A Bag of Cherries

A friend of mine gave me a bag of beautiful red cherries from her tree, so I decided the best thing to make with them was a cherry chocolate coffee cake.    Nothing better than fresh produce grown and picked from family and friends to enhance the flavors of your foods.  I only used about 1/4 of the cherries that she gave me, so there will be more cherry dishes in the future.  Yum!  I just love cherries, especially in the spring and summer.

This cake is so delicious and moist.  It has been tried and tested many times, and always comes out a huge success.  I did not have sour cream today, so I substituted yogurt.   I substitute those all the time, depending on which one I have on hand at the time. They both work just fine.  I topped it with my leftover chocolate ganache from when I made my pistachio cake.  Ganache can stay in the refrigerator for quite some time.

2/3 cups sugar for cherries, plus 2 3/4 more cups for the cake

1 cup cherries

1 tsp cinnamon

3 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) soft butter

3 large eggs

16 oz of either sour cream or yogurt

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

either powdered sugar or chocolate ganache for topping, after cake is completely cooled

 

Combine the 2/3 cups of sugar and cherries and set aside.

Combine all the dry ingredients and set aside.

Beat butter and rest of sugar in a mixer for about 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy.  Then add eggs 1 at a time and mix.  Vanilla is next, followed by the sour cream or yogurt, then a little bit of the flour mix.  Mix, then repeat until all of the flour is mixed in with the batter.  You never want to over mix because that will make your dough tough.  When dough is done, fold in both the cherries and the chocolate chips.  I used a bundt pan, but if you prefer a sheet cake, use a prepared 9×13 sheet pan instead.  For the bundt, I baked it at 350* for about 1 hour, or until it was a nice golden brown and a toothpick came out clean when inserted in the middle.  For a sheet cake, adjust the time.  Also, very important, when baking everyone’s oven is different, so adjust your times accordingly.

 

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