Easy Peasy Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake

Ohhhhh, yes, it is as great as it sounds!!  This was my birthday cake this year which I made for myself because sometimes baking is therapy to me.... especially if I know someone else is doing the clean-up... and on my birthday, I am blessed, someone else always does the clean-up!!! 

Beyond great taste, I also love this cake because it has that "WOW" factor while being ridiculously simple to make. I have modified the ingredients and steps some to make it more chic`!  Yet even in its modified state this cake is easy and will make you look like a professional baker.  Ready to impress guests and family?...

The simplest form of making this cake is this:

1 box milk chocolate cake mix
20 oz can cherry pie filling
3 eggs

Mix all the ingredients by hand.  Transfer to a greased 9x13 pan.  Place in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Remove from oven, cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar or frosting of your choice and enjoy.

Viola!!

My modified version reconfigures the process to provide a cherry gel filling:

1 box triple chocolate fudge cake mix (you can use any brand, any flavor of chocolate you like.  This one had small chunks of chocolate in it!!)
20 oz can cherry pie filling
3 eggs
1/4 - 1/3 cup almond milk (or any kind of milk preferably whole or 2%)

Empty cake mix into medium bowl.  Add eggs.
Strain cherries and reserve gel in separate container.  I did this by pouring the can of cherries into a plastic strainer and gently stirring them around with my hand to release them from the gel.  After only a minute or two I removed the cherries by hand fulls into the bowl of cake mix.  I didn't try to completely remove the gel, I simply tried to get enough separated out to provide a good glaze for the middle of the cake.  You can see how much I removed in the picture above.

Add milk 1/4 cup if you only removed a little cherry gel, or 1/3 cup if you removed alot of the gel.  (I actually eye-balled this part, the milk was a replacement liquid for the gel which, in a typical cake mix, would be oil and water)

Mix with spoon by hand until moist and combined.

Pour into two greased 8 or 9 inch round cake pans and bake according to directions on box for pan size and type.  Once done, cool and remove from pans.

Place first round on serving platter, "frost" the top (not the sides) with reserved cherry gel.  You don't need to go all the way to the edge because when you place the top cake layer on the gel will be pressed and spread some.  You can spread the gel to within approximately 1/2 inch from the edge.  Then place next cake round on top. 

Frost cake with powdered sugar, cool whip or frosting of your choice.  I used the frosting recipe here: Carmel Potatoes Texas Sheet Cake (good but VERY rich frosting).  You can also use store-bought frosting and warm to soften for 10-20 seconds in the microwave or briefly on the stove top and it becomes pourable.  You can simply drizzle it over the top of cake!

** I didn't have 2 of the same size cake rounds so I improvised with a spring form and cake round.  When I stacked and frosted them the top wanted to slide off the bottom!!!  I fixed this by placing a wooden chopstick in the center of the cake while it finished setting up.... the frosting seemed to 'glue' it in place after it set-up.  When I removed the stick I sprinkled some frosting over the hole and set a sprig of silk flowers to conceal!  (If you look closely at the above picture you can see the stick!!)

The cake was a HUGE hit and I felt super special having something so decadent yet so amazingly simple.

Blessings for beautiful baking and home-cooked Christ-centered hospitality!

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