Lemon Cream Cheese Filled Cherry Bread

With sweet cherries in season, this cherry bread filled with a ribbon of lemony cream cheese filling is a perfect addition to your summer treats recipe box!

Fresh cherries can be very expensive to buy most of the year but right now, here in Utah, they are in season and we are taking advantage.

Cherries are a beloved fruit in the Koller household but with the price per pound being over three or four dollars most of the year, we tend to enjoy them less often than we’d like.  Luckily it’s cherry season right now and we are getting our fill enough for the year.  😉

I’ve made similar sweet breads like this one, with a cream cheese ribbon through the middle, but this is the first to come with a hint of sweet lemon.  The lemon pairs so well with the creamy sweet filling and cherry-rich bread.  If you like cherries and you like cream cheese, you will love this delicious bread.  To top it all off, it has a sweet and tangy lemon glaze.  If you ask any of my kids they will claim it’s their favorite part.

To take this cherry bread over the top it’s glazed with a sweet and tangy lemon glaze.  It’s amazing!  If you ask any of my girls they will claim it’s their favorite part.  It really sets the stage for the creamy lemon filling inside.

I can’t take all the credit.  My friend Amy over at Recipe Treasures gave me the idea when I saw her post on a cherry bread she made.  It looked so delicious I had to give it a try with my own twist, lemons included.

This bread came together easy.  You can make yours in two large loaf pans or 5 small.  The bake time is the biggest thing that will vary.

Here’s how we made it.  First things first, with help from one of my little ladies, the cherries were pitted, chopped (by mom), then dried and set aside.

We creamed the butter, coconut oil and sugar until it was nice and fluffy. Then, with a little help from my two oldest kiddos, the eggs went in.   Yes, her jumper is on backward and inside out, thanks to potty training and a momma that’s okay with a 2-year-old dressing herself. HAHA!

The eggs were then incorporated.  Next, we added lemon juice, milk, and vanilla to the mixture.

It will look chunky.  That’s normal and will go away in a minute.  Next, the cherries were added.  Then the dry ingredients.

Make sure that once you add the dry ingredients only mix the batter until it is blended.  You don’t want to over mix it.  Using a spatula to finish mixing the dry ingredients is a great way to ensure you didn’t over mix the batter.  That’s what we did.

We set the cherry bread batter to the side while we made the lemon cream cheese filling.  We mixed the cream cheese and sugar first then added the eggs.  Last, we added the flour, lemon juice, and zest.  That was it.  Super easy!

I think the hardest part of this bread is layering the bread batter and filling (and it’s not even that hard).  We made 1 large loaf (5×9-inch) and 3 small loaves (3×5 3/4-inch).  You could make 2 large loaves or 5 small loaves.  It’s really whatever you prefer.

We tried to divide the cherry bread batter in equal proportions depending on the pan size.  We did about 3/4 to 1 inch in the bottom of the large pan, then added about 1/2 an inch of lemon cream cheese filling next, then topped it with another layer of cherry bread batter.  We made sure to smooth each layer before adding the next.  After the last layer was smoothed the bread went into the oven.

When the bread was done, we let the loaves cool slightly then glazed them with our super simple lemon glaze.  The glaze is magic on this bread. Seriously!

Here’s how the small loaves turned out.  Don’t they look so yummy?!

A slice of this bread is really just a piece of summery heaven.  😉  The ribbon of cream cheese with a hint of lemon is divine.

What’s your favorite summer sweet bread?

If you like this recipe, you may also like these Easy Creamy Lemon Cheesecake Bars or these Toasted Coconut Lime Cookie with lime glaze: