Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake

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This Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake is so fun and filled with cherry and chocolate flavor. I’m totally in love with the naturally pink color, too!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake - full of maraschino cherry flavor and mini chocolate chips!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake - full of maraschino cherry flavor and mini chocolate chips!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake

So this past weekend, I tried to throw a legit virtual baby shower. Like for reals.

If you are a regular blog reader, you may have seen bloggers celebrate a virtual baby shower for another blog. It’s totally a thing (a couple examples – Pina Colada Pie and Pineapple Upside Down Trifles).

Well, one of my best and oldest friends (since we were 9) is pregnant and due in August. Our little group of friends has all known each other forever, but as time has gone on, we’ve moved away – even to different countries. So we weren’t going to be able to celebrate with her in person. 🙁

So inspired by blogger virtual showers where we all post on the same day about a blogger and her new addition, I decided to take it literally. I emailed our friends and arranged a day and time for us to all “get together” online in a google hangout. With a google hangout (free) you can all join using a link and “hangout”. Sort of like a group FaceTime.

We all mailed our gifts ahead of time to her house so that she’d have them to open during the virtual shower. I thought it’d be a fun way for us all to still get a chance to celebrate with her and give her some things for the new baby girl.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake - full of maraschino cherry flavor and mini chocolate chips!
Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake - full of maraschino cherry flavor and mini chocolate chips!

Unfortunately, at the last minute she scheduled birthing classes and that was the only day and time she could do before the baby’s arrival, so we had to move it to another day. It ended up not working out for everyone, so it was really just us two hanging out, which was bummer for the shower, but still fun to catch up.

So if you have a group of friends but you’re all in different locations, that could totally be a fun thing to do. Just be sure birthing classes are already scheduled. 😉

This cake would’ve been perfect for celebrating a baby girl shower, actually. So pink! And I love me some pink!

I’d been wanting to do a cherry chocolate chip cake for a while. I started off using fresh cherries because they are so in season and on sale, but they just didn’t lend the kind of flavor I wanted. It was also much more subtle and I really do prefer a stronger flavor.

So I ended up going with maraschino cherries. I think it was a good call. The cake is delicious! The cherry and chocolate chips go great together. I used mini chocolate chips and would definitely recommend them. I think regular sized chocolate chips might be a little too much and overpower the cherry.

It also worked well because the cherry juice gave the icing the beautiful pink color – no need at all for coloring icing. My arm was really glad about that. 🙂

This Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake is moist and delicious and makes a really fun presentation! Enjoy!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake - full of maraschino cherry flavor and mini chocolate chips!
Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake - full of maraschino cherry flavor and mini chocolate chips!

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Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake on white stand close up
Recipe

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake

  • Author: Lindsay
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 12-14 Servings
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

Description

This Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake is so fun and filled with cherry and chocolate flavor. I’m totally in love with the naturally pink color, too!


Ingredients

CAKE
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup salted butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 4 egg whites
  • 1 egg
  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice
  • 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (plus more for decorating the outside of the cake)
ICING
  • 1 1/2 cups butter
  • 1 1/2 cups shortening
  • 12 cups powdered sugar
  • 56 tbsp cherry juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F) and line three 8 inch cake pans with parchment rounds and grease the sides.
2. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed until light in color and fluffy.
3. Add vanilla extract and sour cream and beat until well combined.
4. Add the egg whites and egg in two batches, stirring until well combined after each addition.
5. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder.
6. Add about half of the flour mixture to the batter and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
7. Add milk and cherry juice and mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
8. Add remaining flour mixture and mix until smooth and well combined.
9. Fold in mini chocolate chips
10. Divide batter evenly between cake pans and bake for 24-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs.
11. Allow cakes to cool for about 5 minutes, then remove cakes to cooling rack to finish cooling.
12. To make icing, combine butter and shortening in a large and beat on medium speed until smooth.
13. Add 4 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
14. Add 3 tbsp of cherry juice and mix until smooth.
15. Add another 4 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
16. Add another 2 tbsp of cherry juice and mix until smooth.
17. Add remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
18. Add additional cherry juice if needed to get the right consistency of icing. Icing should be thick, but slightly sticky to the touch.
19. To assemble the cake, first remove the cake domes from each cake layer.
20. Place the first cake layer on a cake plate or cardboard cake round. Top with 1 1/2 cups icing, spread into an even layer.
21. Repeat step 20 with the next layer of cake.
22. Top with remaining layer of cake.
23. Ice the outside of the cake with remaining icing.
24. Before the icing has a chance to crust and firm, add additional mini chocolate chips around the bottom.
25. Pipe icing around the top edge of the cake and top with cherries.

