My mother had a recipe for Chocolate Cherry Cake that was her favorite for many years, the one she brought to every family picnic, and everyone loved it. Recently I got nostalgic for it, and when I dusted off her recipe, I realized it was this one. I’m not sure what its origin is, it’s posted on countless blogs and food sites and no one seems to credit the source. But it’s no wonder so many foodies have shared the recipe over the years: it’s easy, very fudgy, and super moist, packed with all those juicy cherries.
If you Google Chocolate Cherry Cake and read some of the posts, you’ll see some cooks confessing to skepticism about using boxed cake mix. I felt the same. I’m also squeamish about canned pie filling with its high fructose corn syrup. So, while I loved my mother’s version, I decided to strike out on my own, and figure out how to replicate this cake from scratch.
The hardest part of this re-do was the cherries. First I tried using plain canned cherries instead of the cherry pie filling, but they were too watery, not sweet enough, and their flavor got completely lost in the chocolate - you couldn’t even tell they were there.
Then I got the idea to make my own cherry pie filling. I used the same canned cherries, but this time I cooked them briefly with sugar and thickened their juices with cornstarch before adding them to the cake batter. (This may seem like an unnecessary extra step, and if you want to use canned cherry pie filling to save time, by all means please do. I try to avoid high fructose corn syrup, so the extra effort is worth it to me.)
Adjustments to a few other key ingredients like the buttermilk and baking soda finally yielded a winner, a cake that’s moist and deeply chocolate-y, dare I say better than the original. Not to mention free of HFCS as well as xanthan gum and emulsified palm shortening and all the other scary sounding ingredients found in cake mix.
Finally, I replaced the sweet frosting from the original with a slinky dark chocolate ganache that’s rich and thick with a slightly bitter edge. The chocolate that formed the base of the ganache came from a local candy store that sells bars of the same chocolate they use for their candies. If you don’t have access to something like that, a premium international brand such as Callebaut would be a good alternative.
Making this ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- Chocolate Cherry Cake is delicious the day it’s baked and even better the next day - that’s often the case with cakes, I’m not sure why. It will stay fresh and moist for at least 3 days, if you can resist it that long, and can be stored at room temperature or chilled.
- The unfrosted cake can be tightly wrapped and frozen for a couple of months. Frosted cakes don’t generally freeze well, but this one is frosted with ganache, which will hold up better than other types of frosting. To keep the ganache from getting smushed, freeze the slices of cake unwrapped until they’re frozen solid, then wrap them in plastic wrap and again in zip-lock freezer bags.
If you want to make your own cherry pie filling, scroll down and find it below the cake recipe.
To see this recipe combined with others in a special dinner menu, read the post for Saturday February 15, 2020.
Chocolate Cherry Cake
Ingredients
- Softened butter for the pan
- 7/8 cup flour (3 5/8 ounces or 105 grams)
- 3/8 cup Dutch process cocoa powder (1 ounce or 30 grams), plus additional for the pan
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup expeller-pressed canola oil
- 7/8 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ¾ cup cherry pie filling, canned or homemade (for homemade, see recipe below)
- 4 ounces heavy cream
- 4 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 teaspoon Kirsch, optional
Directions
- Step 1 If you’re making your own cherry pie filling, start there. Make the filling and let it chill until cold before proceeding. For the cake you’ll need ¾ cup of the cherry filling. Reserve the remainder for another use.
- Step 2 Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter an 8-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment. Butter the parchment, then sprinkle in some cocoa powder. Swivel and turn the pan to coat the entire inner surface with a thin dusting of cocoa powder. Turn the pan over and tap out the excess. Set the pan aside.
- Step 3 Sift the flour, the remaining 3/8 cup of cocoa powder, and the baking soda and baking powder together into a small bowl.
- Step 4 In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the oil, sugar, egg, vanilla and salt, and beat until the mixture is smooth and slightly thickened.
- Step 5 Add half the flour mixture and stir on low speed just to combine. Add the buttermilk and stir on low speed until combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to stir in the last bits of the flour mixture, just until the batter is smooth. Gently fold in the cherry pie filling.
- Step 6 Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn it out, remove the parchment from the bottom, and let it cool completely before frosting.
- Step 7 Make the ganache frosting: Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just starts to form small bubbles on the surface – don’t let it boil. Meanwhile place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 3 minutes, then stir until the mixture is smooth and thoroughly combined with no lumps of unmelted chocolate. Stir in the kirsch.
- Step 8 Let the ganache sit for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it thickens to the point that it’s still pourable but not runny. Pour the frosting over the cake and spread it out to just to the edges. Let the cake sit until the frosting is firm before slicing and serving.
Homemade Cherry Pie Filling
Ingredients
- One 14½-ounce can pitted tart cherries packed in water
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Directions
- Step 1 Place a sieve over a small saucepan and dump the cherries in. Quickly transfer the sieve to sit over a small bowl to catch the remaining juices that will trickle out.
- Step 2 Add the sugar to the juice in the saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium-high heat.
- Step 3 Meanwhile, add the cornstarch to whatever juices have accumulated under the cherries, and stir them to make a paste.
- Step 4 Once the juice has come to a simmer and the sugar is dissolved, add the cornstarch paste and stir constantly until the mixture returns to a simmer, about 1 minute. It should be thickened and glossy. Stir in the cherries.
- Step 5 Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and chill it until it’s at least as cool as room temperature before using it in the recipe.
