Chocolate Cherry Ganache Cake

This post for Chocolate Cherry Ganache Cake was originally published on August 18, 2016– exactly one year after I bought the domain for my blog (formerly known as cuococontento.com– it will still take you right here!)

At that time, I was working a very normal 9-6 job. I proudly woke up at 6:00am to frost this chocolate cherry ganache cake in celebration of doing this thing we call blogging for 1 whole year. Granted, I had absolutely zero idea what I was doing. SEO? Never heard of it. Metrics? I wasn’t tracking them. But I was having fun– my kitchen was my playground. It still is.

Honestly, I’m not a big cake person. I’m partial to savory and salty things, like this Tomato Jam with some buttery, crusty bread. Yet, after dinner I always crave just a wee bit of something sweet. It could be a piece of chocolate or a a cookie. That’s all I need to satisfy this minuscule sweet tooth.

However, when someone in my life has a celebration worth baking a cake for, I whip this recipe out. All authorship for the ingredients and formula of this recipe belongs to Food & Wine Magazine (yet another thing I didn’t understand in my blogging infancy years). By and large, my only modification– or rather, addition– was a cherry filling. I’m going to walk you through the entire process in my own words. We all have our own tricks and techniques, and THAT is what truly separates one recipe from another. Never again will I fail to give credit where credit is due!

The wow-factor of this cake is how lusciously moist it is, thanks to a little sour cream. If you don’t have it, you can sub in plain yogurt or creme fraiche. Also, the coffee! Coffee brings out great depth of flavor in chocolate– try it once and you’ll never go back.

Chocolate ganache (aka chocolate and heavy cream) is also a key player. I decided to whip it this time, in order to incorporate more air and fluffiness. Totally up to you!

Wherever you are in your work, think back to that very first step.

Sometimes, I still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. Yet, I look at where I stand know and remember with such clarity where I started. I’m a firm believe that you’ll never simply “arrive.” They day won’t come where you wake up one morning and say, “aah! This is it. I’ve made it!” Whatever you do to sustain yourself, for whatever pays the rent– I hope you never quit learning. And I hope you find joy in it. Stay humble. Put aside jealous thoughts. Compare yourself to a past version of YOURSELF. And leave it at that.

The world is changing, rapidly. Social media isn’t what it used to be– even compared to just a few short years ago. Today, it’s significantly harder to be seen and heard. It’s not as simple to grow anymore. You’ve heard it before: the new Instagram algorithm is ruining everything. Blah, blah, blah. Quite frankly, it’s annoying to hear the complaints. While it might not be as easy as it used to be, it shouldn’t be any less fun. If you’re not having fun, might I suggest you take a step back. Re-evaluate. Ask yourself: why do I even DO this? Why does it matter? Where was the joy lost, and how can I get it back?

I don’t mean to dive down the Instagram rabbit hole. But whenever another year passes by, I think about where I started and why I started. It had nothing to do with numbers. It had nothing to do with performance or stats or anything else I could measure. My new-found love for cooking is what it had everything to do with.

So, here’s to four years of making messes in my kitchen like it was my job.

I am incredibly grateful that it actually is. I knew I could make a lot of money doing something I didn’t really love to do, or I could work steadily as a food photographer and pave my own way– dollar by dollar. I’ve never felt more challenged to succeed as I do right now. It’s both scary and liberating, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Thank you for always being there. Whether it’s on social media or right here– every friendship I’ve made through this line of work is worth more than gold to me. What started as nothing has grown into a tightly-knit network of people bigger than I ever imagined. And even if only 1 person were to read this– I’d still write it– cook it– bake it! Let’s eat cake!

Chocolate Cherry Ganache Cake

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 12

Equipment

• (3) 9" cake pans
• offset spatula, for frosting
• stand mixer fitted with whisk, for whipping ganache (optional)
• parchment paper, for lining pans

Ingredients

  

Cake

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter for greasing pans
• 3 cups flour plus more for dusting pans
• 9 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups hot, freshly-brewed coffee
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup sour cream at room temperature
• 1 cup vegetable or melted coconut oil
• 4 large eggs at room temperature

Chocolate Ganache

• 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 pounds semi-sweet chocoalte chips
• 1/3 cup hot, freshly-brewed coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cherry Filling

• 2 cups fresh cherries pitted and quartered
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon water
• Whole cherries for garnish

Instructions

 

• Grease the bottoms and sides of (3) 9" cake pans with butter. Line each with parchment paper cut in rounds to fit pans. Butter the parchment as well. Spinkle about a tablespoon of flour into each pan and gently tap and rotate until all surfaces are coated with flour. Tap out any excess.
• Preheat oven to 350F. Center a rack in the middle of the oven. In a medium bowl, add chocolate and vanilla. Pour hot coffee over chocolate to melt. Let stand about 2 minutes; stir until nice and smooth.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add sour cream, oil and eggs. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. In a seperate bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add the dry mixture to the wet. Mix until just combined. Remove mixer from stand and gently stir with a rubber spatula to ensure everything is evenly incorporated.
• Divide the batter evenly between the three pans. Tap each gently on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake about 35 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of each releases cleanly. Let cake cool completely on wire racks before inverting and removing from pans.
• While cake is cooling, make the ganache. Add eavy cream, butter and sugar to a medium saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. When it begins to bubble, remove from the heat and add chocolate, hot coffee and vanilla. Let stand about 2 minutes; stir until silky smooth. To speed up the cooling and thickening process, let ganache chill in the refrigerator at least 1 hour. Optional: when it has thickened to a peanut butter-like consistency, transfer to stand mixer fitted with wire whisk; whip about 6 full minutes, until light in color and fluffy.
• To make cherry filling, add cherries, sugar, cornstarch and water to a small saucepan. Stir to combine; set over low heat. Stir occasionally until thickened, about 8 minutes. Let cool completely or chill in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process.
• Using a sharp serrated bread knife, slice of the rounded tops of each layer of cake. Don't throw these away– they are great for snacking on! Transfer first layer to a cake stand. Top with 1/4 of the chocolate ganache and spread evenly using an offset spatula. Dollop on 1/2 of the cherry filling. Top with the second layer of cake and repeat with layering ganache and cherry filling. Top with the final layer of cake. Spread the remaining ganache over the entire cake, filling in all the crevices and smoothing out along with tops and sides. Garnish with whole cherries. Slice and serve!

Notes

Ganache and cherry filling can be made a day ahead. Bring to room temperature before proceeding with whipping ganache (if desired) and assembling cake.

Keyword cake, cherry, chocolate, ganache