This mouthwatering Chocolate Cherry Cake features a moist chocolate cake with cherry pie filling mixed right into the batter.
Chocolate and cherries might just be my favorite food combination. It's up there along with chocolate and peanut butter. When I saw a recipe for a chocolate cherry cake using cake mix, it gave me the idea to try making a Chocolate Cherry Cake from scratch.
I started with a recipe for a basic chocolate sheet cake, and altered it to cut down on the liquid, fat, and sugar since I would be adding a can of cherry pie filling.
By the way, you can never go wrong with a can of cherry pie filling. Use it as an ice cream topping. Pour it over top of a slice of cheesecake. Stuff it inside french toast. Make a pretty pink cherry fluff dessert. Its uses are endless!
How to Make Chocolate Cherry Cake
Making this cake is similar to making most other cakes. The dry ingredients are whisked together, and the wet ingredients are whisked together, and then the two are folded together to make a batter.
The difference with this cake is the addition of the cherry pie filling, which is folded into the batter. The pie filling adds more moisture and sweetness to the cake, which makes for a wonderfully moist cake.
Chocolate Cherry Cake Ingredients:
- Semisweet chocolate chips
- Cocoa powder
- Instant coffee powder
- Boiling water
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Sugar
- Large eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Canola oil
- Canned cherry pie filling
Chocolate Cherry Cake Frosting
You might notice that I didn't include a recipe for frosting with this cake. Note that it is very delicious without frosting as a snack cake, but you can certainly use your favorite frosting to make it a little fancier.
I chose to ice this cake with cream cheese frosting, a favorite in our household. I think it would be just as good with chocolate or vanilla frosting.
Want more Cherry Pie Filling recipes?
Chocolate Cherry Cake Nutrition Notes:
This recipe can easily be made dairy-free by simply choosing dairy-free chocolate chips. Make sure to skip the frosting or use a dairy-free frosting as well in this case.
Chocolate Cherry Cake
Equipment
- Cake pan(s) Either one 9x13" rectangular baking pan or two 8" or 9" round pans.
Ingredients
- 3 oz semisweet chocolate chips (use dairy-free chocolate chips to make this recipe dairy-free)
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
- ½ cup boiling water
- 11/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoon canola oil
- 21 oz can cherry pie filling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x13" or two 8" or 9"baking pan(s) with vegetable oil and line the bottom with parchment paper (see note).
- Melt chocolate chips in a large glass bowl over a pot of barely boiling water. Add the boiling water, cocoa and coffee. Whisk together until smooth and allow to cool slightly. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Whisk sugar, eggs and vanilla into the chocolate mixture, then slowly whisk in the oil until emulsified. Add half the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and gently whisk to combine. Repeat with second half of flour mixture. Gently stir in the cherry pie filling. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick, like pudding.
- Scrape batter into the prepared pan(s), and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs, 35-40 minutes. Rotate the pan(s) halfway through baking.
- Let cake cool completely in the pan. Run a knife around the edges then turn onto a wire rack. Peel parchment off, and frost, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Lois says
Would this recipe work as cup cakes?
Carissa says
Yes, I'm sure it would. You'd just cook them for a shorter amount of time.