SOCIAL MEDIA

01 June 2010

Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake

I am a huge fan of CakeLove, so when I was looking for ways to use a bag of frozen cherries, I knew Warren wouldn't let me down.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the ingredients on hand for the matching butter cream, so I decided to try a bundt cake.  Which, the chocolate chips sank to the bottom of and stuck to the pan.  It was a mess, but it was delicious.

Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake
Adapted From CakeLove by Warren Brown

For the Chocolate Cherry Cake:
Dy:
5 oz or (1 cup) all purpose flour
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
¼ unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Liquid:
½ cup whole milk
¼ cup cherry puree (recipe to follow)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Creaming Mixture:
3 oz. unsalted butter
1 ½ cups extra fine granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 egg yolk

Make the Cherry puree first—see recipe below.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sift together flour and cocoa powder into a medium sized bowl. Whisk in the baking soda and salt. Then add the dried cherries and chocolate chips and whisk to combine. Set aside.

3. In a large liquid measuring cup mix together the liquid ingredients until combined. Set aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl using the paddle attachment (if you are using a stand mixer), add butter and beat until smooth. Then add the sugar and beat on medium low to incorporate. This may take 5 minutes so be patient. You want to get air in the mixture but you don’t want to beat all the air out of it…so don’t put this on high.

5. Add the eggs one at a time to the butter mixture, followed by the yolk.

6. Then add the dry and liquid mixtures by alternating between the two in 3-4 additions. Starting and ending with the dry mixture. You don’t have to wait for the wet or dry ingredients to be completely incorporated before adding the next. If you do that you will overwork the batter. This process should take you only a minute.

7. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and make sure you don’t have any clumps at the bottom that haven’t been mixed in.

8. Thoroughly spray pan and bake about 30 minute or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cherry Puree
1 16 oz. bag of frozen cherries, pitted
½ cup superfine sugar

Defrost cherries, keeping the juices.  Put in a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer to a sauce pan and add the sugar. Bring to a gentle simmer, do not boil, and let reduce by half (25 minutes). Remove from heat and cool completely.