A beautifully pink cherry chocolate chip cake that is made of 3 layers of cherry chocolate chip cake and a cherry buttercream. It is sure to brighten your day!
Now that our rink is closed, I haven’t been able to see my skating friends much. We used to see each other on Thursday nights during Learn to Skate, but that program was cancelled for the time being while our rink is under repair. Occasionally, we’d see each other on public sessions over the weekend, but those have been hard to attend.
Three of us organized a Bock Squad movie date and I hosted it. I made us homemade deep dish pizzas, while my friends brought wine, a cheese plate and some salad. Naturally, I could not be without a dessert, so I baked this cherry chocolate chip cake. My husband kept begging me for this chocolate cherry cake but I wanted to try something different.
This version has three layers of cherry chocolate chip cake and is frosted with a luscious cherry buttercream. In addition, Addie helped me (!) chop up some maraschino cherries to add in between the cake layers. I decorated the cake with some piped designs and garnished it with additional maraschino cherries.
My skating friends both raved about the cake and gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. They said that had they not tried the lemon raspberry cake prior to this, then they would have given it 5 out of 5 stars. One bit they would have recommended was to add even more chopped maraschino cherries in between each of the layers (I think we used 20 cherries, so I’d recommend increasing this to 30 or so).
This is an AMAZING cake and it’s pretty to boot, so I hope you try it soon!
Husband’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
Addie’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
My rating: 4.5 out of 5
Cherry chocolate chip cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 and ½ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (1 and ½ sticks) unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 4 large egg whites
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup milk of choice
- ½ cup maraschino cherry juice
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
Buttercream (I recommend cutting this recipe in half)
- 3 cups (6 sticks) unsalted butter room temperature
- 12 cups powdered sugar
- 5-6 Tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
Instructions
Bake the cakes
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Generously grease and line three 8" round cake pans and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, cream together the sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and sour cream and mix well.
- In two batches, add the egg whites and egg and mix well.
- Turn the mixer to low and add in about half of the dry ingredients.
- Add the milk and cherry juice and mix until fully incorporated.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in the mini chocolate chips.
- Evenly distribute the batter into your prepared baking pans and smooth out the tops. Bake in your preheated oven for 23-26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs. The sides should start to turn a light golden color and pull away from the pan.
- Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.
Make the buttercream
- In the bowl of a clean stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, cream the butter on medium speed until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in about 4 cups of the powdered sugar. Then add about 3 Tablespoons of the cherry juice.
- Add another 4 cups of powdered sugar and then about 2 Tablespoons of cherry juice. Then add the remaining 4 cups of powdered sugar. If your frosting is too thick, you can either add a bit more cherry or juice or a splash or two of milk. If it's too runny, you can add more powdered sugar.
Assemble the cake
- Once the cakes have cooled completely, you can assemble the cake. Make sure you trim off any domed centers of the cakes with a serrated knife. You can save those for a snack.
- Place one cake, flat side down, on a cake plate or cake stand.
- Top with about 1 and ½ cups of the buttercream. (At this point, you can also add some chopped up maraschino cherries if you wanted to add a different texture/layer to the cake)
- Place another cake layer on top and repeat.
- Place the final cake layer, flat side facing UP, and gently press down on the 3 layers of cake.
- Apply a thin layer of frosting on the top and sides of your cake. Then place it in the refrigerator to cool for about 30 minutes to set the crumb coating.
- Once the crumb coating has set, frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream. If desired, you can pipe on decorations or a fun border and garnish with chocolate chips and/or maraschino cherries.
- Slice and enjoy!