Cherry Topped Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup hot coffee
Vanilla Frosting, store-bought or recipe below
1 cup dried cherries, rehydrated, see below
Green sprinkles

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 cake pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

Add the brown sugar, white sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a large mixing bowl or electric mixer and combine.

In another bowl add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract and whisk together.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat together until well combined. Scrape down the sides as needed.

Slowly pour the hot coffee into the batter and mix on low speed until well combined. Continue to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is mixed well. The batter will be very thin.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 5 minutes until a toothpick can be inserted and comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Spread the frosting over the cake. Decorate with cherries and green sprinkles.

To rehydrate the cherries:

Place the cherries in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of your favorite liqueur. I used Tuaca a fine spirit with subtle notes of vanilla and citrus, Pour enough boiling water over the cherries to cover them. Let sit for 15 minutes and then drain. Dry the cherries on a paper towel.

To make the vanilla frosting:

ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt

In a small bowl, beat together butter, sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt until light and fluffy.