Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake
Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake: moist, filled with Ukrainian buttercream, loaded with cherries and topped with chocolate ganache for the extra flavor. Garnish with white chocolate pieces to make it festive for the holidays. This cherry chocolate cake is literally the BEST Christmas dessert you need this year!
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The Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake is ‘what goes out – must go in’. Scoop out the sponge interior of the cake. Add buttercream and cherries. Put the filling back into the bundt cake. Everything must go back in and the cake needs to seal. If for some reason the filling does not fit, leave it or eat it, but do not force to fit.
Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake Recipe
This cake recipe was shared by my older sister. It must be made in a bundt pan. She used to make it almost every family gathering and it was always a hit. There is additional ingredient that she would add to the cake: wine! If you like the combination of cherries and wine – go for it! It will give a nice tangy flavor to the cake.
Ingredients for the Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake Recipe
To make the cake fluffy and soft, make sure to use room temperature eggs. It will triple the batter volume once the eggs are beaten. Whisk and sift the flour and cocoa powder before adding to the batter to help avoid any lumps in baked cake.
Flour and Cocoa Powder – fold, whisk or beat?
Making this cake 6-7 times since summer, I came to a conclusion. The dry ingredients need to be beaten when added to the batter. Folding with spatula leaves large lumps of dry ingredients when the cake is baked. Whisking has smaller cocoa lumps and the cake is too fluffy, making it almost impossible to fit all back in. Add dry ingredients in 3-4 batches and beat for 20-30 seconds with each addition. There won’t be lumps and the batter volume will slightly reduce. It will make the filling of the cake a lot easier.
How to Make the Best Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake:
- Beat together eggs and sugar
- Combine baking soda and distilled white vinegar
- Whisk together dry ingredients
- Add dry ingredients to batter, beat on low speed and bake
Invert the cake as soon as you take it out of the oven. Leaving the cake in the pan will make the cake wet and it will peel, making it slightly complicated to cover with chocolate ganache.
Working with Ukrainian Buttercream
Be sure that both, butter and sweetened condensed milk are at room temperature. Butter should not be extremely soft or it will not be able to hold onto the condensed milk when added. The condensed milk must be added in thirds, and each beaten for 10-15 seconds before the next addition. This will prevent the buttercream from separating.
The buttercream frosting will be smooth, but not so thick like your regular buttercream. You want it slightly on the soft side so that it stirs well with other filling ingredients.
Filling and Assembling Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake
I would recommend cutting out a bundt cake size carton, wrap into foil and use as cake liner. It will make the transferring of cake easier and prevent the cake from too much movement. Movement might cause chocolate to crack. Place couple tape pieces between cake stand and carton liner to keep the cake from sliding.
Once the bundt cake has cooled, you’ll need to flip it bottom side up. Cut off a thin layer from the bottom using a serrated knife and take out all the spongy middle from the cake, leaving the border about same thickness as the cut-off bottom layer. You’ll add the buttercream and canned cherries. This will be your bundt cake filling.
Chocolate Ganache for the Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake
I used Nestle semi-sweet mini morsels since the cake is already sweet with the buttercream and sugar in the cake. You can use white chocolate instead, but I think the semi-sweet and the chocolate cake is a perfect match! You can also use the standard-sized baking chips, but I prefer the mini chocolate chips in ganache. For start, mini melt faster.
When making chocolate ganache, you want to do 1:1. Most chocolate chip bags come in 10 or 12 oz bags. For 10 oz bag use 10 oz heavy cream to prevent the chocolate from cracking.
As soon as the chocolate chips had melted in heavy cream, be prepared to pour over the cake. Ganache cools really fast and waiting too long will make it too thick to pour over the cake. The cake will have chocolate overlaps and you might even end up with not enough chocolate to cover the whole cake.
Once the cake is covered with ganache, give it couple minutes to set then transfer onto the cake stand. I noticed letting the cake stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes gives less chance for chocolate to crack. In general, any chocolate covered cake that stays in fridge for over 2 days will eventually have the chocolate cracking because the cake keeps becoming more moist and sits down.
Heavy Cream Final Touches for the Cake Border
You will need half a cup of heavy cream and couple tablespoons of powdered sugar. Beat the ingredients for couple minutes and use it right away. This step is highly recommended. When you cut the bundt cake open and then put it back together, it will eventually leave a slightly visible seam. The chocolate ganache won’t cover the seam completely. The heavy cream border will help cover it and also add a nice touch to the cake. This cake will look absolutely stunning!
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Cherry Chocolate Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
- 8 large eggs – room temp
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder, - sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, - sifted
Buttercream Ingredients:
- 2 sticks unsalted butter – room temp
- 1 (14 oz can) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 (21 oz can) cherry pie filling and topping
Chocolate Ganache & Decoratng:
- 10 oz heavy cream, (about 1 1/4 cups)
- 10 oz Nestle semi-sweet mini chocolate chips, (1 bag mini)
- Lindt white chocolate for garnish – optional
Heavy Cream Frosting for Border:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to a 350°F. Prepare a nonstick 9-inch bundt pan; oil or spray with a cooking spray and wipe all over with a paper towel. Make sure to wipe completely bottom and center to prevent cake from sticking once baked.
- In a large bowl, using a mixer, combine and beat 8 eggs and 1 cup sugar on high speed for 8-10 mins until eggs are light in color, thick and fluffy.
- In a small bowl, combine and stir 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1 tbsp distilled white vinegar – it will fizz up. Add the mixture to the batter and beat on low for 30 seconds.
