small pieces within the dry ingredients in the food processor.

Step 2: Process the dry ingredients to combine, then briefly pulse in the cubed butter until broken into small pieces around the size of a pencil eraser.

The cream, milk, and extracts being worked into the dough.

Step 3: Pour in the cream, milk, and extracts and pulse again as the mixture clumps up (see above photo), but eventually works into a lump of dough.

The cream scone dough pressed into a rectangle on a floured cutting board.

Step 4: Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and pat into a rectangle roughly one inch tall.

The scone dough portioned out into eight squares topped with a brush of cream and sugar.

Step 5: Slice the rectangle into eight equal squares/wedges, then place on parchment-lined sheet pan. Freeze for 10 minutes on the pan (optional, but recommended), then brush the tops of each with cream, then sprinkle turbinado or granulated sugar on the tops.

Eight baked shortcake scones on a sheet pan.

Step 6: Bake at 400°F for 13-16 minutes, or until the tops are nicely golden-brown and set to the touch. Let cool on the pans for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cherries piled onto the bottom half of a shortcake scone.

Step 7: Once room temperature, whip the cream. Slice each shortcake in half lengthwise, top with fresh cherries, and a dollop (or two!) of amaretto whipped cream.

Using Frozen Cherries

If it's out of season, frozen cherries are a good substitute for fresh in this cherry shortcake recipe. Thaw them in the refrigerator, drain excess liquid and pat the cherries dry before tossing with sugar.

A fork digging into a cherry shortcake with amaretto whipped cream on a plate.

Helpful Tips

Test your fruit: Subpar cherries really put a damper on a simple fruit dessert. Even if it's in season, taste your cherries beforehand to make sure they're not lacking in flavor.
A quick freeze: Briefly freezing the shaped shortcakes before baking helps them hold their shapes and bake up taller instead of spreading outwards to the sides. I know making space in the freezer is a real pain so this step isn't absolutely required, but is helpful if you can swing it.
Substitute the liqueur: If avoiding alcohol, you can omit the amaretto liqueur and replace with ¼-teaspoon almond extract in the whipped cream. Almond extract has more of a flavor punch than vanilla, so be careful not to add too much.
Easy cherry pitting: For years I wrangled a chopstick and long-necked bottle to extract cherry pits, not wanting to clutter up my kitchen with single-use tools (or double-use, really, as cherry pitters can pit olives). This year I caved and bought an oxo cherry pitter and I'm so glad I did. Hello, efficiency.

More Fruit-Forward Desserts

If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, I’d love for you to leave a star rating in the recipe card and/or a comment review below!

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