Notes

Cake can be made a day or two ahead, but is best served shortly after making. Also best to not refrigerate cake. You’ll beed a 16 oz jar cherries without stems for the cake. You’ll use most of the juice and some of the cherries.

For help with how to add the mini chocolate chips to the sides of the cake, visit this tutorial – Sparkly Pom Pom Cake. The method is the same.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Slice
  • Calories: 1354
  • Sugar: 204.3 g
  • Sodium: 308.5 mg
  • Fat: 50.9 g
  • Carbohydrates: 226.3 g
  • Protein: 7.3 g
  • Cholesterol: 97.3 mg

Filed Under:

For help with how to add the mini chocolate chips to the sides of the cake, visit this tutorial – Sparkly Pom Pom Cake. The method is the same.

Enjoy!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake - full of maraschino cherry flavor and mini chocolate chips!
Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake - full of maraschino cherry flavor and mini chocolate chips!

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Have a question? Use the form below to submit your question or comment. I love hearing from you and seeing what you made!

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73 Comments
  1. Allie

    Cake turned out a little too dense for me. Is there something I can add to make it fluffier? Maybe Apple cider vinegar or some leavening agent? Thank you for sharing!!

  2. Elle

    I made this cake.. It tasted great but a lot of the chocolate chips were deposited at the bottom of the cake. Is there a way to avoid this?TIA






    1. Lindsay

      Did you use the mini chocolate chips, or full sized? The mini ones should be evenly distributed, like the photos. Full sized ones are a little heavier and probably sink.

  3. Rosemarie

    I made this cake for my niece’s birthday. It turned out great and was so delicious. I was so happy it was so good as she picked the recipe from Pinterest herself. It was really yummy. Highly recommend. Rosemarie

  4. Mary Wilson Marsh

    I just made this for my grandson’s birthday, and it turned out beautifully. He wanted a cherry cake with candy on top, so I put cherries in rosettes in a ring around the top, with mini chocolate morsels in the middle. If I make it again, i would chop up cherries to add to the batter, add cherry flavor to the frosting with a little salt, and maybe use all butter. All good suggestions by others. And my Kitchenaid could not handle that amount of frosting. I had to finish with handmixer. But thanks for a beautiful cake.

  5. Kim

    This cake looks amazing! Just wondering how you would convert the cooking time if you used a 9×13 pan instead of the layers.

  6. Elizabeth

    Hey, Lindsay! My name is Elizabeth and I think that your cake is amazing! But I just wanted to ask something. You know Pinterest, right? It said that there is 8 servings, but when I went to your website, it said that it is 12-14 servings. I’m so confused.???????????? And also, on Pinterest, it also said in the ingredients that there is 1 cake. I KNOW that there is going to be 1 CAKE, but it said that in the ingredients, so………I’m really confused. But ANYWAY…….YOUR cake looks GREAT!!!!!! I can’t wait to make it with my brother!????????????????????????????????????( P.S I’m 11 years old!)

    1. Lindsay

      You really shouldn’t go by what Pinterest says for any recipe. They do their best, but I’m not really sure how they pull that information or where it comes from. As you can tell, it’s often not accurate. For the most accurate ingredients and instructions (plus any additional notes or tips), you always want to visit the site itself.

  7. Rosana Jauregui

    Hi Lindsay????
    Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!!!
    It is a beautiful and delicious cake!!!
    I added chopped maraschino cherries at the butter along with the mini chocolate chip …such a good combination. The cake is soft, sweet enough, tender and moist. I prepared Italian Merenge butter cream for the frosting. I couldn’t get enough cheery flavor from the syrup, i had to blend some cherries and add this syrup into the butter cream to get some cherry flavor. Next time i will order some cherry essence by online.
    It was a greatly appreciated in my daughter’s English class, they wanted to show their appreciation to their teacher with his favorite cake.
    Again, many thanks and enjoy the beauty of being a sweet heart!!
    Blessings!!!

