Chocolate and cherries may just be my new favorite cake flavor combination. The fresh, juicy cherries inside this vegan cherry chocolate cake make the texture so moist and light and I'm in love with it.
The melty chocolate on top of the cake makes this treat even better. You can never have too much chocolate! This recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make and will be one that you go back to time and time again.
This is not a vegan black forest cake. This is a little different, although it tastes quite similar to one. I can't wait for you to give this chocolate cake a try. I already know you'll love it!
If you prefer other fruits to cherries, also check out my vegan chocolate raspberry cake, vegan strawberry chocolate chip cake and vegan blackberry lemon cake recipes which are all so tasty.
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Why You Will Love This Cake
- Smooth Topping - The melted chocolate topping is so easy to prepare and makes the perfect accompaniment to the cake itself. It's silky smooth and makes the recipe so comforting.
- Great Texture - The cake is so soft just like my vegan chocolate chip mug cake and vegan tres leches cake. Once the chocolate topping has been poured over it, it becomes even softer and even slightly gooey. As well as these awesome features, each slice of cake plenty of fresh cherries!
- Wonderful Flavors - The combination of the flavors in the recipe is nothing other than absolutely incredible. The rich chocolate throughout the recipe and the cherries are so complimentary to each other. Cherry juice is also added to the cake batter in order to infuse the cake.
- Allergy Friendly & Plant Based - This vegan cherry chocolate cake recipe is entirely vegan and dairy free.
Ingredient Notes
- Fresh cherries - Don't use frozen cherries for this recipe. Using fresh cherries will save you plenty of time. I also used them successfully in my vegan cherry crumble cake and vegan black forest cake. They taste so good!
- Apple cider vinegar - Mix the vinegar into the soy milk in order to make the vegan 'buttermilk'. This will react with the leavening agents to create an amazing, soft consistency.
- Light brown soft sugar - I always like to use brown sugars for chocolate cakes. This is because they contain molasses which gives baked goods a super deep and sweet flavor.
- Canola oil - This is the same thing as rapeseed oil. I love to use this kind of oil for my loaf cake recipes as it gives them a beautifully moist texture. I especially like my chocolate cakes to be moist.
- Cornstarch - You will need to coat the cherries in cornstarch before it enters the chocolate cake batter. This is so that they don't sink to the bottom of the cake while they're baking.
- Coconut Oil - This is a helpful ingredient as it helps the dairy-free chocolate chips to melt properly and evenly.
See recipe card for full information on individual ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- After I've folded the chocolate cake batter, I often like to add an extra filling ingredient to it. There are so many options which you can go for such as, dairy-free chocolate chips, chopped nuts and other types of fruits. Each of these potential fillings will give the cakes a different vibe.
- If you like your chocolate desserts to taste rich, you should try using high-quality cocoa powder. I used regular cocoa powder for this recipe and it tasted amazing. For a very chocolatey tasting cake, you can certainly consider it. If you've ever tried my vegan double chocolate pudding pie, you'll know that it can make a big difference to a chocolate treat.
How To Make Cherry Chocolate Cake
For the full method, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1: Grease two baking tins with vegan butter.
2: Make the vegan buttermilk and let it curdle.
3: Squash the fresh cherries and save the juice separately.
4: Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
5: Add in the wet cake ingredients and fold into a batter.
6: Mix the cornstarch with the crushed cherries.
7: Fold the cherries into the batter.
8: Pour the batter into the prepared tins and bake.
9: Let the cakes cool in the tins.
10: Make the chocolate topping and then pour it over the cakes.
Expert Tips
Stop the cherries from sinking - In order to stop the cherries from sinking to the bottom of this cake, I always cover them in cornstarch before adding them to the chocolate batter, which I find to be very helpful and useful. The cornstarch helps the cherries to stick to the cake batter and therefore, they don't slip through.
Use fresh cherries - Using frozen cherries inside a cake batter such as, this one can create a mushy texture which isn't the most pleasant. You don't need to wait for fresh cherries to defrost either.
Recipe FAQs
Make sure that you measure out the raising agents as accurately as you can. As there are no eggs in vegan cake, it is very important that you get this right. Too little or too much raising agent can affect the texture negatively.
Vegan cakes contain no animal products at all such as, the traditional eggs, dairy milk and dairy butter. These are easily replaced by plant milks, dairy-free butters, bananas, flaxseeds, oils and more.
Store these chocolate cakes at room temperature for three days or inside your fridge, also for up to three days. No matter where you choose to store the cakes, make sure that they are sealed in an airtight container.
More Vegan Chocolate Recipes
If you tried this Vegan Cherry Chocolate Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!
Soft Vegan Cherry Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the cake batter:
- 160 g fresh cherries
- 200 ml soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 180 g all-purpose flour sifted
- 20 g cocoa powder
- 150 g light brown soft sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 0.5 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 50 ml canola oil rapeseed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
For the chocolate glaze:
- 150 g vegan chocolate chips
- 1.5 Tablespoons coconut oil
Instructions
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 177 Celsius (350F).
- Grease two 20cm x 10cm cake pans with vegan butter. Set aside.
- Pit your cherries and remove the stalks.
- Squash them with a fork or potato masher until the juices are released. Pour the cherry juice into a separate glass and set the crushed cherries aside for later.
Make the cakes:
- Start by creating vegan buttermilk. Mix soy milk and apple cider vinegar then let it curdle for 8 minutes. Weigh out all the other ingredients in the meantime.
- To a mixing bowl, add the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, light brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Combine well.
- Add the vegan buttermilk to the dry mixture, along with the canola oil, vanilla extract and the juices from the cherries. Fold the batter until all the flour is mixed in.
- Toss the cherries in the cornstarch then fold them into the cake batter.
- Pour your chocolate cherry cake batter into your greased cake tins equally. Bake them in center of your oven for 20 minutes. A skewer will come out clean when they’re done.
- Give the two baked cakes time to cool for at least 15 minutes. After that, transfer them over to a cooling rack.
Make the chocolate topping:
- Melt the vegan chocolate chips with the coconut oil until smooth using the double-boiling (bain-marie) method.
- Pour the chocolate over the two loaf cakes. Serve melty or place it in the fridge so that the chocolate can set.
Video
Notes
- In order to stop the cherries from sinking to the bottom of this cake, I always cover them in cornstarch before adding them to the chocolate batter, which I find to be very helpful and useful. The cornstarch helps the cherries to stick to the cake batter and therefore, they don't slip through.
- Using frozen cherries inside a cake batter such as, this one can create a mushy texture which isn't the most pleasant. You don't need to wait for fresh cherries to defrost either.
Keri says
Loving this treat!