Chocolate-Cherry Cake

Happy Sunday and Happy Mother’s Day! Every Mother’s Day weekend, I am fortunate enough to have my mom visit me from Michigan. The weather was rather crummy this weekend, so we spent our time catching up, getting facials, eating good food and of course… baking.

One of my mom’s favorite cake flavors is chocolate, so today I baked her a Chocolate-Cherry cake and it-is-so-good!!! I’m also loving this new decorating trend where you use several different Wilton decorating tips to create a super textured variety, so I gave that a try and I am very pleased with how it turned out! It’s super easy to do, I highly recommend giving it a try!

As for the recipe, I found a really great one from Martha Stewart that I slightly modified.

Prep Time: 30 minutes // Cook Time: 30 minutes // Decorating Time: ~ 2 hours // Yield: ~8 slices

Cake Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cognac or kirsch
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cup fresh cherries
• 3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 ounces chopped dark chocolate (1/2 cup), melted and cooled slightly
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

• 4 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Whisk together 1/3 cup sugar, cognac, and cornstarch in a medium pot. Add cherries and any juices. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high until thickened, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a rectangular 2-3 inch deep cookie sheet.
3. Whisk cocoa with hot water in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk in sour cream and melted chocolate; let cool. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in another medium bowl.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 1 2/3 cups sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to combine after each and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the cocoa mixture and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined. Fold in 1 1/2 cups cherry filling; reserve remaining filling for topping.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Using a round cake cutter size of your choice, cut your layers out of the sheet pan to be stacked once you begin decorating.
6. While the cakes finish cooling, begin your frosting by combining your butter and sugar and mix on high until well-combined, then add the vanilla and mix together. Decide on the number of colors you’d like, an separate the frosting accordingly. Add food coloring and mix one at a time until you have all of the colors prepared.
7. Layer the cakes 1 at a time, adding a layer of frosting in-between. Once the cakes are stacked, coat the cake in a thin layer of buttercream, called a crumb coat. Place the cake in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. Once the crumb coat has stiffened, remove from the fridge and you can begin your decorating by adding another layer of frosting, and decorate to your liking using Wilton piping tips if you choose!

Enjoy!

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