This quick-to-make moist, fudgy, dairy-free chocolatey cake is loaded with fresh cherries and chocolate chips. It tastes incredible and requires no special equipment to make!
Chocolate and cherry is an interesting combination; some hate it, and some love it. As you probably guessed, I’m a member of the latter group. I love the twist of cherries in this cake, and the addition of chocolate chips makes it absolutely irresistible!
What kind of cherries should I use?
Different kinds of cherries work well, and I especially love how sour cherries taste with the chocolate. Fresh cherries are the best option, but you could also use frozen. If so, use them straight from the freezer, without thawing, mixing them with some flour and then immediately folding them into the batter. Canned cherries can also be used as long as you make sure to drain them well and dry them with paper towels, or else the juices will seep into the cake and affect its texture and taste.
How to make chocolate cherry cake
- Start by mixing the cocoa powder with hot water. This step helps to deepen the chocolate flavor and make the cake fudgier. Let it cool just slightly until warm.
- Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix together the wet ingredients. Whisk together eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and water-cocoa mixture.
- Combine together. Add egg mixture into flour mixture and mix with a rubber spatula just until combined. Do not overmix—the less you mix, the lighter the cake will be.
- In a small bowl toss cherries with 2 teaspoons flour in order to prevent cherries from sinking during baking.
- Add cherries and chocolate chips to cake batter and fold just until combined.
- Bake. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350°F/180°C or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean (repeat testing if your toothpick runs into a cherry). Allow cake to cool completely on a wire rack.
Note: I used oil to keep the cake moist for longer, but you can replace half of it with 50g of melted unsalted butter for flavor if you prefer. However, this cake is already so flavorful that I don’t find it necessary.
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Tips for making chocolate cherry cake
- Top the cake with chocolate ganache. To make the cake extra rich, top it with chocolate ganache once it has cooled.
- This cake tastes best a day after it’s made. After a day, the chocolate cake has had time to absorb the cherry flavor, so it’s a good make-ahead cake. However, it still tastes amazing on that first day, so feel free to dig in on the first chance you get.
- To make a bigger batch, multiply the recipe by 1.5 and use a 13×9-inch pan. You may need to bake the cake a few minutes longer.
- This cake is also delicious as muffins! For chocolate cherry muffins, fill muffin tins about ¾ of the way full and bake for 13-20 minutes at 350°F/180°C.
More of my favorite cakes
- Chocolate Nutella Cake: Made with rich and creamy Nutella and milk chocolate chunks.
- Mom’s Honey Cake: Bursting with honey flavor and warm, autumn spices.
- Lemon Bundt Cake: Topped with lemon syrup and sticky lemon glaze.
- Poppy Seed Cake: Made with fresh orange juice, orange zest, and shredded coconut, this is not your typical poppy seed cake.
- Strawberry Champagne Cake: Light and delicate vanilla sponge cake soaked in champagne syrup, layered with strawberry jam and whipped champagne mascarpone cream.
Chocolate Cherry Cake (dairy-free)
An incredibly rich, moist, and dairy-free chocolate cake made with juicy cherries. The flavors are unbelievable and no special equipment is required! Top it with chocolate ganache and you'll be in chocolate cake heaven.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240 ml) hot water or coffee
- ⅓ cup (30g) cocoa powder
- 1 ¼ cup (150g) all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup vegetable/canola oil**
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (230g/8 oz) fresh cherries, pitted and halved (for other options, see notes)***
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup chocolate chips or chunks (dairy-free)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and grease an 8×8-inch square pan or 9-inch round.
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In a small bowl, whisk together hot water (or coffee) and cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to let cool slightly until warm.
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In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
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In another medium bowl, mix together eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and liquid-cocoa mixture. Add egg mixture into flour mixture and mix with a rubber spatula just until combined. Do not overmix—the less you mix, the lighter the cake will be. It will be a slightly runny batter.
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In a small bowl, toss cherries with 2 teaspoons flour in order to prevent cherries from sinking during baking. Add cherries and chocolate chips to cake batter and stir just until combined.
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Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean (repeat testing if your toothpick runs into a cherry). The internal temperature of the cake should be 205℉ / 96℃ if using an internal thermometer. Allow cake to cool completely on a wire rack.
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Dust the top with powdered sugar or top with chocolate ganache.
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Serve at room temperature. Cake can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Recipe Notes
*To make a bigger cake, multiply the recipe by 1.5 and use a 13×9-inch pan. You may need to bake the cake a few minutes longer.
**I used oil to keep the cake moist for longer, but you can replace half of it with 50g melted butter for flavor if you prefer. This would no longer make it a dairy-free cake. However, this cake is already so flavorful that I don’t find it necessary.
***Fresh sour cherries are my favorite option, but you can use any type of fresh cherries you like as well as frozen or canned. If using frozen, use them straight from the freezer, without thawing, mixing them with some flour and then immediately folding them into the batter. Canned cherries can also be used as long as you make sure to drain them well and dry them with paper towels, or else the juices will seep into the cake and affect its texture and taste.
