CHERRY CHIP CAKE

Cherry Chip Cake is a homemade maraschino cherries cake studded with chocolate chips. It’s layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with vanilla buttercream. Tessa Huf has contributed a new recipe for layer cake.

This cake is colorful, playful, and full of wit. This cake was in my head a year ago, but I couldn’t make it happen because of holidays and other seasonal treats. We are now in the spring/summer season and have a few berries to look forward to. It’s the perfect time for a cake full of pure fun.

This cake is bursting with maraschino cherry flavor and has a retro-style decoration. It’s a delicious way to relive your childhood. I can imagine this cake being served in a diner, with red vinyl booths and checkerboard flooring, or a soda shop where the whipped cream is topped off with bright red cherries. The pink interior and pale Tiffany blue frosting were a perfect match. Blue is usually associated with vanilla candies unless it’s the ambiguous blue raspberry. ? (and in this cake, I think the color brings it all to life.

This cake is sweet and delicious, with its syrupy cherries. Cake layers are adorned with chopped cherries and mini chocolate chips and then tinted pink using cherry syrup. The cake layers are made lighter with whipped egg whites. Use mini chocolate chips, and coat the chopped cherries in flour to prevent them from sinking into the bottom of your pan. A thin layer of bittersweet ganache tempers the frosting.

Ingredients

Cherry Chip Cake

3/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

14 teaspoon baking powder

14 teaspoon Salt

1 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Two teaspoons of Vanilla Extract

Two whole eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup maraschino cherry syrup

pink gel food coloring (optional)

Four white eggs

Two tablespoons flour, reserved

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Bittersweet Ganache

half cup heavy crème

4 ounces bittersweet Chocolate, Chopped

Whipped Vanilla Frosting

1 1/2 cups softened butter

5 1/2 up to six cups confectioner sugar

One vanilla bean, seeds scraped (optional)

Two teaspoons of Vanilla Extract

1/4 cup heavy cream or milk

Assembly

turquoise gel food coloring, optional

additional maraschino cherries

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Set aside three 8-inch pans that have been greased and floured.

Chop up the cherries, and spread them out on paper towels to dry and drain.

Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Beat the butter with an electric mixer until it is smooth. Add the sugar, and beat on medium speed for a few minutes until it is light and fluffy.

Add the whole eggs and vanilla to the mixer while it is on medium-low. Do this one by one. Stop the mixer, and clean the bowl.

Combine the buttermilk with the cherry syrup in a separate bowl and set it aside.

Add half the dry ingredients in alternate batches to the butter/eggs mixture and combine on low speed until combined. Add the cherry buttermilk in a stream and continue mixing until it is incorporated. Add the remaining dry ingredients and a few drops of pink food color (if you are using it). Mix until well combined. The batter should be thick.

In a dry, clean bowl, whisk on high the egg whites until they form medium-firm peaks. Toss the cherries with the reserved two tablespoons of flour.

Fold the chocolate chips and cherries into the batter using a spatula. Add about 1/3 of the whipped egg whites and combine until the batter is lightened. Fold in the remaining egg whites until the batter is smooth.

Distribute the batter evenly between the pans, and bake the cakes for 24 to 26 min. or until the toothpick inserted in the middle is clean. Let the cakes cool on a rack for between 15 and 20 minutes before removing them from their pans.

Ganache Bittersweet

Set aside the chocolate in a heat-safe bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it begins to simmer.

Pour the cream on top of the chocolate pieces and allow to sit for 30-60 seconds. Whisk until smooth. Allow the ganache to cool down and thicken up before using. The ganache can be cooled in the fridge, but it must be stirred now and then to keep it smooth.

For the Whipped Vanilla Frosting

Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.

Add the rest of the ingredients while the mixer is on low. As soon as the sugar starts to dissolve, increase the speed of the mixer to medium-high and continue mixing until the mixture is light and fluffy (between 3 and 5 minutes).

The sugar and milk amounts can be adjusted until the desired consistency is reached. The frosting should be almost white when finished.

For the Assembly

Place one cake layer on a plate, then top it with a thin ganache. Spread about 3/4 cup frosting, and smooth it with an offset spatula. The final cake layer is topped with ganache and frosting. Frost the cake and crumb-coat it with frosting. Chill for 15 minutes.

The remaining frosting can be tinted blue. *

Frost the cake as you like with blue buttercream.

Use a medium star-tip, such as a 1B, to pipe white swags along the sides of the cakes. Pipe small rosettes on top of each take and place a cherry.

NOTES

The frosting used in this recipe is all that’s left over for the cake and decorations. Practice your piping and swags on the crumb coating first to ensure you don’t color it too blue. Scrape the decoration off gently and place it aside. Keep this frosting white. Then, tint the remaining frosting blue and use it for the sides/tops of the cake.