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slice of chocolate cake with cherries and icing sugar.
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4.50 from 4 votes

Cherry Chocolate Cake

Tender cherry chocolate cake, a fluffy chocolatey cake spiked with cherries. An easy cake recipe made with melted dark chocolate and fresh, frozen, or canned cherries.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Course: Cakes
Cuisine: American
Servings: 12
Calories: 310kcal
Author: Adina

Ingredients

  • 350 g cherries fresh, frozen, or canned, 12.5 oz/ 2 ½ cups, Note 2
  • 100 g dark chocolate 60-80% cocoa, Note 3
  • 4 eggs large
  • 150 g unsalted butter soft, 5.5 oz/ ⅔ cup
  • 100 g white sugar divided 3.5 oz/ 1 cup
  • 50 g brown sugar 1.8 oz/ ¼ cup, Note 4
  • 100 g all-purpose flour 3.5 oz/ ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon, Note 1
  • 100 g ground hazelnuts 3.5 oz/ ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • pinch salt

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F. Grease and flour a springform of about 24 cm/ 9.5 inches.
  • Cherries: Pit fresh fruit. If using frozen fruit, defrost and pat it dry with paper towels. If using canned fruit, drain and pat it dry as well.
  • Melt chocolate: Chop the dark chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl. Melt it at bain-marie (water bath), often stirring (Note 5). Let cool slightly while you prepare the rest.
  • Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites with 50 g/ ¼ of the white sugar until stiff and glossy. Set aside.
  • Wet ingredients: Beat the soft butter, 50 g/ ¼ white sugar, and 50 g/ ¼ cup brown sugar until fluffy.
  • Mix in the egg yolks and the melted and cooled chocolate.
  • Dry ingredients: Mix flour, baking powder, ground hazelnuts, and salt in another bowl. Add them to the butter mixture and mix in very shortly, just until combined.
  • Carefully fold in the beaten egg whites.
  • Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Top the cake batter with the cherries.
  • Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
  • Check after about 30-40 minutes. If the top of the cake starts to get dark too soon, cover the pan loosely with a piece of aluminum foil to prevent it from getting burned.
  • Let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes. Release it from the form and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes

  1. Use a digital kitchen scale; baking is a science, and measuring the ingredients correctly guarantees for best results. However, measuring flour and butter using cups is very unprecise (Amazon affiliate link).
  2. I weighed the cherries after pitting.
  3. Semi-sweet chocolate is also fine; the cake will be a bit sweeter.
  4. If you don’t have brown sugar, replace it with white sugar.
  5. Pour some water into another pan. Place the bowl with the chocolate on top; the bowl should not touch the hot water. Heat on low heat, often stirring, until the chocolate is completely smooth. If the water gets too hot, remove the pot from the heat source and continue stirring the chocolate off the heat until melted.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 310kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 82mg | Sodium: 61mg | Potassium: 162mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 413IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 2mg