This No-Bake Chocolate Cherry ‘Cake’ is so so good. I made it for afternoon tea recently and Finbar (my 2-year-old) ate a whole slice before I realized what was happening. Of course he was then awake in the middle of the night from all the caffeine in the chocolate.
A mistake I won’t make again!
Back to the glories of this cake. It’s an awesome stress-free dinner party show-stopper because you can make it ahead. It’s super rich so serve dainty slices… You can always go back for seconds!
No-Bake Chocolate Cherry ‘Cake’
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream 35% milk fat
- 200 g dark chocolate
- 250 g pitted cherries defrosted if frozen
Instructions
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Line a loaf tin with baking paper so the sides are covered. Place cream in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.
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Roughly chop the chocolate into chunks and place in a bowl. Pour hot cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes so it melts.
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Stir until smooth then pour into the prepared pan. Arrange cherries on top.
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Freeze until set – about 30 minutes.
WINE MATCH: A nice up of tea.
Variations & Substitutions for No-Bake Chocolate Cherry ‘Cake’
white chocolate – don’t be tempted to substitute in white chocolate because there won’t be enough cocoa butter coming from the chocolate to ‘set’ the cake. Plus all that sugar!
dairy free – replace the cream with coconut milk OR other dairy-free milk like soy milk or almond milk. The flavour profile will change, but not necessarily in a bad way.
crunchy – Sprinkle over shopped roast hazelnut, walnuts or almonds.
lower carb – use 90% cocoa solids chocolate. You may or may not want to add a little stevia.
different fruit – any berries or a mixture of berries are lovely with chocolate. As are these Vanilla Roast Pears.
short on time – serve cherries + shaved chocolate and cream.
nutty – replace cherries with roasted nuts. I especially love it with roast walnuts.
Prepare Ahead
Yes. Will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days (if no one knows it’s there). Can be frozen.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
cream – unopened cartons will generally keep in the fridge for another week. If you need to store for longer, just pop in the freezer in a sealed container. Or freeze in icecube trays so you can easily defrost just what you need.
dark chocolate – keep it in the pantry.
pitted cherries – freeze them.
More recipes like No-Bake Chocolate Cherry ‘Cake’
- Chocolate Pecan ‘Cake’
- Heavenly Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
- No-Bake Chocolate Pecan ‘Pie’
- Moist Chocolate & Zucchini Cake
- Super Moist Caramel Cake
With love,
Jules x
Jules, I made this one bake chocolate cake and it was delicious but I have a question. The texture was nothing like what the picture shows, or what I was expecting. My parchment paper would not pull away from my cake and there was no way this was going to be cut with a knife. It was like a very thick mousse. I had it in the freezer for much longer than the 30 minutes. I wonder why I had the problem? I did use thickened cream ( it had the 35%fat) instead of whipping cream, would that have been the problem? And I used dark eating chocolate rather than buying baking choc. I loved the dessert but I’m curious as to why I had the result I had. Thanks so much for any help. Jennifer
I wonder if your parchment paper is lined like it is here in Australia so it’s non stick
Next time try oiling it or greasing with butter :)
Hi Jules. My husband cooked this and wants me to forward his comments:
“I tried to create this ‘cake’ for a desert for grandchildren and struck a few problems. I followed the recipe as closely as I could but:-
the concoction would not freeze solid despite three hours in the freezer; it was very sticky and hard to remove from the baking paper; it also stuck to the serving spoon and had to be forcibly deposited on the plate.
I may have allowed the cream to overheat in the sauce pan as it was frothy when i removed it from the heat.
The chocolate and cream liquids did not mix thoroughly although it was smooth but the swirls looked attractive so I let them be.
The cherries were from a jar – some a little broken and some squashed resulting in a bit of juice joining the chocolate liquid.
Can you deduce from this description where I went wrong as the result tasted really good.” Michael
Sorry to hear you weren’t 100% happy Michael + Nina –
What happened was the cream was too hot so the chocolate split – you want the cream to melt the chocolate but if the temp is too high it cases the chocolate to not be smoothly integrated with the cream.
So next time letting the cream cool a but (or heating less) will make the difference.
I had no problem with consistency, once I realized that you can’t eat it straight out of the freezer. After it sets, leave it in the fridge to let it “warm up”. Or leave it on the counter if you are going to be serving it within an hour or two. A problem I did have was with the cherries. I tried using fresh ones, but being out of season (it’s March as I write this), they weren’t very tasty. However, I made a second batch with *dried* cherries, and it was fantastic!