
On July 4th, I took a few bites of a scrumptious cherry chocolate cake made by one of my favorite relatives. I asked for the recipe, and my heart sunk a little when I found out that her secret ingredients were a box of devil’s food cake mix and canned cherry pie filling.
A month and a half later, I bought a massive bag of dark red cherries, made a couple of amazing cherry arugula salads, and wanted to make a dessert with the rest. Memories of my cousin’s cherry chocolate cake came back to me and wondered if I could make a healthier version. I was sort of buttered out after eating this entire blackberry peach galette, so I searched around for a vegan chocolate cake recipe. The first page of google results contained several references to Moosewood Restaurant’s recipe, and lots of raving reviews. The recipe has a lot going for it: it’s vegan, easy to make, and doesn’t require any unusual ingredients. I was sold.
I swapped whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose flour, added a bit of almond extract in place of some of the vanilla extract and mixed in over a pound of cherries. Pouring in the apple cider vinegar felt like performing a chemistry experiment. The batter foams up! Once the cake cooled, I iced it with pure semi-sweet chocolate and sprinkled it with powdered sugar. I brought the cake to breakfast club and my friends loved it!
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 scant cup raw (turbinado) sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup coffee (I mixed one packet of Starbucks VIA instant coffee with cold filtered water, you could also just use 1 cup of cold water)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1 1/4 pound dark cherries (roughly enough cherries to cover the bottom of your cake pan)
- Preheat the oven to 375º.
- Pit the cherries. I invested in this cherry pitter and it makes pitting cherries about as easy as it can be.
- Line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper. I used a 9 inch non-stick springform pan, which made removing the cake a cinch.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa, soda, salt, and sugar directly into the cake pan.
- In a measuring cup, measure and mix together the oil, cold coffee (or cold water and Starbucks VIA), almond extract and vanilla extract.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the baking pan and mix the batter with a fork or a small whisk until it is smooth.
- Add the vinegar and stir quickly. You will see pale swirls in the batter as the vinegar reacts with the baking soda. Stir just until the vinegar is evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Mix in your cherries with minimal stirring. I poked the cherries down into the batter with my finger.
- Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool.
Chocolate Icing Ingredients:
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao dark chocolate chips but seek out dairy-free if you want the cake to be totally vegan)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons hot water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Notes on the chocolate icing:
Moosewood’s glaze calls for 3/4 cup water, but I found that to be way too much. Instead of using a double broiler and diluting the chocolate with so much water, I microwaved the chocolate chips in twenty second intervals, stirring after each. I thinned the chocolate with just a little bit of very hot water, and mixed in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. It’s as easy as icing gets, and the dense chocolate flavor suits the cherry chocolate cake nicely. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar for a pretty effect.
WARNING: Don’t let your dog near this cake! I stepped outside for one hot minute and came back inside to find Cookie nose deep in chocolate cake. A very nice woman in poison control told me to feed Cookie a tablespoon and a half of hydrogen peroxide. Let’s just say that this cake didn’t look so appetizing the second time around. Fortunately, Cookie was just fine. Bad dog!



























33 Comments
oh my the dog! but the cake looks so good! Hugh is a big breakfast sweets guy, and I think this would go over quite well. I have a tough time baking with no egg at all, as I always end up with a mess of crumbles, but I’ll consider it ;)
Please do consider it, Sara! I’ve made two of these cakes and neither was crumbly. My friends had no idea it was vegan. :)
This cake looks and sounds absolutely phenomenal!! I love chocolate and cherries together, and Moosewood recipes are always a great basis on which to put your own spin. I’m glad to hear/read that Cookie was alright after eating some of the cake – it’s good to know that hydrogen peroxide is a safe and effective remedy for canines who consume chocolate.
Hello from TX! I just found your blog a few weeks ago and have enjoyed reading your posts! This cake looks amazing and it has jumped to the top of my baking to do list :)
P.S. I feel your pain when it comes to the heat.
Hi Claudia, thanks so much for commenting! Please let me know how your cake turns out if you get around to baking it. I’m so ready for cooler weather, aren’t you?