Claudia | The Brick Kitchen says
Ooh I am definitely a chocolate-cherry fan! Your cake is so gorgeously dark here, and those studded cherries?! Yum! <3
Shiran says
Thank you, Claudia!
Dairy-Free-Diet.com says
Dear Shiran, what should be the consistency of this cake? Pouring or thick? Please inform us 🙂 Thank you!
Shiran says
I’d say it’s something in between. It’s more liquid than thick because of the warm water.
Nancy says
I used frozen cherries. Maybe this lowered the temp of the batter? I baked a total of 1 hr. Turned out OK.
Shiran says
Hi Nancy, yes, the baking time may need to be extended when using frozen fruit. Also, if you opened the oven door several times to check the cake, that lowers the oven temperature and can be another reason for taking it longer to bake.
Jenny says
Done it and loved it!
Now Im trying it with chocochips and dulce de leche (like caramel) instead of cherrys.
Shiran says
Thank you so much Jenny!
rona says
Hi shiran! Do you have a recipe for blackforest cake?
John says
So it’s dairy free but uses chocolate chips?
Shiran says
Hi John, chocolate can be dairy free, mostly those with a high cocoa percentage (70%). You can also leave that out.
Ben says
Hi Shiran, thanks for the wonderful recipe! I used baking powder, and it’s in the oven now so we’ll see!
Shiran says
Thanks Ben!
Cristi Landes says
This sounds awesome! Is it dense enough to hold up under fondant decorating? Thanks so much
Shiran says
It should be OK!
Deborah Nemitz says
So it’s supposed to be powder not soda?
I’m confused…
Shiran says
It’s baking powder, sorry for the confusion!
Erin says
Yummy! I made muffins using with jarred sour cherries. Great recipe.
Sheila says
This looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it.. If I bake the cake a couple of days before serving it, should I frost right away with chocolate ganache and refrigerate, or wait until day of serving to frost? Thank you so much!
Shiran says
Both options are OK!
Tirzah says
Omg! Best cake!
Laurie kind says
Needed a full hour to bake!
Karen says
5 stars for this! I used half melted butter and half oil as per your suggestion. Cake is light, moist and absolutely delicious. Made it with fresh cherries and topped it with your simple ganache recipe. Thank you for creating this!
Sharon says
Very good recipe. Irresistible. I’ve made it several times now by popular demand. Frozen berries definitely need the flour and a bit more cooking time. Thanks!
Kristine says
I doubled the recipe and made a bundt cake.
It was fabulous!!
Adrianne Gray says
I made this using frozen cherries and it was superb. I have cut it into quarters to give to my children for Valentine. They absolutely loved it. It is so moist and tasty. I even did my own chocolate fudge topping on it. Thank you so much for a lovely tasty treat.
Hilary says
I didn’t have half of the ingredients so had to improvise. I did have a jar of morello cherries, a craving for cake and the determination to make it work. I used the syrup from the cherries in place of warm water and just warmed it in the microwave -because I used the syrup and also hot chocolate powder instead of cocoa, I halved the sugar. This recipe was incredibly easy to make, used simple ingredients and if the batter I ate out of the bowl is anything to go by, the cake is going to be delicious; I can’t wait to try it. Thank you for sharing
Swati Jaiswal says
Tried this cake too was light moist and delicious. Can we freeze this cake ?
Stephanie @ Pretty.Simple.Sweet. says
Hi Swati! While I have not personally tried freezing this cake to thaw at a later date, most cakes do freeze well. Let me know if you try freezing it! The cherries may hinder successful freezing.
Amy Tannehill says
Can I use Dutch process cocoa in this cake?
Stephanie @ Pretty.Simple.Sweet. says
Yes you can!
Kate Comer says
Love this cake been making it fir a couple of years and always took 55 mins, but I see you have modified recipe to add more flour which I will now do, I always thought batter was very liquid so I’m looking forward to trying again 😀
Stephanie @ Pretty.Simple.Sweet. says
Hi Kate! Yes, I was updating this recipe recently and I noticed there was a discrepancy in the flour measurement. I remade the cake and thought it turned out great! Hope you enjoy.
KC in Colorado says
This cake is delicious, and a great way to use up some leftover fresh cherries. I’ve made it before and froze most of it. But this time, I refrigerated it after it had completely cooled. And it turned to MUSH in the refrigerator — soggy and awful. I’m SO disappointed. How are you supposed to store this cake? Can it be left at room temp even with fresh cherries in it? It was perfect out of the oven. Advice?
Stephanie @ Pretty.Simple.Sweet. says
Hi! This cake is best eaten fresh or at room temperature. It does tend to get a little soggy when refrigerated due to the nature of fresh juicy cherries.