Mahanandi

Living in Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Food and Garden Weblog

Chocolate Cherry Cake for July 4th

Chocolate and Cherry

Warm and juicy cherries from farmers market. Unsweetened Chocovic baking chocolate from Trader Joe’s. Hazelnuts from last winter. Combined with all-purpose flour and baked together. This cherry chocolate cake has strong bitter taste. Almost like medicine, and I love that kind of choco-potency. A rare extravagance that puts in a mood for an equally decadent holiday weekend.

A chocolate cake shouldn’t be cloyingly sweet. That is the manthram I applied when I put together the following ingredients. It’s an easy recipe and the results are very bakery like.

Chocolate Cherry Cake:

8 oz unsweetened baking chocolate (Chocovic)
2 cups – fresh, sweet cherries
1 cup – all purpose flour
½ cup – sugar
¼ teaspoon each – baking soda & baking powder
¼ to ½ cup – melted ghee
¼ teaspoon – finely crushed cardamom
¼ cup – hazelnuts, finely chopped
9-inch loaf pan

Chocolate: I broke the chocolate bar to small pieces and placed them in a bowl in a microwave oven. Heated the chocolate until it melted to smooth lava like. It took about two minutes of microwave heat and two stirrings for lump-free consistency. (The chocolate can also be melted by double boiler method on stovetop setting.)

Cherries and Hazelnuts: While chocolate is cooling, I removed the pits from cherries using fingers. Cherries were very ripe, so it was quick with fingers, and I didn’t have to use knife or special gizmos like cherry pitter.

Baking Time: Kept the oven at 350 F to preheat. Lined the loaf pan with parchment paper. While oven was getting hot, flour got sifted into a vessel. To the flour, I added sugar, baking soda and baking powder. After stirring with a spoon, I added ghee, melted chocolate, and cardamom powder and combined them well together with a sturdy spoon. Pitted cherries and hazel nuts went in next. Mixing one more time, and then poured the whole thing into baking pan. The batter was fairly dense (see the images below), but manageable.

Placed the pan in preheated oven and baked the cake at 350 F for about 45 minutes. When a fork inserted in the middle of the cake came out clean, I turned off the oven and removed the pan to cool the cake. After the photography session, I finally took a break and had a small piece. Loved the bittersweet experience.


Melted Chocolate and Pitted Cherries…. Dense Choco-Cherry Cake Batter, Ready for Baking


Cooling off – Cake and Kittaya…… Reversed and Ready to Slice – Baked Cake Loaf

Chocolate Cherry Cake with Hazelnuts
Chocolate-Cherry Cake with Hazelnuts ~ for Chocolate Craving

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Cherries,Chocolate (Thursday July 3, 2008 at 10:00 am- permalink)
Comments (48)

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48 comments for Chocolate Cherry Cake for July 4th »

  1. It looks too good to be true. I am definitely going to try this.

    Comment by Sorina — July 3, 2008 @ 10:04 am

  2. one of my favourite combos Indira…

    Comment by Dee — July 3, 2008 @ 10:10 am

  3. Just what I was looking for. I like both chocolate and coffee only when bitter. I can appreciate the quality, without being masked by the sugar.

    Comment by Suganya — July 3, 2008 @ 10:40 am

  4. Wow, beautiful pictures (loved the tamarind pic in the previous post too!), and now I’m hungry πŸ™‚

    Wishing you, Vijay, and Kittaya a very happy 4th!

    Comment by Uma — July 3, 2008 @ 11:47 am

  5. We are planning to go the beach this weekend and this cake would be perfect. I was just thinking of what to make and as if you just read my mind and posted this recipe πŸ™‚
    Hmm.. imagine.. on the beach, kids playing, a good book to read and a yummy cake to devour.
    Wow!! Indira, you just made my weekend :))
    Will definitely make this.

    Comment by Anjali Damerla — July 3, 2008 @ 11:49 am

  6. Happy July 4rth Indira and Vijay!

    I am going to try this cake next week I will let you know how it turns out, Indira ..Hope as decadent as yours πŸ™‚ BTW Popcorn -tamrind flavor is a good hit for us… and the Cauliflower curry with Kasoori methi is a must have once-in-a-month now in our house..My 6 year old loves it ..Thanks for great recipes!

    Comment by Aparna — July 3, 2008 @ 12:09 pm

  7. Wow.. i am drooling looking at the pics… Must try!!!

    Comment by kalva — July 3, 2008 @ 12:38 pm

  8. Indira,
    Its amazing. How do you come up with such combinations? Sure will try.

    Comment by Padma — July 3, 2008 @ 4:16 pm

  9. Yummy chocolate cake indira. Love the sliced cake picture. Too tempting! Wishing you a happy july 4th.

    Comment by Divya — July 4, 2008 @ 12:00 am

  10. Hi indira, Lovely tempting cake. Wish you a happy fourth!

    Comment by ms — July 4, 2008 @ 4:48 am

  11. I am fairly new to blogging and i came across your site while searching for something. You have a great site and i love your photos. This cake looks delicious…

    Comment by Vidya — July 4, 2008 @ 10:40 pm

  12. Chocolate..yum. Cherries…yum. They together made with ghee! Whats not to love. Thank you for sharing the recipe!

    Comment by Sands — July 5, 2008 @ 7:10 am

  13. Wow, Indira, even without eggs the cake seems to have a nice fluffy texture. I am definitely going to try this. Thank you!

