Do you love chocolate and cherries? Well, have I got the cake for you! This chocolate cherry cake has an insanely soft and moist cake and is filled with a smooth and creamy cherry layer. It’s then topped off with a luscious chocolate cherry frosting!
In full disclosure, I was very skeptical about this cake. My husband had this grand idea of baking a chocolate cherry cake. I didn’t want a black forest cake, so I thought about a maraschino cherry cake as an alternative. The thing is, I’m not a big fan of maraschino cherries (yes, we have already established the fact that I am weird).
In order for this cake to be a knockout, I knew that I needed to bake the Perfectly Chocolate Cake from Hershey’s. That is probably the best chocolate cake base I’ve ever had. It stays soft, moist and fluffy days on end. I haven’t found anything close to it.
Then, I added a maraschino cherry filling in between each layer and made a chocolate cherry buttercream. I ran out of frosting, so I made another half batch (I did NOT reflect in the recipe that below). The resulting cake was OUT OF THIS WORLD. It was so good, in fact, that it earned a perfect rating from the Eva Bakes household. That right – it got 5 out of 5 stars from each of us.
Each bite of cake was chocolatey with chunks of cherries. The cake was soft, and the filling was perfectly fluffy. The smooth frosting was almost ganache-like and it also contained hints of cherries. We served out cakes with maraschino cherries on the side (except me, since we’ve already established that I’m weird).
This is one of the few recipes with a perfect rating on Eva Bakes. Hope you enjoy it!
Husband’s rating: 5 out of 5
Addie’s rating: 5 out of 5
My rating: 5 out of 5
Chocolate cherry cake
Ingredients
Chocolate cake
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 and ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 and ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 and ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup vegetable oil I used canola
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Cherry filling
- 1 8-ounce package cream cheese softened
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon maraschino cherry juice
- ⅔ cup maraschino cherries chopped
Chocolate cherry frosting
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter softened
- ⅓ cup half-and-half I used milk
- 1-2 Tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
Instructions
Bake the chocolate cake
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease and line three 8-inch baking pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, mix together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt on low speed.
- Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and mix well on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and slowly stream in the boiling water. Your batter will be very thin and liquidy.
- Evenly distribute the batter into your prepared baking pans. Bake in your preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely before assembling.
Make the filling
- In the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter and almond extract on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar. Beat until smooth. Add the cherry juice and mix well. Fold in the chopped cherries (you can do this by hand or let the mixer do it). Set aside until ready to assemble the cake.
Make the chocolate cherry frosting
- In the bowl of a clean stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, cream together the cocoa powder, powdered sugar and butter on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly drizzle in the half-and-half and cherry juice.
- If the frosting appears too thick to frost, add more half-and-half. If it's too watery, add more powdered sugar. Set aside until ready to assemble the cake.
Assemble the cake
- Place one cake on a cake stand or a plate, flat side down. If the cake has domed, cut off the domed section with a serrated knife. Add half of the cherry filling on top, and spread until it almost reaches the edges of the cake.
- Place another cake layer on top. Again, trim any domed portions of the cake with a serrated knife. Add the remaining half of the cherry filling on top and spread until it almost reaches the edges.
- Add your final cake layer on top, flat side up (make sure to trim any domed tops before flipping the cake upside down).
- Using an offset spatula, spread a thin layer of the frosting on the top and the sides of the cake. Place the cake in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to allow the frosting to set.
- Remove the cake from the refrigerator and frost with the remaining frosting. Decorate with additional maraschino cherries or chocolate curls.
- Serve and enjoy!
Hi! Just wondering how many eggs you need for this cake, and when the cream cheese comes in as it’s not mentioned? Thank you!
Author
Thanks for catching those errors, Shahad! I just fixed them in the recipe. There are 2 eggs in the cake and the cream cheese is beaten in the first step of the filling recipe.
Thank you!! Excited to try this tonight
This cake turned out so good! Will be repeating this recipe for sure, thank you Eva!
Author
Hooray – glad you enjoyed it, Shahad!
HI Can i make this into a two layer cake?
Author
Yes – I believe that Hershey’s might have baking instructions on their website since the layers will be thicker (your baking time will be different).