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Cherry Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Last Updated On: December 05, 2023 | Published: January 07, 2023 by Melissa Diamond | 3 Comments
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This delicious Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake is the perfect celebration cake- it is moist, decadent, and so pretty when sliced!

We absolutely love pound cakes and have made so many variations over the years. Our Buttermilk Pound Cake, Strawberry Pound Cake, Lemon Pound Cake, and Coconut Pound Cake are just a few of our favorites!

Why we Love It

This delicious Cherry Chocolate Chip Pound Cake is a new favorite of ours! There are so many reasons to love this recipe:

  • Amazing texture and richness from sour cream
  • Super moist with delicious combination of cherries and chocolate
  • Perfect for birthdays, holidays, and other gatherings
  • We love this for spring and summer! (Check out our other summer cakes!)
  • Everything is better with chocolate chips! Don't miss our other chocolate chip cake recipes!

Recipe FAQs

Today's cherry pound cake recipe is different than our previous one because it contains sour cream.

The sour cream, as used in our popular Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe, not only adds richness of flavor, but it also thickens the batter, making it perfect for keeping our mini chocolate chips and sliced maraschino cherries suspended!

Another benefit of sour cream in cake recipes is that it adds a bit of acidity to the batter. This softens the strands of gluten, creating a velvety texture and more tender crumb.

Our Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake recipe is another example of a super moist pound cake that contains sour cream.

 

Yes! Just as with the majority of our cakes (from lemonade cake to strawberry pound cake, pineapple cake and more), this cake freezes beautifully.

We freeze our cakes all the time and have never had an issue. It saves so much time as it allows you to bake well in advance if you'd like. As long as the cake is wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and foil, it will stay fresh in the freezer for up to three months!

After baking and cooling the cake (we wrap when the cake is still slightly warm), wrap it in a couple of layers of plastic wrap and then foil. Into the freezer it goes! (You can label and date it if you do a lot of baking & freezing).

When it is time to thaw, move the wrapped cake from the freezer to the refrigerator the day before.

Then, the following morning, move the cake to the kitchen counter to continue warming. If there is no more condensation forming on the foil, it is fine to go ahead and unwrap.

No, this cake can be stored in an airtight container or cake dome at room temperature. (However, if you are topping with maraschino cherries as we did, you should add those just before serving.)

If by chance you just prefer to refrigerate the cake, you should remove it from the refrigerator two hours before serving for best flavor and texture. This will give the cherry chocolate chip pound cake a chance to warm and soften.

You may know of some recipes that advise coating add-ins like chocolate chips in flour to help them stay suspended. I never notice much of a difference with this trick, but luckily we do not need it today!

The cake batter for this recipe is nice and thick (thanks in part to the sour cream in the recipe)! This keeps the chocolate chips and bits of cherries suspended as the cake bakes. No sinking! ;0)

One of my favorite things about pound cakes and bundt cakes that they don't need a lot of decoration.

They can be served just as they are, or with a light dusting of confectioners' sugar, a simple glaze, or a scoop of ice cream!

For today's cake, we used an easy cherry glaze and topped it with cherries and chocolate chips.

Slice of Cherry Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

How to Make Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake

This Cherry Chocolate Chip pound cake is very easy to make.

The most time consuming part is slicing the maraschino cherries- but it is so worth it for the bits of color and cherry flavor in every slice!

You can find the full, printable recipe card further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

  • Preheat and Prepare Pan: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease and flour a bundt pan. (See notes)
  • Maraschino Cherries: Separate maraschino cherries from the juice-- keep the juice for later. I used a sifter over a measuring cup for this step.
Draining maraschino juice from the cherries using a sifter over a bowl
  • Sliced Cherries: I reserved 7 cherries to be used as decoration for the top of the cake. Then sliced up the rest very finely-- approximately ½ cup. I lightly blotted with a paper towel.
Finely Chopped Maraschino Cherries
  • Flour Mixture: In a separate bowl whisk the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt to combine, set aside for later.
  • Butter and Sugar: Cream the butter on medium speed in your mixing bowl until smooth. (Use paddle attachment if using a stand mixer).
  • Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Eggs: Add the eggs one at a time blending after each to incorporate.
Adding eggs to pound cake batter
  • Sour Cream Mixture: In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the 1 cup sour cream, ⅓ cup of the drained juice from the jar of cherries, and 1 ½ teaspoons cherry extract.
  • Dry and Wet Ingredients: While mixing on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream mixture to the butter, sugar, & egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. (I added the flour mixture three times and the sour cream mixture twice). Mix just until blended.
  • I added a touch of pink coloring but this is optional.
Cherry Pound Cake Batter in Mixing Bowl
  • Cherries and Mini Chocolate Chips: Next, fold in the finely chopped cherries and mini chocolate chips. Add batter to prepared bundt pan.
Cherry Chocolate Chip Pound Cake Batter
  • Bake at 325 degrees F for 60-70 minutes. Check on the cake as it nears the 1 hour mark and adjust additional time as needed. When an inserted toothpick or skewer comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached, it is ready.
Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake Batter in Bundt Pan

We like to cool on a cooling rack (still in pan) for 10 minutes before turning out.

Freshly Baked Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake

Cherry Glaze

We decided to create a quick and easy cherry glaze for our pound cake. This is optional, but we really like the boost of cherry flavor that it adds.

