by Frances Stanford

Created on: September 04, 2008   Last Updated: December 14, 2009

Whenever I serve chocolate cherry cake for dessert I always get lots of compliments. Cherries and chocolate go so well together that it is easy to see why this recipe is a favourite of everyone. You will be so proud to receive compliments on this recipe that you make from scratch.

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter
2 cups of sugar
3 eggs
6 tbsp of juice from a bottle of maraschino cherries

6 tbsp water
1 tsp almond extract
3 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
tsp salt
1 cups of sour cream
cups of chopped maraschino cherries
cup of walnuts (optional)
3 squares of unsweetened chocolate melted in a double boiler (I usually melt the chocolate in the microwave)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 10 inch fluted tube pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after adding each one. Then add the cherry juice, almond extract and water. Mix well.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add this to the creamed mixture gradually and alternate the additions with the sour cream. Make sure you beat the mixture well after each ingredient you add.

Now divide the mixture into two equal portions. Add the cherries and walnuts (if you decide to use them) to one portion and the melted chocolate to the other portion. Make sure you mix each one well. Spoon half of the cherry mixture into the greased tube pan, cover with a layer of the chocolate mixture and repeat the layering until you have all of both mixtures in the pan.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick that you insert near the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool slightly (about 15 minutes) before you transfer it from the pan to a wire rack. If you wish you can dust the cake with confectioners' sugar.

Learn more about this author, Frances Stanford.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.