Decadent Chocolate Cherry Cake {Grain-Free, Paleo, Dairy-Free}
This decadent chocolate cherry cake is made with wholesome ingredients for a grain-free, paleo-friendly, and dairy-free treat that is so rich and chocolatey. Topped with cherries, you can indulge in this delicious cake without any of the refined sugars or grains! And guess what? It’s nut-free, too!
Sometimes when I’m making dessert I want to keep it simple, and sometimes I want to go all out and make a decadent chocolate cake. But that doesn’t mean that chocolate cake has to be complicated! This recipe is so easy to throw together. In fact, it only takes about an hour to get this cake on the table! If you want to make it even faster, then you could skip the frosting and top it with some fresh cherries instead. But I’m not a skip-the-frosting kind of person.
Decadent Chocolate Cherry Cake Recipe
Paleo chocolate cakes are typically made with almond flour, like our Grain-Free Dark Chocolate Cake. But what about a cake for all of you with nut allergies following a grain-free lifestyle? Well, this nut-free version uses Wildly Organic Coconut Flour for a dense, cherry infused version. Keep in mind when baking with coconut flour that it is highly absorbent so you’ll need a lot of eggs! Our recipe contains 8 eggs to create the perfect textured chocolate cherry cake!
I wanted to make a more wholesome version of a chocolate cherry cake, which can be tricky if you want to top it with smooth, creamy frosting. Buttercream frosting is typically made with some butter, a little milk, and a whole lot of sugar. I wanted to make a much more blood sugar friendly version, so the powdered sugar overload had to go. Wildly Organic Coconut Milk Powder is similar in texture to powdered sugar, but it’s also full of healthy fats and fiber. Bingo! It took more than a few tries to get the frosting to work just right, but it was worth it. My entire family, even my husband who hates cake, quickly devoured this chocolate cherry cake.
I like things quick and easy, especially when it comes to my desserts, but this cake needed a little extra love to make it perfect. At first I tried blending the cherries in with the coconut milk. What I got was a soggy, sad mess. Sifting the frosting ingredients, and cooking the cherries long enough are really important to get the frosting to come out right.
If you have natural cherry flavoring you want to use instead and skip adding real cherries, then go for it. The cherry extracts at my local store were all made from artificial flavoring, which is a no-go in our house. Since it can be hard to find a truly natural cherry extract that tastes good (and kudos to you if you know one!), I decided to go back to the source and use actual cherries. You can use either fresh or frozen black cherries here, but I think frozen works a little better. Be sure to cook them long enough though or they won’t release enough flavor.
In the mood for more cake? There’s plenty to go around!
- Grain-Free & Dairy-Free Pumpkin-Coconut Crumb Cake
- Gluten-Free Blueberry Almond Cake {with freeze-dried blueberry powder}
- Grain-Free Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes With Whipped Coconut Butter Frosting
- Gluten-Free Mini Cranberry Walnut Breads {No Refined Sugar, Dairy-Free Option}
Will you use fresh or frozen cherries for this Decadent Chocolate Cherry Cake?
- 8 eggs
- 1/2cup Wildly Organic Coconut Milk Powdersifted
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2cup Wildly Organic Refined Coconut Oilmelted
- 1/2 cup Wildly Organic Chocolate Syrup
- 1/2cup Wildly Organic Coconut Sugar
- 1/2cup Wildly Organic Fermented Cacao Powder
- 1cup Wildly Organic Coconut Flour
- 1tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2teaspoon Wildly Organic Himalayan Pink Saltfinely ground
- 3/4 cup Wildly Organic Coconut Milk Powdersifted
- 3tablespoons Wildly Organic Chocolate Syrup
- 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 and 1/2tablespoons Wildly Organic Coco Monkey Sweetener
- 3tablespoons Wildly Organic Refined Coconut Oilmelted
- 2/3cup cherriesfresh or frozen
- 2-3tablespoons water
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Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all of the cake ingredients together, except the coconut flour and whisk well to combine. Stir in the coconut flour.
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Pour the cake batter into greased cake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes. The cake should be firm, but not dry.
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Let the cake cool completely before removing from the pans. Frost the top of one cake, then set the other cake on top. Frost the top and sides of the entire cake and top with fresh cherries if desired.
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Cook the cherries and 2-3 tablespoons water in a saucepan for 5-10 minutes or until soft and mushy. Stir and smash with a wooden spoon as they cook. Add a little more water if necessary to prevent the cherries from burning as they cook .
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Use a fine mesh sieve and strain the cherry juice into a mixing bowl. Use a spoon to mash the cherries in the sieve to get the juice out.
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Mix the rest of the frosting ingredients together until smooth. Thin with water a teaspoon at a time if it's too thick.
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