Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Step 2

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, almond extract, vanilla, vegetable oil, milk, cherry juice, eggs, and sour cream. Whisk to combine well.

Step 3

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.

Step 4

Drain maraschino cherries from the rest of the juice (you’ve already used ¼ cup of the juice in the bread batter) and coarsely chop the cherries into halves and/or quarters.

Step 5

Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of the flour mixture over the cherries and toss to combine.

Step 6

Stir the remaining flour mixture into the milk/eggs mixture. Stir just until wet and dry ingredients are combined - lumps and streaks of flour in the batter are fine.

Step 7

Gently fold the cherries into the batter to distribute evenly, but do not overmix.

Step 8

Pour batter into a greased or parchment-lined 9x5 loaf pan.

Step 9

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.  Cover bread with  aluminum foil after 45 minutes to prevent it from over-browning on top.

Step 10

Remove from the oven and cool. (You can turn the bread out onto a wire cooling rack after it has cooled for an initial 10 minutes in the pan.)

Step 11

Whisk together the ingredients for the glaze.  Drizzle the glaze over the bread.  The glaze will set, dry to the touch after about 30 minutes.