cherry smashed cake
Today I was in the mood to be creative. My daughter and her work friends are always asking for something good to eat from my kitchen or calling for a cake. Knowing I will be going to her hometown tomorrow, I decided to get this cake made. I hope you all will like it as much as my husband did. It is a very rich cake, and one slice is all I could eat. I just could not think of a name, so I thought of the ingredients and came up with cherry smashed. I got the idea wanting to make something like chocolate covered cherries. I made mine from scratch, but you can use a box mix.
Blue Ribbon Recipe
The flavor of this cherry cake is wonderful! A cherry cream filling and a chocolate drizzle are sandwiched between layers of a cherry-soaked shortbread cake. Then, the cake is topped with an amaretto buttercream. It tastes like a chocolate-covered cherry with an amaretto liqueur and cream filling and will impress everyone. The homemade cake is an old-fashioned recipe and a little dense. If you like a fluffier cake, use a cake mix as suggested.
Ingredients
- SCRATCH CAKE RECIPE
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 sticks butter, softened
- 3 large eggs
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- CHERRY FILLING
- 1 pound confectioners' sugar
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1 cup maraschino cherries chopped fine, drained from the juice
- 1/2 teaspoon cherry juice
- CHOCOLATE FILLING
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 3 - 4 tablespoons milk or half and half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar, more if needed
- ICING
- 2 pounds confectioners' sugar
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, more if needed
- 1/4 cup amaretto liqueur
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cherry juice
How To Make cherry smashed cake
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Step 1Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix sugar and butter. Cream until smooth, about 10 minutes. -
Step 2Add the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth.
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Step 3Sift the cake flour.
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Step 4Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
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Step 5Then add to the mixture alternating with milk.
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Step 6Add in the vanilla extract.
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Step 7Add parchment paper to two 8-inch cake pans. Spray with non-stick spray.
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Step 8Add cake evenly into the pans.
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Step 9Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. Check at 30 to assure it's not burning. Test with a toothpick for doneness.
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Step 10Let sit in the pan for a few minutes. This is a dry shortbread-type cake. An old recipe from the 50s, so not for a cake that will not be moistened by the filling. Good for strawberry shortcake too.
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Step 11Once slightly cooled, turn out of the cake pans onto a cooling rack.
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Step 12Drain the cherries but reserve the cherry juice. Slice each cake in half, making 4 layers. Poke small holes in the cake and brush the cake with cherry juice. Let the layers completely cool.
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Step 13For the filling, chop cherries. Beat butter and powdered sugar in a mixer.
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Step 14On slow speed, add the sweetened condensed milk. Mix in chopped cherries. Mix until cream stage. If too wet, add a little more powdered sugar.
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Step 15For the chocolate filling, melt the chocolate chips with half and half or milk and vanilla extract.
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Step 16Stir in powdered sugar. Mix until it's spreadable. Not souplike, but a little stiff.
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Step 17For the icing, mix all of the ingredients until they're a spreadable consistency to frost the cake. This is a professional bakery icing, and there may be a lot left over.
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Step 18To assemble the cake, place a layer of the cake on a cake plate.
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Step 19Add a layer of the cherry filling.
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Step 20Drizzle with the chocolate.
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Step 21Top with a second layer of cake. Repeat the layering process until all 4 layers are used.
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Step 22Add a thin layer of the cherry filling around the cake. Then frost with the icing. Let set.
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Step 23Refrigerate this cake since there is milk in the icing. I let it stand out for about an hour before serving after it's been refrigerated. Cake is better the next day. It sits and soaks up that flavor.
- Last Step: Don't forget to share! Post a picture of your finished recipe here and on your favorite social network. Don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes!
