A tender chocolate cake studded with morello cherries, swimming in a satiny chocolate sauce and topped with whipped coconut cream, more morello cherries and chocolate shavings. Oh my goodness. And one of the best things about this vegan Saucy Cherry Chocolate Fudge Cake? It's dead easy to make. Perfect for a last minute Valentine's Day treat, or anytime you need a simple but decadent dessert!
This dessert is a type of self-saucing cake and behold its mystery: We pour a thick chocolate cherry cake batter into a baking pan, sprinkle some sugar and cocoa powder over the top, and then gently pour boiling cherry juice over everything. It bakes for about 35 minutes, and then let it cool for 15 minutes or until it's no longer molten. The magical result is a cake with a delicate crisp crust and tender crumb which is now *on top* of a luscious chocolate cherry sauce. It's actually the best kind of lazy dessert because 1) it's impressive as heck for something so easy, and 2) it's best served warm, fresh from the oven.
Tips for a Perfect Saucy Cherry Chocolate Fudge Cake:
- I tested this recipe using jarred dark morello cherries in a light syrup. The syrup was not super sweet, and had the consistency of juice. I would not recommend using other types of jarred cherries, like maraschino or amarena cherries as these are usually bottled in a much sweeter, thicker syrup. I haven't tested this recipe with fresh cherries yet. My thoughts on using them, though: they may release a lot of water during baking so the cake could end up a bit gluey and the sauce a bit thin. Plus, you'd be missing the juice from the jarred variety which really makes the lovely cherry chocolate sauce.
- Sift your dry ingredients. This one step makes such a difference. It's especially important when baking with cocoa powder as it tends to have small clumps (unpleasant and bitter to bite into). The same goes for leavening agents like baking powder. Sift them altogether and the results will be nice and smooth.
- The instant espresso powder is optional, but I do recommend using it if you have it on hand. Coffee has an amazing ability to deepen and enrich chocolate's flavor without anyone noticing any actual coffee flavor. The instant espresso powder is perfect as it blends in perfectly and provides that depth we're after.
- I use a touch of almond extract in this recipe because it's such a nice compliment to the cherries. I find it enhances the cherry flavor without being over top. If you don't have any, I think that the recipe will still be delicious!
- The jars of morello cherries I bought all had 1 ½ cups of light cherry syrup/juice in them. If the jar you have doesn't have quite 1 ½ cups, you can add a bit of water in to make up the volume. So for exle, if you only have 1 ¼ cups of cherry juice, you can add in ¼ cup water.
If you make this Saucy Cherry Chocolate Fudge Cake, please let me know in the comments below and feel free to give it a rating! Also, I love connecting on Instagram where you can tag me in your creations using my recipes. I love seeing what you're up to in the kitchen! Thanks for reading along and I hope you love this recipe!
Vegan Saucy Cherry Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetend cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder, optional
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsweetened plant-based milk
- ¼ cup avocado oil (or other neutral oil)
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ½ cups dark morello cherries in light syrup, jarred (drained and divided)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ cups reserved cherry syrup, boiling (add water to make 1 ½ cups if needed)
- whipped coconut cream or vanilla vegan ice cream, for serving
- vegan chocolate shavings, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 10" baking dish (round or square.)
- In a medium sized bowl, sift the flour, sugar, cocoa sweetened, baking powder, salt, and instant espresso powder together. In a small bowl, combine the plant-based milk, oil, vanilla extract and almond extract. In another small bowl, sift the remaining sugar and cocoa powder together.
- Mix the flour mixture with the milk mixture until barely combined. Stir in ¾ cup of the cherries, mixing just until combined. It will be thick - spread it evenly in the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the sugar and cocoa powder mixture evenly over the batter, and then slowly pour the boiling cherry juice over the top being careful not to have the pot held too high so you don't splash it or create a crater. Do not stir.
- Bake 35-40 minutes on a piece of foil in case of boil over. Let cool for 15-20 minutes before serving. Top with whipped cream, the remaining cherries and chocolate shavings.
Joanne M says
I was looking for recipes that use morello cherries since I had a jar and am tired of making cherry crumble. Found this recipe and OMG was it ever delicious!
It reminds me of an old recipe for ‘chocolate sundae cake’ which was essentially an old timey pudding-cake.
I skipped the whipped cream but can see how it, or vanilla ice cream would enhance this dessert.
Mary E says
I am wanting to try this recipe for my daughter’s birthday. But I know we will have to wait to eat it until after coming home from celebration dinner. Can you suggest how best to serve it, since you say it’s best to eat warm, fresh out of the oven? Can I heat it up a few minutes in the oven?
Bronwyn Fraser | Crumbs & Caramel says
Hi Mary!
I have reheated leftover individual portions in the microwave - I usually do so at 70% so it heats more gently.
You could try reheating it in the oven as I suspect you'd like to present it to her whole and warm? Be sure not to overbake it when you do bake it before going out so it doesn't become dried out with reheating later. This cake would be fine on the counter at room temperature for a few hours - if you refrigerate it, it will take much longer to reheat later.
When you reheat it, I'd cover it securely with tin foil so the cake doesn't get dried out and hard. Reheat in a 350°F oven for about 15-20 minutes. It won't be as saucy as it is when served fresh, but will still have all those delicious chocolate cherry flavors and comforting textures!
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Wishing your daughter a very happy birthday!
Bronwyn
Mary E says
Thanks for the good advice! But maybe I should have asked you about the cherries first, cuz I went to 2 local stores today and could not find any Morello cherry cans! Didn’t think that would be a problem.
My daughter loves cherry desserts, so was wondering if you had tried any other cherries. Maybe frozen ones that I could create a sauce from their juices as they thaw? (BTW, I checked the Morellos on Amazon, and they were not affordable for me. And I don’t know if I could find fresh cherries here right now.) My last resort would be to bake without cherries and then add some cherries when served. Do you think the cake batter would need adjusting if I had to do this?
Bronwyn Fraser | Crumbs & Caramel says
You bring up a great point, Mary! I think using frozen cherries would work - you could try my Self-Saucing Chocolate Strawberry Pudding, and simply swap out the frozen strawberries for frozen cherries, and add 1/2 tsp of almond extract to the cherry layer to help make the cherry flavor pop:
https://crumbsandcaramel.com/self-saucing-chocolate-strawberry-pudding/
This way, you can still have that saucy chocolate dessert you're looking to create while treating your daughter to the cherries she loves so much.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you all love this dessert!
Bronwyn