This luscious four inch layer cake is is perfect when you want a special cake just for two. It’s filled with a sweet maraschino filling and iced with rich chocolate ganache. 

My son’s birthday is just three days after my husband’s birthday. Now that my son’s older we celebrate both birthdays on the same day. Although they don’t mind sharing a party, they both have different ideas of what the perfect birthday cake is.  So this year I decided to make them each their own little cake. 

My son loves cakes made with chocolate and cherries, so I made him this little Cherry Chocolate Cake. I used the chocolate cake recipe I used to make my grandson’s smash cake. The recipe doesn’t use eggs, so you don’t have to worry about dividing eggs.

All you need to make the filling is a little jar of maraschino cherries, a little sugar and cornstarch. The chocolate ganache is easy to make as well, just heat some heavy cream, pour the hot cream over the chocolate, stir it until it’s smooth and creamy, then just wait until it’s thick and spreadable.

This adorable cupcake stand from the Martha Stewart Collection at Macy’s was sent to me from the folks at Martha Stewart Living. It’s the perfect stand to showcase this little cake, or any fabulous little dessert you’ve whipped up in the kitchen.

The knife was in my hand, and I was going to cut the cake in half, but my son stopped me and said he wanted the entire cake to himself. He even wanted to eat the cake right off the pretty cake stand. His eyes were a little bit too big for his tummy though, and he ended up saving half the cake for the next day. It is a cake for two after all.

Although I made this cake for my son’s birthday, it would also be the perfect dessert to share with someone you love for Valentine’s Day.

Yield: 2 servings

Cherry Chocolate Cake for Two

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Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 20 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons corn starch
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons maraschino cherry liquid
• 2 tablespoons chopped maraschino cherries
• 4 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 4" x 2" round cake pan with non-stick baking spray.
2. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a small cup, whisk together water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until blended.
4. Bake 18 - 20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Maraschino Cherry Filling

1. In a small saucepan mix sugar and corn starch until it's well blended.
2. Add cherry liquid and stir to dissolve sugar and cornstarch. Stir in cherries.
3. Cook over medium high heat until mixture comes to a boil and thickens to the consistency of pie filling. Remove from heat and cool completely before using.

Chocolate Ganache

1. Place chocolate in a glass bowl. Heat heavy cream over medium high heat just until it comes to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate; let rest two minutes, then stir until chocolate is completely melted. Cool until ganache is thickened and has a spreadable consistency.

Assembling cake

1. Cut the cake in half horizontally and spread the maraschino filling on the bottom half, carefully stack the top half on top of the filling. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the chocolate ganache. Decorate top with grated chocolate and a maraschino cherry, optional.

More cherry chocolate cake recipes you might like:

Black Forest Cheesecake Cake, Barbara Bakes
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake with Maraschino Cherry Filling, Barbara Bakes
Chocolate Cherry Cola Cake, Something Swanky
Cherry Chocolate Dump Cake, Dine & Dish