- In a medium bowl, combine and whisk 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup cocoa powder. Using mixer, add the dry ingredients to the batter in 3-4 batches, sifting and beating each time on low for 20-30 seconds. Do not overbeat the batter! It will lose all volume and won’t be fluffy.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared bundt pan. Smooth it out with spatula. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean with just a couple lightly moist crumbs. Once done, remove from the oven. Go around the edges with a thin spatula, then invert the cake onto a wire rack or tray lined with parchment paper. Allow to cool completely before filling.
- Once cooled, flip the bundt cake bottom side up. Using serrated knife, cut off about 1/3” layer from the cake bottom. Using a small sharp knife, scoop out the middle sponge part of the cake into a large bowl, leaving about 1/3” border. (Border and cut-off bottom should be about same thickness). Crumble the cake spongy scraps with your hands so that there are no large pieces and set aside.
- MAKING FROSTING and FILLING: Using an electric mixer, in large bowl, beat 2 sticks unsalted room temperature butter on medium speed for about 5 minutes. Add 1 (14 oz ) can sweetened condensed milk in thirds. Beat each addition on low for 10-15 seconds. Do not over-beat. The frosting will be soft. This is what you need. Combine buttercream and the crumbled cake pieces from previous step. Add cherries from 21 oz can. Pick out cherries with a spoon, avoiding from adding too much syrup to the filling. Stir everything with spatula. Little by little, spoon the filling back into the cake. Do not press too hard so you don’t flatten the cake too much. Once filled, put the cut-off cake bottom back, place a light tray on the cake and flip it back. Refrigerate the cake for at least 4 hours before covering with chocolate.
- MAKE THE GANACHE: Place 10 oz (1 bag) semi-sweet mini chocolate chips into a medium bowl. Microwave 10 oz (about 1 1/4 cups) heavy cream for about 2 minutes until it’s hot and steamy, but not boiling. Meanwhile transfer the cake to a cooling rack from turning table with help of 2 large knives (make sure the knives hold the cake before you completely lift it up). Pour the heavy cream over chocolate chips and keep whisking until all chocolate chips had melted. As soon as ganache slightly cools, slowly pour it over the cake. Let the cake stand for 5 minutes on cooling rack and then gently, using large knives, transfer to a cake stand.
- HEAVY CREAM BORDER: In a medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup heavy cream and 2 tbsp powdered sugar. Beat on high for about 2 minutes until cream is fluffy. Decorate bundt cake around with border to slightly cover the seam of the cake.
Dawn Jacques says:
My favorite chocolate cake ever! How can a cake so decadent be so easy?? The flavors and the frosting just work together so well. Thanks for another winning recipe.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Dawn. I’m glad you loved it.
brooke says:
This cake is elegant, delicious and so easy to put together. I don’t like wine in mine either so we always do exactly like the recipe. One of the best chocolate cake recipes on the web so far!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
That’s wonderful, Brooke! Thank you for the beautiful review!
Vita says:
Incredible recipe. It wasn’t overly sweet which was really important to me. I used real cherries soaked in rum instead of the canned ones because I’m just used to making it like that, but it’s great to know there are other options. The overall Bundt idea was a hit! Thanks!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you Vita for beautiful review! Fresh cherries are another very delicious variation. I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this cake 🙂
Casey says:
The cake looked complicated when I first saw it but it’s probably the easiest cake I’ve ever made. The flavors are incredible. I added a bit of wine since the cake was for adult gathering. It was a huge hit and ladies asked for recipe so I shared your link. A+ recipe!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you, Casey for spreading the word. I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Vita says:
This is cake is so good 😋my family loved it. Thank you Olga.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
You’re very welcome, Vita! I’m so happy your family loved it 🙂
Elaina says:
This cherry chocolate cake turned out amazing. I made it for my sister’s birthday over the weekend and I kept hearing “so good, oh my amazing” and minutes later it was gone 🙂 . In love with this cake. Will be making it again.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Aww thank you Elaina, I’m so glad your family loved it. Happy Birthday to your sister! 🙂
Rimma says:
Hi, Olga, does the chocolate frosting cracks when you cut the cake after refrigeration or not?
Olga in the Kitchen says:
I’ve never had the issue. Use a thin sharp knife when cutting and cut slowly. If you use too much chocolate, it might crack. The proportions in my recipe create a smooth ganache, it has a soft bite to it.
Rimma says:
Thank you! When I use melted chocolate with couple of tablespoons oil or butter, it cracks while you cut the cake. I have to try to use ganache.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
If you’re using too much chocolate compared to liquid in ganache, it will crack. One time I used the wrong proportions and my cake was nonstop cracking hours later lol I also never use oil. I know it’s suppose to give the shine, but I was never a fan of it for some reason! 🙂
Lida says:
This cake is a keeper! Who knew such a delicious dessert existed. Thank you Olga!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you Lida!!
Oksana says:
That’s a very interesting idea to fill a bundt. Thank you
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Your very welcome! 🙂 I never thought of it myself, until one day I saw my sister do it. So I thought why not try it!
Julie Dem says:
This bundt cake is honestly super easy to make! Extremely delicious! My hubby and kids LOVED IT! They all had 2nds and thirds…I also splitted up the inside crumbles into 2 portions, and added 3-4 tablespoons of wine to one of the portions and left the other one original for the kids. Both sides of the cake was very delicious! Thank you, will be making it again and again!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
What a nice idea about splitting up the flavors! I’m so happy to hear you liked it. It does look complicated to make, but when you start making it – it’s probably the easiest! 🙂