This ‘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
- Line a loaf tin with baking paper so the sides are covered. Place cream in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.
- 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.
- Stir until smooth then pour into the prepared pan. Arrange cherries on top.
- Freeze until set – about 30 minutes.
WINE MATCH: A nice up of tea.
Variations & Substitutions
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
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.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Hi Jules. I could only find dried cherries at the store. I channeled your philosophy of using what’s on hand and my Italian forebears’ penchant for soaking fruit in alcohol. Bourbon soaked cherries it is…with fantastic results! Thanks for the recipe!
Brilliant Aimee!
Hey Jules I have just made this recipe and it is now sitting in the fridge. It looks amazing .. I changed cherries for raspberries cos that’s what I had. If sugar wasn’t an issue, how would you make it sweeter? I was going to add icing sugar into it but I didn’t want to ruin any balance. I am thinking of sprinkling some icing sugar on top both looks and for sweetness. I’m also considering adding mango by the side. Do you have any ideas? I think it might be a bit too powerful for my bunch.
I’d just go with icing sugar for now Bella – it will add all the sweetness you need 🙂
Or a drizzle of honey might be nice
Thank you Jules.
I was surprised at how the tastes all came together.
The kids added ice cream topping to theirs. The adult guests gave lots of praise.
One question
When I served it on the plate it had the consistency of a little bit melted ice cream.
I used Coles dark chocolate. Is there another chocolate I should be using. As I put it in the fridge for quite a while. Any idea what I did wrong?
Glad everyone enjoyed Bella!
Was the chocolate 70% cocoa solids or higher? Some dark chocolates are only 50% cocoa butter and the rest sugar which means there’s not enough fat to set the cake – Do you think that’s what it was?