  8. Tara B

    Beautiful presentation and flavor.  I didn’t have three 8″ pans, so I used three 9″ pans and shaved a couple of minutes off of the baking time.  I didn’tpay close attention when I bought the maraschino cherries and grabbed the ones with the stems on.  It turned out great because they looked fantastic on the cake with their stems.  I saved 10 cherries for the top, chopped up the rest and added them to the cake with the chocolate chips.  People commented on loving the cherry pieces and I didn’t end up with leftover cherries.  It was a win/win.  I only made 2/3rds of the frosting and it was plenty… I’m honestly not sure my Kitchenaid could have held the entire amount in the recipe!  I got mixed reviews on the frosting, with some people saying they loved the subtleness of the cherry flavor and others saying they’d prefer more flavor.  Using half shortening and have butter was eye opening.  I will never use all butter again.  Thanks for the lesson!

  9. Annie

    Hi Lindsay your cakes are gourgeous! I would like to make this cherry chocolate cake for my husband’s birthday but I live in Italy and here we don’t have shortening. Could you please suggest me a good substitute? Thank you so much! ????

  10. Sylvia

    I would love to make this cake, but I have 2 questions. I don’t have 3 8″ pans. I have 2 of 8″ and 9″ cake pans. How would I modify it to work? Also, could I use the eggs whites in the carton? Thank you!

    1. Lindsay

      You could make two layers of cake, if you’d like. I’m not sure of the exact baking time, but I’d add around 5 minutes to the baking time, give or take. I haven’t used egg whites from the carton, but I’d think it’d be ok.

    1. Sarah

      The frosting was really awful. So glad we tasted it before we frosted the cake. We threw is away. There is almost no cherry flavor. All you can taste is shortening.

    1. Lindsay

      You can certainly refrigerate it if you’d like. I just prefer not to refrigerate cakes if I don’t have to.

  11. Stephanie

    Hi I’m so excited to make this cake it looks gorgeous!! I’m going to make it for my daughter’s birthday party and I’d like to make the cake as cupcakes also any advice about the baking time and about how many cupcakes? I love the idea of using 1/2 shortening I agree about the butter being too strong in all buttercream.

    1. Lindsay

      To make this into cupcakes, fill the liners about half way. Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes. You’ll also only need about half of the frosting.

  12. Jessi

    Gorgeous cake, thank you for sharing! Do you think strawberry juice could be substituted for the cherry juice to make a strawberry cake instead?

    1. Lindsay

      You could do that, but I don’t think the strawberry flavor would be as strong. If you can find strawberry extract (I find it at Walmart), I’d add a couple tsp of that as well to add to the flavor. Here’s an example in a strawberry cupcake.

  13. Carrie

    I just made this cake and it is awesome! My only change/addition was some cherry flavoring (I used one small bottle of Cherry LorAnn baking flavoring)  to give buttercream a much stronger cherry flavor. I could barely taste cherry in it with just the juice & I like to really taste that cherry! Now it is the perfect flavor combo! Great cake!! Everyone loves it!

    1. Anna

      Ooh, I should’ve done that. I found that the frosting lacked a real strong cherry flavor too. The cake itself was fantastic though.

      1. Savithri

        I like that the frosting is subtle! But I too wanted a little extra flavor. I added almond extract and a pinch of salt (I always do). This is my daughter’s choice for her 8th birthday today!

  14. Pearl Vandorn

    Hey Lindsay, This looks like delectable dessert! One question – If its a boy what can you add to change the color to a more blue or perhaps even a purplish Hue? Thanks so much! – PV

  15. Tammy Shubert

    Me and my daughter just tried your beautiful cake. We are waiting for it to cool so we can put the icing on, but we have a problem, all of the layers fell 🙁 I don’t know what we did wrong? Any suggestions I really want to make it a week from today for my moms birthday but I don’t want the cake to fall.