Hi Kate! I did baked the cake yesterday for a BBQ and it was a hit! Thanks for a great recipe. Oh and yes, I am definitely ready for some cooler temps. Even the low 90s would be welcome :)
I don’t know much about vegan baking but I sure do know that chocolate and cherries are a perfect combination :)
Great photos! This cake looks awesome.
Oh wowwww, this is the most gorgeous cake ive seen in a while. Its just stunning and i bet taste FABULOUS. Massive thumbs up on healthifying the box-mix recipe, it really looks just perfect! :)
Thanks, Sasha! It’s truly a delicious cake. You should try it!
what a beautiful cake! i have baked similar vegan cakes before and love them! will have to try chocolate and cherry :)
this cake looks so moist and perfect. i’m not a fan of chocolate cake, but i might try this one with those juicy cherries if i can find some time before they go out of season. beautiful photos.
Wow, this looks amazing! Is Cookie okay after her chocolate experience?
Yes, she’s fine! Thank you for asking. I acted quickly so I think she got it out of her system before the chocolate could affect her. I’m thankful that she’s such a healthy little dog!
Such a gorgeous cake! I can imagine how delicious cherries and chocolates would be ;-)
That cake looks like a pudding. How I wish I could just get it from the photograph and have some of it rightaway.
OMG, that made me laugh, I know its not funny but it reminded me of when our dog discovered the easter eggs the night before easter and ate 12 of them, cardboard & tin foil included! Lovely Photos
Oh no! That’s a lot of eggs and tinfoil for one dog. They’re ornery creatures, aren’t they?
This looks so delicious!
Chocolate & cherries is always a very happy combo. Love the cake Kate!
Please join me to bake & remember lives lost in 9/11. I am hosting a link up called *Remembrance Cakes* Would love to have you. We are baking cakes, muffins, cupcakes. Anything is great! You can also share posts you have all ready published like this one. Just add the badge to show your support.
http://su.pr/2j5eSB
This looks so good :)
I’ve loved cherries this summer. This cake looks like a great way to use some of them
That cake looks SO GOOD, and the photos are beautiful!
I once made a chocolate beet cake, also from a Moosewood recipe, left it to cool on the counter, and returned to find it mauled by my housemate’s German shepherd! Now I’m more careful about where I leave my baked goods. (The dog was fine, though!)
Poor cake! Glad the dog was ok. Dogs are not to be trusted around homemade cake… neither am I.
Ha! And neither am I. : )
Amazing recipe. Made this cake twice in a week already. For an even healthier variation, I modifed the 1/2 cup oil with 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce. Turned out fabulous.
Glad to know it works with those substitutions, Sachi. Thank you for sharing!
Kate, I made this last Sunday and it was so delicious! My husband and I ate half the cake the first night (I probably could’ve finished it off, ha!). I’ve never made a vegan cake and was so surprised at how easy this was… loved that everything was mixed right in the pan! This was so good and such a cinch to make that we made another one this evening. It is in the oven RIGHT NOW. Can’t wait. :)
Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
(P.S. No joke, my dog tried to eat this cake… he got one lick of the frosting, but I was able to wrestle him away from the counter after that. Thanks for the fair warning, haha!!)
Glad you two enjoyed the cake, Rachel, and that you caught your dog before he got any more of it! I was in a total panic today because I realized I left a brownie within reach of my Cookie, but I made it home before she found it! Whew.
Made this for my son’s seventh birthday. It was a big hit, nice and moist. I made 1 1/2 times and used an 8 inch pan for the top layer. Greased my pans too, just to be sure. Used about a tbsp of non-dairy margarine in the divinely easy icing as well as water to make it a little creamier. Decorated with some fresh cherries and those tiny silver sugar balls that look like ball bearings. Thanks so much for sharing, and our vegan friends were grateful.
I’m so glad the cake turned out well for your son’s birthday party! Thank you for sharing your substitutions, too.
This cake was absolutely delicious and the recipe was great.
Made it for my great grandma’s 90th birthday and everyone enjoyed it. Really moist and the flavour of the cherries wasn’t to over powering, just perfect.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for commenting, Skye. I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the cherry chocolate cake. Wishing your great grandmother a happy (belated) birthday!
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