    Comment by Soniya Gadgil — July 5, 2008 @ 10:30 am

  14. I can’t believe that its an eggless cake Indira! It looks so moist and rich. I really don’t know if I would like a bitter chocolate cake, because I have not tasted one. I think I have to try this recipe to really appreciate the natural taste of chocolate.

    When you have time please leave the link to this cake below, so that I can update it in the eggless cakes category. Thank You.

    Comment by Madhuram — July 5, 2008 @ 3:27 pm

  15. Yummy! I am going to try this. Thanks for sharing.

    Comment by Mona — July 5, 2008 @ 5:44 pm

  16. Excellent! I baked this for a tea time snack this afternoon and my 14 year old boys and our guests loved it! I ended up adding a couple of spoons of soy milk to the batter to make it more manageable. THank you!

    Comment by Sudeepta — July 6, 2008 @ 1:16 pm

  17. I meant 14 month old boys πŸ™‚

    Comment by sudeepta — July 6, 2008 @ 3:46 pm

  18. Hey Indira!!
    I am visiting your blog for the first time.
    This cake looks yummy, planning to try this delicious cake over the weekend πŸ™‚

    Comment by Purva — July 7, 2008 @ 8:43 am

  19. Looks yummy!! πŸ™‚

    Comment by Kay — July 7, 2008 @ 1:54 pm

  20. Wow Indira…Chocolate cherry cake – the pictures look so tempting and groovy. And Kittaya is a great model :). The recipe looks simple enough and yet so delicious…I am going to try this for sure. Looks so moist and heavenly. I love cherries and to think of them with chocolate – all the kids are going to freak out.

    Comment by pritya — July 8, 2008 @ 8:01 am

  21. Cake looks dense and delicious. I would like a bit of Kittaya too πŸ˜‰

    Hope you all had a lovely long weekend!

    Comment by Linda — July 8, 2008 @ 3:31 pm

  22. very nice combination, and ur photos are excellent.

    Comment by rashmi — July 8, 2008 @ 4:40 pm

  23. Indira, I made this cake yesterday and what do I say? It was scrumptious. The cherries and chocolate combine with such harmony, it’s difficult to stop with just one serving. The texture was also a pleasant surprise to us, considering that it does not need any eggs. In total, it was a big hit and will be a regular during my baking sessions. Thank you so much for such a treat!

    Comment by Chandrika — July 9, 2008 @ 7:29 am

  24. Indira , I baked this cake twice in this week , the first time I did , I didnt pack it well in the pan as the batter is dense.. so although the taste was better and everyone asked for more.. it broke in the middle..hmmm , I couldnt sleep peacefully with such an outcome, so I went back to baking it the next day.. only thing I changed was usins a bitter chocolate with chili powder… i cant tell you how wonderful it was , an array of flavours like bitterness of the chocolate and the cherries were perfect , juicy and sweet and the cayenne pepper hitting the tongue after eating the cake.. It was wonderful . I think the best part of this cakes comes in when one is mixing the ingredients with ghee, the entire house was smelling so wonderful… thanks for this wonderful recipe ! this is truly the best jewel from the box! keep em coming!!

    Comment by Dee — July 18, 2008 @ 11:51 pm

  25. Cool fun. Like me. Thanks.
    I like to cook very at home. Greetings from Poland.

    Comment by przepisy kulinarne — August 3, 2008 @ 9:04 am

  26. Really great!! without egg??

    Comment by kiwiberry — August 12, 2008 @ 11:42 am

  27. is it alright to use cocoa powder instead of 8 oz chocolate??? thanks

    Comment by cherry — September 30, 2008 @ 2:57 am

  28. i am wondering isn’t there a conflict of flavors – cardmom and chocolate. both strong and distinct – too much competition. however cherries and chocolate come out well. just my two cents

    Comment by anrosh — October 24, 2008 @ 11:01 am

  29. baked the cake using choc chipa added a little milk.It tasted great it was a bit crumbly.thanks for a wonderful receipe which is eggless…

    Comment by priya — December 7, 2008 @ 5:07 pm

  30. This is one of the best cakes I’ve ever tasted. Thank you!

    Comment by Mo — July 3, 2009 @ 11:06 am

  31. looking very very delicious and yummy. thanks for sharing. πŸ™‚

    Comment by thebuddinggourmet — October 19, 2011 @ 2:01 am

  32. Oh Indira, this is the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted!!! I tried a small portion in Microwave oven and it came out delicious. Can’t wait to try it in Conventional oven. I bet it would be more delightful. Thanks so much for an incredible recipe.

    Comment by Raji — January 23, 2012 @ 11:42 pm

  33. I made this cake. The flavor was just amazing. But the texture was so crumbly. There was nothing to hold all the ingredients together. Did Indira make a typo, and skip listing the egg ingredient in the recipe.. or perhaps milk?

    Comment by Bhavana — February 16, 2012 @ 3:33 pm

  34. I made this cake. The flavor was just amazing. But the texture was so crumbly.

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  48. Warm and succulent fruits from the ranchers advertise. Unsweetened Chocovic preparing chocolate from Trader Joe’s. Hazelnuts from the previous winter. Joined with generally useful flour and prepared together.

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