    1. lifeloveandsugar@gmail.com

      I’m sorry you had trouble, I haven’t had that happen before. The only things I can think of would be to check and make sure your eggs are fresh as well as your baking soda / baking powder. Also, sometimes if the oven door is open too soon it can cause a cake to fall. I hope that helps.

  16. Heather

    Hi, I just found your website via pinterest, and so glad I did. I am making cake and cupcakes for a dear friends baby shower. Do you have any recommendations for the amount of cake batter here for 3 8″ round cakes into a 9×13 rectangle? I think this would be nice as two cake layers with the frosting between. Can you give any advice?

    1. lifeloveandsugar@gmail.com

      It should bake pretty well in a 9×13 pan with the same recipe. I think about 28-30 minutes for baking time.

    1. lifeloveandsugar@gmail.com

      Hi San! I mentioned using them, but that they didn’t give the cake the flavor I wanted, so I used maraschino cherry juice instead.

      1. San

        I added 1/2 c. Chopped maraschino cherries and it came out fine, making it a little more lively.

  17. Daphne

    This cake is absolutely STUNNING! I just adore cherries and chocolate paired together 🙂 I am going to be making it for a birthday celebration this weekend – I can hardly wait! One quick question for you, why do you use shortening in the frosting? And did you have leftover frosting? 12 cups of icing sugar seems like so much!

    1. lifeloveandsugar@gmail.com

      Hi Daphne, I wrote a post about my buttercream and why I use shortening here. However, you can always replace it with butter if preferred. There may have been a little bit of icing left, but not much. Of course I’m pretty generous with my icing. 🙂

  18. Becky

    This looks amazing! My 10 year old daughter decided to make this for her submission to the county fair! Question for you – the recipe calls for 4 tsp. of baking POWDER, but in the recipe you call for adding baking SODA. I’m assuming the baking powder is the correct ingredient, right? 🙂

    1. lifeloveandsugar@gmail.com

      How fun! Yes, the baking powder is correct. I’ll update the instructions. Thanks for letting me know!

  19. Sande L.

    This cake is gorgeous! Can you bake me one….pretty please.
    My daughter’s mother in law loves chocolate and cherries and she would die for this for her birthday.
    I might attempt it but I know it won’t be anywhere nearly as beautiful as yours.

  20. cupcake recipes

    Love the Strawberry Sundae Cupcakes, The cherry chocolate cake looks amazing for every party, especially for wedding

  21. Hala

    Beautiful recipe… excuse me for asking this but I live in a part of the world where we can’t find all ingredients. By maraschino cherry juice do you mean to say the same juice the maraschino cherry is soaked in? just asking and sorry if this looked like a stupid question.
    Thank you.

    1. lifeloveandsugar@gmail.com

      Not a stupid question. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. Yes, I used the juice from the jar that the cherries sit in.

  22. Jessica @ Sweet Menu

    What a beautiful layer cake! It looks like it stepped out of a fancy bakery! The pretty pink colour is brilliant too. Bummer about your virtual baby shower but that is really really lovely of you to tried so hard to celebrate with your friend!

  23. Beth @ bethcakes

    Your cakes are always just so perfect! I really love this one. The light pink is just too pretty! That’s a great idea for a virtual baby shower. So sorry it didn’t work out!

    1. lifeloveandsugar@gmail.com

      Thanks Beth! Even though it didn’t work out, it was good to test it out. Maybe we’ll try again one day. 🙂

  24. Holley Grainger

    This cake is GORGEOUS! Man, I wish you lived close because I would be begging you to make this for my birthday!

  25. Allie | Baking a Moment

    I absolutely ADORE cherry + chocolate. This cake is just gorgeous! Love that you planned a google baby shower too- such a fun idea!

  26. Mir

    Whatever the logistics happen to be of being near or far from friends, yours is really lucky. This is a beautiful cake. I never got a baby shower, so I can imagine that she’s thrilled!

Lindsay
About Lindsay

I'm a wife and a mom to twin boys and a baby girl! And I've got a serious sweets addiction! Bring on the treats!

Scripture I’m Loving

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29