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A slice of homemade chocolate cherry cake with rich chocolate layers, creamy frosting, and a topping of fresh cherries and cherry sauce, dripping onto a white plate.

Easy Chocolate cherry cake Recipe

A rich and moist chocolate cherry cake made from scratch with deep chocolate flavor, real cherries, and luscious frosting. Perfect for special occasions or a treat for family dinners.
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American, European
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Cooling Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 12 slices
Calories: 430kcal
Cost: 15$

Equipment

  • 2-3 9-inch cake pans (Use light-colored aluminum pans for even baking.)
  • 1 Stand or hand mixer (To cream butter and sugar.)
  • 1 Mixing bowls (For dry and wet ingredients.)
  • 1 Offset spatula (For spreading frosting.)
  • 1 Pastry brush (To apply cherry juice on layers.)
  • 1 Cherry pitter (For preparing fresh cherries.)
  • 1 Serrated knife (To level cake layers if needed.)

Ingredients

  • ¾ cups All-purpose flour - Can be swapped with cake flour.
  • ½ cup Cocoa powder - Use natural not Dutch-processed.
  • 1 teaspoon Baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon Baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • ½ cup Butter - Unsalted softened.
  • 1 ½ cups Sugar - Granulated.
  • 2 Large Eggs - room temperature.
  • 1 cup Buttermilk - Add ¼ cup cherry juice to buttermilk.
  • ½ cup Coffee - Hot enhances chocolate flavor.
  • 1 ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
  • 1 cup Cherries - Fresh chopped.

For the Cherry Filling:

  • 1 cup Cherries - Fresh or frozen.
  • ½ cup Cherry preserves
  • 1 tablespoon Kirsch - Optional for Black Forest style.
  • 2 tablespoon Sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Cornstarch

For the Frosting:

  • 8 oz Dark chocolate - Melted.
  • ½ cup Heavy cream
  • 4 oz Cream cheese - Softened.
  • ½ cup Butter - Unsalted softened.
  • 1 ½ cups Powdered sugar

Instructions 

Prep Work

  • Preheat oven, grease pans, pit and chop cherries, mix dry

Mixing

  • Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, alternate dry ingredients and wet, fold in cherries.

Baking

  • Divide batter into pans, bake 25-30 mins at 350°F, cool completely.

Cherry Filling

  • Cook cherries, preserves, sugar, and cornstarch until thickened.

Assembly

  • Layer with filling, frost, and decorate with cherries.

Nutrition

Serving: 120g | Calories: 430kcal (22%) | Carbohydrates: 55g (18%) | Protein: 6g (12%) | Fat: 22g (34%) | Saturated Fat: 12g (75%) | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 65mg (22%) | Sodium: 180mg (8%) | Potassium: 220mg (6%) | Fiber: 3g (13%) | Sugar: 35g (39%) | Vitamin A: 580IU (12%) | Vitamin C: 2mg (2%) | Calcium: 40mg (4%) | Iron: 2mg (11%)