This chocolate cherry cake is a classic yellow cake, tender and buttery, made pink and pretty with maraschino cherries and a rich chocolate glaze. An easy bundt cake that's perfect for Valentine's Day!
For the last few years, Phil and I have been lucky to spend Valentine's Day together in NYC since he has an annual business trip there at this time of year, and it's an easy train ride for me for a quick trip.
But this year, I'll be taking my sweet Jack down to South Carolina to see his grandparents (and get out of the cold for a bit!) instead. It'll be nice to spend it with my other little Valentine!
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I love baking with maraschino cherries (see these chewy cherry almond sugar cookies from last year), and Valentine's Day always puts me in a cherry mood. And a chocolate mood of course. But that goes for anytime, really.
This year, I took an easy, moist, tender and buttery yellow cake recipe and dolled it up with some cherries, chocolate chips, and a rich glaze. It's super simple and straightforward to make.
How to make a chocolate cherry cake
For the cake batter:
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- Start by roughly chopping some drained maraschino cherries (save the syrup!).
- Whisk your dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls.
- Cream the butter and sugar together.
- Alternate adding the wet and dry ingredients to the butter and sugar, mixing until just combined.
- Add a little red food color to the batter if you'd like the pink color to be more pronounced (it will still be pinkish from the cherry syrup alone). I'm a huge fan of gel-based food colors rather than liquid as you need a lot less to get the same result.
- Fold the chopped cherries and chocolate chips into the batter.
- Scoop and spread the batter evenly into a buttered and floured nonstick bundt pan (the batter will be very thick).
- Bake in a preheated oven for 45-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes or so, and invert onto a serving platter to cool completely.
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9. Make an easy chocolate glaze, let it cool for a few minutes to thicken, and pour over the top of the cake.
That is all!
I hope you have some fun plans for Valentine's Day too - most of all I hope that they involve a little chocolate! And a lot of ❤️of course :).
Enjoy! xx
Sound good to you? If you make this chocolate cherry cake, I would be thrilled if you would take a pic and tag me on Instagram @ourhappymess!
Or pin for later! ↓↓↓
Here are a few other easy dessert ideas to make your Valentine's Day a little sweeter!
Chewy Cherry Almond Sugar Cookies
Sweet and Salty Chocolate Bark
Easy Strawberry Shortcakes in a Jar
Chocolate Tart (Try a heart pattern instead of herringbone!)
And if you're looking for even more easy dessert inspiration, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Or subscribe in the sidebar on the right to get every new recipe in your inbox 🙂
Chocolate Cherry Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons maraschino cherry syrup
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ⅛ cups unsalted butter (2 ¼ sticks) at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs, plus one egg yolk
- 2-3 drops red food coloring (optional)
- 1 cup roughly chopped maraschino cherries
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
For the chocolate glaze
- ½ cup plus one tablespoon heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 6 oz dark chocolate chopped
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12-cup non-stick bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, cherry syrup and vanilla extract.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes. Add eggs and yolk and beat until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- To the mixer bowl, add ⅓ of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Add ½ the buttermilk mixture and continue to mix. Continue to alternate flour and buttermilk until just combined. Remove from the mixer and give the batter a good stir by hand. Add a couple drops of red food coloring if you want a stronger pink color. Stir in the cherries and chocolate chips to distribute evenly.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared bundt pan and even out the top with a rubber spatula. Rap the pan on the counter a few times to make sure it gets into all the nooks and crannies of the pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Place the pan on a cooling rack and cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Turn the cake out onto a serving platter and cool completely (1 hour or so).
- Make the glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the cream, corn syrup, and chocolate, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Let cool at room temperature until slightly thickened, 20 minutes or so.
- Slowly pour the glaze over the top of the cake, allowing it to dribble down the sides.
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