Cherry Chip Cake with Chocolate Ganache Frosting – A moist homemade cherry chip cake, whipped ganache filling, and a dark chocolate ganache frosting!
Want more great recipes? Try these next! Cherry Garcia Cookies, Caramel Apple Snickers Cake, and Chocolate Covered Strawberry Yogurt Pops.
I no-doubt inherited my father’s obsession with chocolate. However, I definitely did not inherit his affection for chocolate-and-fruit. I like my fruit, and I like my chocolate, but not together in the same bite. It’s just one flavor combination I’ve not come to get along with quite yet. I put fruit in my salad, that’s a big step.
But like I said, Pops likes his chocolate any way he can get it, very much including pair with fruit. And he’s really got a thing for cherry chip cake. With chocolate frosting, of course. My mom used to make it from a box mix. Recently though, I had a thought. I should make cherry chip cake for my dad – surprise!
So I did it. I made a cherry chip cake – from scratch. Chopped the cherries and all. And covered the whole thing with chocolate. Just how I know the old man likes it. Isn’t she purdy??
The funny part of this story? When I delivered this special cake to my Pops, he was ecstatic. A little… too ecstatic? Apparently (ahem) the box cake mix for cherry chip cake is out of production. Aka: they’re not making it anymore. And dad has been pining for some of his favorite cake.
Oh. Yeah I knew that, that’s why I made this cake…. 😉
Cherry Chip Cake
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons butter - softened
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup milk
- 6 egg whites
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries - rinsed and patted dry, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons cherry juice - (from the maraschino cherry jar)
Frosting
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 16 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 9-inch cake pans with butter or cooking spray. Dust with flour (just sprinkle some flour in the pan and tip it around to coat, then dump out the excess). Place a round piece of wax paper in the bottom of the pan. (You can buy pre-cut wax paper for cakes, I just traced mine and cut it out)
- In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar 3-4 minutes until very fluffy. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine. In a large liquid measuring cup whisk together milk, egg whites, almond extract, and cherry juice.
- Alternate adding dry mixture and wet mixture into the butter-sugar bowl, starting and ending with the dry mixture. Be sure to mix well between each addition. Gently stir in cherries.
- Pour half of the batter into each of the prepared pans. Bake 25-30 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
Frosting
- When the cakes are completely cooled, prepare the frosting. Place chocolate chips in a large heat-safe bowl. Bring heavy cream to a boil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Pour cream over chocolate chips. Allow to sit for a minute or so.
- Whisk chocolate and cream until smooth. Pour about 1/3 of the chocolate mixture into a separate bowl. Place both bowls in the freezer for 10 minutes. Use a hand mixer to whip the bowl with the lesser amount of chocolate until fluffy (2-3 minutes).
- Spread the whipped chocolate onto one of the cakes, then place the second cake on top. Pour the remaining non-whipped chocolate over the top of the cake and spread to cover entire cake. Store in airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Great cake & gorgeous pics! I made some cherry bread about a month ago and this looks like the next thing I should make with cherries! pinned
Do you think instead chopped marshino cherries, you could use actual cherry chips (like chocolate chips)? If so, any idea how much (1 1/2 cups maybe). I over-bought a bunch of Log House cherry chips and I’m trying to figure out how to use them. Thanks for any help you can give and I love your blog. I just discovered it about a month ago. This cake looks delicious. I just starting like fruit and chocolate together recently 🙂 Thanks again.
Hi Annette! I think you could definitely use cherry chips – I’ve never even seen those! I need to get my hands on some! I would say probably 1 1/2 cups would do the trick. But you might also want to up the almond flavoring or add a little vanilla extract because you won’t be using cherry juice from the jar! Just a thought! If you do try this – let me know what you think, I’d love to get your feedback!! 🙂
I love the colours and flavours – a gorgeous cake! 🙂
That cake is gorgeous and I love the frosting. 🙂
I just found your blog today. Y.U.M. I hope you see this comment. Would it work in the recipe to use fresh cherries instead of the maraschino cherries?