🍒🍫 Chocolate and cherries — a match made in heaven! Grandma Sita’s vegan chocolate cherry cake is rich, moist, chocolatey and packed with juicy cherries. This easy plant-based bake is a delicious way to enjoy seasonal cherries while turning simple ingredients into a wonderfully comforting homemade dessert.
🌱 No eggs, no dairy, no fuss! This chocolate cherry cake is completely plant-based, yet still wonderfully soft and indulgent. Perfect for afternoon tea, a family gathering, a picnic, or simply when you fancy a little something sweet.
🍒 Make the most of cherry season! Fresh cherries bring natural sweetness, colour and a lovely fruity contrast to the rich chocolate cake. And if you have cherries that are getting a little too ripe, this is a delicious way to give them a second life rather than letting them go to waste.
💚 Grandma Sita’s kitchen rule: seasonal fruit + simple ingredients + a little creativity = something delicious. Bake it, share it, and waste less!
- INGREDIENTS
DRY INGREDIENTS
1 cup sweet cherry halves (or any other berries)
1/2 cup dark Fairtrade chocolate chips (or any leftover chocolate)
1½ cups plain flour
1/2 cup unrefined cane sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
WET INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup oat drink (or any plant-based drink)
1/4 cup berry jam
3 tbsp vegetable oil (or any neutral-flavoured oil)
Grandma Sita’s note: We use cup measurements for this recipe. The important thing is to use the same cup for all your ingredients, so there’s no need to weigh them. A standard measuring cup has the same volume whether you’re measuring dry or liquid ingredients.
- METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly oil a loaf tin or square cake tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment.
Grandma Sita’s note: A standard loaf tin measuring around 21.5 × 11.5 cm (8½ × 4½ inches) is a good size for this amount of mixture. If you want to make a larger cake, simply multiply the ingredients according to the size of your tin.
2. Wash the cherries thoroughly. Remove the stalks and stones, then cut the cherries into slices.
3. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: sifted flour, unrefined cane sugar, cocoa powder, cherry slices, Fairtrade chocolate chips, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
Grandma Sita’s note: We always sift the flour when making cakes and muffins. It helps remove lumps and distributes the dry ingredients more evenly.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients: oat drink, cherry jam, and vegetable oil. Mix well.
5. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until just combined. Avoid overmixing.
6. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin. Arrange a few extra cherry slices over the top, if you have some left.
7. Sprinkle with a little unrefined cane sugar and bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until the cake is risen and nicely browned.
Grandma Sita’s note: Try not to open the oven door while the cake is baking, especially during the first part of the baking time. If it needs a little longer, simply leave it in the oven for a few extra minutes.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin for a few minutes. Carefully remove the baking parchment and transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool further.
9. Serve as it is, or with a scoop of vegan ice cream, vegan sour cream, or vegan custard. Bon appétit!
🧓🏻💚 Grandma Sita’s tips
- 🍒 Choose cherries at their best: Look for firm, plump cherries with bright, glossy skin. Remove any bruised or mouldy fruit before storing, but don’t wash the cherries until you are ready to use them. Keeping them dry helps them stay fresh for longer.You can make vibrant syrup from cherry pits that would typically be tossed.
- ❄️ Make cherry season last: Store fresh cherries in the fridge and enjoy them within about a week. Got more than you can eat? Remove the stones and freeze the cherries in airtight containers or freezer bags. They’re perfect for cakes, crumbles, smoothies and sauces.
- 🍒 Don’t waste the soft ones! If some cherries are becoming very ripe but are still good to eat, use them straight away in baking, jam, compote or smoothies. Soft fruit can be transformed into something delicious before it goes to waste.
- 🍒 Make the most of the pits: Cherry stones can be saved for DIY heat packs. Clean them thoroughly, dry them completely and use them to make reusable warm or cold packs. Never eat cherry stones or use them in food preparations.
- 🌿 And those stems? Once completely dry, cherry stems can be used for homemade herbal infusions. Always make sure they are clean and properly dried before using them.
- 🍫 Use leftover chocolate: This recipe is perfect for using up chocolate that has been sitting in the cupboard. Dark chocolate bars can be roughly chopped instead of using chocolate chips — a little unevenness is part of the homemade charm!
- 🫐 No cherries? No problem! Swap them for other seasonal berries such as raspberries, blackberries or blueberries. You can also use frozen fruit — no need to defrost it first.
- 🍰 For a light, tender cake: Sift the flour and dry ingredients, then mix the wet and dry ingredients gently until just combined. Overmixing can make the cake dense, so a light hand is the Grandma Sita way!
- ❄️ Storage: Once completely cool, keep the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for 2–3 days. For longer storage, wrap individual slices well and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature before serving.
🤔📗 Did you know? Cherries are a good source of fibre, vitamin C and antioxidants, and there are many delicious ways to enjoy them beyond eating them fresh. You can bake, roast, pickle, preserve or dehydrate them — and of course, turn them into Grandma Sita’s delicious plant-based chocolate cherry cake!
🗑️ A little food-waste fact: Cherries are delicate fruits and can easily be wasted when they become bruised, soft or overripe. Globally, a significant amount of fruit is lost or wasted before it is eaten, and delicate seasonal fruits such as cherries are particularly vulnerable because of their short shelf life. That’s why making the most of ripe cherries — by baking, freezing or preserving them — is such a simple way to waste less.
♻️ Make the most of cherry season! Whether you have a handful of cherries that need using, some leftover chocolate in the cupboard, or a few berries waiting in the fridge, there is always a delicious way to give good food a second life. Bake with what you have, enjoy the season, and waste less — the Grandma Sita way!