The Chocolate Cake Recipe Every Cherry Cola Lover Needs

Back in the era of soda fountains, soda jerks (who were like the baristas of their day) would customize people's soda orders with various flavored syrups. One popular concoction was the cherry cola, which is similar to a Roy Rogers, only made with maraschino juice instead of grenadine. While some soda fountain treats disappeared into the mists of time, cherry cola wasn't among them, as both Coke and Pepsi added it to their lineups in the mid-80s. By now, the product has been around long enough that it's been adapted into various desserts, like the classic cherry cola chocolate cake.

Some cherry cola cake recipes are quick-and-easy three-ingredient dump cakes, others are more elaborate layer cakes, but developer Patterson Watkins make it as a frosted sheet cake. As Watkins says of her recipe, "You'll love the pretty pink color and vibrantly red accents from the cherries, perfect for Valentine's Day celebrations." She also praises the flavor, telling us: "The cherry coke-spiked cake layer is richly cherry flavored [from] those nice baking spice elements from the soda and almond-like flavors you get from the maraschino cherries, with a balancing bitterness from the dark cocoa. The sour cherry filling, [which is] also made using cherry coke, adds a sweet-tart, puckering contrast to the rich buttercream frosting."

The cake batter is made from flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cherry cola, vegetable oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Additional ingredients needed for the filling include sour cherry jam, maraschino cherry juice, maraschino cherries, and cornstarch, while the frosting calls for butter and powdered sugar.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper and spritz with cooking spray.

To make the batter, place flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.

Place the cherry cola, oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk to combine.

Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and whisk until the batter is smooth and combined.

Transfer the batter to the prepared baking sheet and spread out in an even layer.

Place the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until the cake is cooked through.

Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool completely on a wire rack, about 2 hours.

To make the filling, place the jam and cherry cola in a medium saucepan. Whisk to combine and bring to a low simmer over medium heat.

Place the cherry juice and cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk to combine the slurry.

Once the sauce is simmering, add the slurry, whisk to combine, and continue cooking for 5 to 8 minutes or until the filling has thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.

To make the frosting, place the softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk until fluffy.

Add the powdered sugar and cherry juice to the bowl and whisk on low until most of the sugar has been incorporated.

Increase the speed and whisk until the frosting is fluffy, creamy, and pink.

Once the cake has cooled, cut the cake in half width-wise.

Place one of the cake halves on a platter or smaller baking sheet.

Spoon the filling on top of the cake half and spread out in an even layer.

Sprinkle the filling with the chopped cherries.

Carefully place the other cake half on top.

Spoon frosting onto the top and sides of the cake. Using a spatula, spread the frosting evenly, completely covering the cake.

Decorate the cake with whole cherries, if desired, before slicing and serving.

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This is a generously-sized sheet cake, which means there's also enough batter to make a three-layer cake, if you'd rather divide it between eight or nine-inch round pans. You could also bake it into cupcakes. The former will take about half an hour to cook, while the latter only need about 20 minutes in the oven.

To fill the cupcakes, wait until they have cooled to room temperature. Pack the filling into a piping bag with a big round tip, then use this tip to punch a hole in the middle of each cupcake. (Only go halfway through, though, not all the way down to the bottom.) Squeeze about 2 tablespoons of filling into each one. If you don't have a piping bag, you could use the end of a wooden spoon to poke a hole, then gently spoon in the filling and cover it over with frosting. The amount of frosting here should be plenty to cover either cupcakes or a layer cake, and you may even have enough left over to make a decorative border.

Speaking of decorating, you needn't use the cherries if you prefer a different motif. You could also use any excess frosting to form flowers, or you could cover the cake with sprinkles (heart-shaped ones, if you're baking it for Valentine's Day). Chocolate shavings are another option, as these would be both decorative and delicious.

One way to shorten the prep time for this cake would be to use a boxed chocolate cake mix instead of making it from scratch. Prepare the boxed cake mix as directed but swap out the water for cherry cola. Since most cake mix cakes tend to be softer and moister than scratch-made ones, they may not be sturdy enough for a three-layer cake, but if you'd rather not to go the sheet cake route, you can stick with two layers and use any excess batter for cupcakes. One other difference with a boxed cake mix is that it might be slightly sweeter. This may not be a problem for you, but if it is, you can always use a little less filling to cut down on the sweetness.

You can also make this cake with a different type of soda. A cherry-flavored soda that isn't cola will work just as well, which means the somewhat cherry-ish Dr Pepper (or a generic version of same) would be a fine substitute. You might also be able to find a plain cherry soda, or conversely, non-cherry flavored cola would also be okay in this cake, as would root beer. 

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