Chocolate and Cherry is a combo that all of us have known and loved all these years. I made my classic eggless chocolate sponge, slathered it with a dreamy chocolate ganache and stuffed beautiful, luscious, juicy cherry filling and topped it with even more cherries and berries. I guess this cake is just one of my ways to satisfy my chocolate cherry cravings hahaha!
I do have a recipe for our cult favourite Black forest Cake on the blog. This is just a jazzed-up version if I had to put it simply.
I made this cake for my Mum’s birthday and she loved it to bits! (She is not fond of chocolate did you know that? – It is THAT GOOD!)
Coming to this cake, I don’t really need to explain much but I’ll just mention a few key points to make things a lot easier. This is a very easy eggless chocolate cake recipe and requires very minimal prep/work
Which oil did you use?
I recommend using a flavourless oil for this cake, I prefer Sunflower Oil. If you use an oil like coconut or peanut oil, it will impart a strong flavour.
Can I use chocolate powder? Which cocoa powder did you use?
I have made this recipe using both Regular Unsweetened Cocoa or Dutch processed Cocoa. Please do not use “Chocolate powder” or “Hot Chocolate Mix” it is not the same and your recipe will not result in a satisfying cake.
Which cherries did you use?
I used deep red (almost maroon) coloured, imported cherries. I will recommend using the best quality cherries you can find and that will ensure your cake has the best flavour.
Can I use fresh cream for the ganache?
Yes if you cannot find heavy whipping cream then you can use Amul fresh cream. The ganache might be less rich in taste but it still works.
Ingredient links:
You mentioned drenching the sponge with wine?
That is an optional step. If you are of legal drinking age and you can drink alcohol, then brushing the cakes (while decorating) with a little bit of red wine adds a lovely kick to the cake.
Also, I always use real chocolate and I do not recommend using compound chocolate in any of my recipes unless specified.
Eggless Chocolate & Cherry Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 250 gram all-purpose flour
- 200 gram granulated sugar or caster sugar
- 60 gram unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 300 milliliter milk (warm)
- 2 teaspoon vinegar
- 120 milliliter sunflower oil or any neutral flavoured oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee
Ganache
- 360 gram dark chocolate 55% cocoa solids -chopped
- 260 milliliter Heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Cherry filling:
- 200 gram cherries (seeds removed – I used dark imported cherries)
- 4 tablespoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch or cornflour
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 170C
- Grease and line two 7-inch round cake pans and set it aside.
- In a bowl, add the warm milk and instant coffee, stir the coffee dissolves. Now add the oil, vanilla and vinegar, whisk really well. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the sugar, stir to combine.
- Now make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the liquids that we mixed earlier into it.
- Mix gently, with a whisk just until it is combined. Do not overmix your batter. A few lumps are okay.
- Pour this batter into your prepared baking pans and bake for 25-30 minutes. The baking time varies depending your oven heating. When a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, the cake is ready.
- Let the cake cook completely on a wire rack before assembling. You can also chill the cake to make it easier to work with.
Ganache:
- Heat the cream in a microwave or in a heavy bottom saucepan till it reaches a simmer, do not let it boil. Remove from the heat.
- Add the chopped chocolate into the hot cream and let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Add some salt and stir until the ganache becomes shiny and smooth.
- Let the ganache cool down completely. It gets thicker as it cools. Use the ganache only when its consistency becomes thick like buttercream. *read questions above
Cherry filling:
- Add the cherries (seeds removed) along with the sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Keep stirring and boil till the cherries become very soft and the mixture reduces to almost half.
- Mix the cornstarch with the water in a separate bowl and stir to remove lumps.
- Pour the cornstarch slurry into the reduced cherry mixture and let it boil for a few minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely before using to fill the cake.
Assembling the cake
- Level the tops of the cakes if they have a slight dome on them.
- I started by placing one layer at the bottom and adding around 4-5 tbsp of ganache and spreading it evenly. Create a border by piping a line of ganache along the circumference of the cake.
- Add the cherry filling inside the ganache border.
- Place the second layer on top and cover the entire cake with ganache. If your cake is wobbly and ganache is spilling out everywhere, try chilling the cake for 15-20 minutes.
- I garnished the cake with fresh cherries and strawberries.
- Chill the cake for 30 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
WOW all your cakes look delicious and do well presented. I don’t use EGGS in any cakes I bake so would be interested if you could share some EGGFREE recipes please.
Thanks
Thank you so much! Yes I am working on more egg free recipes, you can expect more of them in this year 🙂