A chocolate ganache glaze (as we used with our Chocolate Marble Pound Cake) with a bit of cherry extract stirred into it would be a nice option too!

The cherry glaze is a simple combination of powdered sugar, a bit of milk, and cherry extract, and a pinch of salt. I also added a touch of pink coloring gel.

Cherry Glaze Consistency: If you find that your glaze is too thick, add a bit more milk-- if it is too thin, add a bit more confectioners sugar.

Glazing the Cherry Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Decorating the Pound Cake

The cherry glaze can be spooned over the pound cake if you'd like, but for today's cake, I added it to a disposable piping bag and snipped the tip away. This gives a bit more control.

We topped the glaze with maraschino cherries and mini chocolate chips!

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More Cherry Cakes

We hope that you enjoy this Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake! If you are a fan of cherry desserts, don't miss these other delicious cherry cakes from our cake recipes section!

Some of our favorites are our Cherry Cake from scratch, Cherry Cake from Cake Mix, and homemade Black Forest Cake.

You can also find many more light and fruity cake recipes here: 100 Cakes with Fruit!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Don't miss our full collection of cake recipes from scratch as well as our favorite cake mix recipes!

Also, if you are interested in learning to decorate your cakes, we have hundreds of free cake decorating tutorials to share with you!

Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe
This moist Cherry Chocolate Chip Pound Cake is moist, decadent, and has amazing flavor!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Course: Dessert
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Ingredients

  • 3 sticks (339g) unsalted butter, softened Should still hold shape but dents when pressed.
  • 3 cups (600g) sugar
  • 5 large eggs, room temperature (Place in bowl of warm water for 5 minutes if too cold.)
  • 3 cups (375 g) * All Purpose Flour* (not self-rising)
  • ½ teaspoon 2 g baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
  • 1 cup (242g) sour cream
  • 1 (10 oz) Jar Maraschino Cherries - Approximately ½ cup finely chopped cherries. Reserve juice.
  • ⅓ cup maraschino cherry juice reserved from the jar of maraschino cherries *See Notes
  • 1 ½ teaspoons (6g) Cherry Extract (We used Watkins brand)
  • ½ cup Mini Chocolate Chips plus extra for sprinkling on top (adjust amount to your liking)
  • Pink of coloring gel for batter- optional- we used very little.

Glaze

  • 2 cups Confectioners Sugar see notes
  • ¼ cup (60g) milk
  • Pinch of salt Approximately ¼ teaspoon
  • Cherry Extract- start with 1 teaspoon and add additional until you reach desired amount of cherry flavor.
  • A touch of pink coloring gel- optional

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease and flour a bundt pan.
  • Separate maraschino cherries from the juice-- reserve the juice for later.
  • I reserved 7 cherries to be used as decoration for the top of the cake. Then sliced up the rest very finely-- approximately ½ cup. I lightly blotted with a paper towel.
  • In a separate bowl whisk the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt to combine, set aside for later.
  • Cream the butter on medium speed in your mixing bowl until smooth. (Use paddle attachment if using a stand mixer). Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Add the eggs one at a time blending after each to incorporate.
  • In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the 1 cup sour cream, ⅓ cup of the drained juice from the jar of cherries, and 2 teaspoons cherry extract.
  • While mixing on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream mixture to the butter, sugar, & egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. (I add the flour mixture three times and the sour cream mixture twice). Mix just until blended.
  • Fold in the finely chopped cherries and mini chocolate chips. Add batter to prepared bundt pan.
  • Bake at 325 degrees for 60-70 minutes. Check on the cake as it nears the 1 hour mark and adjust additional time as needed. When an inserted toothpick or skewer comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached, it is ready.
  • Cool on a cooling rack (still in pan) for 10 minutes before turning out.
  • This recipe makes approximately 8-8.5 cups of batter.

For the Glaze:

  • Combine confectioners sugar, milk, cherry extract, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl and stir until smooth.
  • Drizzle over the pound cake. (I spooned mine into a piping bag with the tip snipped away for more control.) If the glaze is too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add a bit more juice or a touch of milk.
  • Finishing TouchesWe sprinkled mini chocolate chips and added 7 maraschino cherries around the top of the cake for decoration.

Notes

Bundt Pan:

We used a bundt pan measuring 10 inches across (The Original Bundt Pan). If you are using a smaller size bundt pan, make sure not to fill the batter more than ¾ full so that it won't overflow when baking.

Glaze:

Adjust to desired consistency- for a thicker glaze, add more confectioners sugar. For a thinner glaze, add a bit more milk.

Maraschino Cherries

I bought maraschino cherries with stems because I liked the look of the stemmed cherries as decoration on top. Of course, you'll remove the stems from the other cherries before finely slicing and adding to the cake batter. I only used about ½ cup of cherries but the batter is thick enough that you could add a bit more if you'd like! The same goes for the mini chocolate chips.

Refrigeration

With the exception of the maraschino cherries on top, this cake can be kept under a cake dome at room temperature. If you do decide to refrigerate, you will want to remove it from the refrigerator a couple of hours before serving.
5 from 2 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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3 Comments

  3. This cake is a winner!! The flavor is wonderful. I couldn't find cherry extract so I used almond instead. I will still search for cherry extract to use the next time I make this cake. I was also wondering if this cake can be made in a 9x13 pan or into cupcakes?

    Reply