This cherry chocolate chip cake is an old recipe that I decided to update with even more cherry flavor. The chopped cherries really add so much, plus the cake itself is different. It’s now more closely based on my moist vanilla cake, with changes that help keep the chocolate chips and chopped cherries afloat. It was good before but those few changes make it even better now.

There are cherries and chocolate chips in literally every bite of this cake, without there being too much of one or the other. When it comes to the cherries, you need maraschino cherries. And not just any maraschino cherries, but the bright red classic ones. The ones they put in drinks at restaurants. With the corn syrup and all. I tested this recipe with a few brands to be sure it would work with them all and it did. However, the more natural maraschino cherries didn’t give the cake nearly as much flavor. So, if you want to be sure you taste the cherry, stick with the bright red, unnatural ones. Ha!

I have lots of great strawberry cakes on my site, including my homemade strawberry cake, strawberry shortcake cake and my strawberry crunchy layer cake. But I’m often asked in the comments of my fresh strawberry cupcakes recipe if those cupcakes can be turned into a cake. That recipe is a little different than my others because strawberries aren’t pureed and added to the cake batter, or just layered between cake layers, they are chopped and baked into the cupcakes.

Since I’ve gotten that question quite a bit, and simply increasing that cupcake recipe and baking a cake turns out quite dense, I decided to work on a cake version. It took a little bit of time and I came back to it a few different times, making it better and better each time. So much so that the hubs declared it the best cake I’ve ever made. Quite a thing to say after all these years of making cake!

So, this recipe is derived from the cupcakes, but has been adjusted for the ideal cake texture. It still has fresh berries baked right into it. No need to bother with purees or making a reduction – just pure strawberry flavor with a little less fuss.

That said, I did do the puree and reduction for the buttercream. This is meant to be a FRESH strawberry cake, after all, and that’s how the frosting is for the original cupcakes. But if you really want to avoid that, you can replace the strawberry puree with ground up freeze-dried strawberries. Check out my strawberry frosting recipe to see how to go about that.

Black bottom cupcakes offer the best of both worlds with a moist chocolate cupcake and creamy chocolate chip cheesecake filling. They’re a classic, old-fashioned recipe that is kind of like a cheesecake cake in cupcake form (think Hershey’s chocolate bar cheesecake cake with fewer layers). I’m not sure exactly where or how they originated, but it seems to be in Maryland, as they’re sometimes referred to as Baltimore black bottom cupcakes and can be found in every store and bakery in the region.

What Makes These Cupcakes Different

My black bottom cupcakes recipe deviates from the classic a bit. Here’s how:

• Vinegar – There’s no vinegar in the cupcake batter. Contrary to what you might read, it’s not necessary to react with the baking soda to rise – cocoa powder is acidic and does that.
• Cocoa powder – I added a little extra cocoa to ramp up the chocolate flavor a bit.
• Eggs – I also used an egg. Many recipes don’t use one, but I think it really improves the texture of the cupcakes and helps keep them from drying out in the fridge.