This quick and easy cherry sauce is the perfect accompaniment to your dessert – everything from pound cake to waffles, pudding and ice cream!
Here is a quick, easy and delicious cherry dessert sauce for pouring over everything from pound cake to waffles, shortcake, pudding and ice cream!
If you’re into canning, this sauce is a great way to put the fruits of your labor to use (see my post on how to can cherries). I can cherries every season and on a whim decided to make a dessert that needed a cherry sauce. No need to make a run to the store, I just went into my pantry and grabbed a jar of beautiful bing cherries I canned during the Summer.
You can use also use fresh or frozen cherries for this recipe. Canned cherries are nice option because you can use the cherry-saturated juices in the can as part of the sauce.
This cherry sauce adds some fresh lemon juice to provide some contrast with the sweet as well as a touch of almond extract that adds a wonderful depth of flavor. This sauce can be made well in advance but is quick enough that it requires no advance planning.
With a great flavor and silky texture, this Cherry Sauce will bring your desserts to life!
Let’s get started!
As I mentioned above, I’m using canned cherries that I prepared this past Summer because the cherry-infused syrup is perfect to use in place of water. However, you can absolutely use fresh or frozen cherries.
Place the cherries and 1/2 cup of their syrup from the can in a small saucepan, or water if using fresh or frozen cherries, along with the sugar, lemon juice and butter. Bring to a boil. If using fresh or frozen cherries, reduce the heat and simmer for about 3 minutes.
Combine the cornstarch with the water and stir it into the sauce, stirring constantly until thickened, about 1 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Store the cherry sauce in the fridge for up to a week.
Serve the sauce warm or at room temperature.
A dessert that features this cherry dessert sauce is Risalamonde, Denmark’s most popular dessert!
Cherry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups canned cherries plus 1/2 cup of the light syrup from the can or fresh or frozen cherries plus 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon butter vegans: use an oil-based spread
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon quality pure almond extract
Instructions
- Place the cherries and the syrup or water in a small saucepan along with the sugar, butter and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. If using fresh or frozen cherries, reduce the heat and simmer for another 3 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture, stirring continually until the sauce is thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract.
- Store in the fridge for up to a week.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
michelle says
Hello,
Wanting to use this as a cherry sauce for waffles on Christmas day.. I am looking for a liquidy cherry sauce is this it? Do I just omit the cornstarch? Or is this sauce gelatinous with or without the cornstarch. Please advise?
Thank you
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Michelle, without the cornstarch it’s completely liquidy, like water. You can start out using less cornstarch to get the consistency you want and you can always add more if you need to.
Anonymous says
Thank you .I have used this recipe to dress up a ginger coffee cake….its great tasting and so easy. Thank you….can I substitute any fruit or berry?
Sandra says
Hi there.
A danish who is going to try your recipe ;) but a friend of mine is gluten intolerant. Would I be able to swap cornstarch for arrowroot? If yes, is it the same amount I need to use as the cornstarch?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Sandra! Cornstarch is gluten free but you can use arrowroot if you prefer. I haven’t used arrowroot for this before but here’s the substitution info I found online for using it as a thickener:
“To use arrowroot powder as a cornstarch substitute, prepare it in the following manner:
2 teaspoons Arrowroot Flour = 1 tablespoon Cornstarch (3 teaspoons Cornstarch)
1 tablespoon to 1 cup of liquid, when used as a thickening agent.”
Joanna McGlone says
once made can it be frozen?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Joanna, cornstarch does not freeze well so you would have to omit the cornstarch, freeze, thaw, then heat up and add the cornstarch to thicken.
Anonymous says
My family is from Denmark and we have this for Christmas desert every year with the risalamonde (rice pudding).
We use canned cherries , corn starch, and the add sherry liquor for the added flavour.
I can honestly say that after 54 years, this is still by far, my favourite desert!
Emilia says
Is there any substitute for almond extract?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Emilia, you can simply omit it or use vanilla extract instead.
Pam says
I made these as a topping for chia coconut pudding. Excellent! I will definitely use this recipe again. Thank ryou.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Wonderful, thanks Pam!
Maegan says
Hi there! Can this recipe be canned??
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Maegan, not with the cornstarch. What you can do is can the cherries in sugar syrup (super duper simple to do, just look up “how to can cherries”) and then all you have to do is open the jar, pour them into a saucepan, bring them to a simmer, add the cornstarch as instructed and let it thicken.
Maegan says
Hey ok so to clarify, if I didn’t thicken it and just used the lemon juice and almond extract, I could can that??
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
No, I’m saying that you can take the cherries and can them (look up “how to can cherries” online). Then you can take those canned cherries, empty them and the liquid into a pot, then follow the recipe to add lemon juice, almond extract and thicken.
Kimberlyn says
I just made this to go over fudge brownies and vanilla ice cream for a birthday dessert for my mother’s 70th. She’s not a sweets person, but does enjoy chocolate covered cherries and grew up in Washington State where some of the best cherries are grown. I did a taste test of this sauce and, Oh Wow is this good! Since I didn’t have canned, I used frozen and added about 2 tsp of sugar, reasoning that if you made this with the light syrup, it would be a bit sweeter. It turned out really lovely. Not overly sweet as I feared. The lemon adds a lift. Fantastic recipe. I think I’ll be canning some cherries this summer!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks so much, Kimberlyn, I’m glad you enjoyed it and hope your mother does as well!
Brian Gogal says
I can see where a good healthy dose of kirsch could be used. :)
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
For sure, Brian! :)
Jean Noonan says
my sister was looking for a cherry syrup recipe in books so I found this for her & she is thrilled with it. :)
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Wonderful, Jean, I’m happy to hear that, thank you!
Heather | All Roads Lead to the Kitchen says
Cherries are my weakness, I could eat these with a spoon!