Healthy Chocolate Cherry Cake | Vegan & Gluten-Free

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This Chocolate Cherry Cake tastes decadent and indulgent, but is actually made from wholesome, unrefined ingredients! Vegan & Gluten-Free.

True LifeI’ve been craving a Chocolate Cherry Cake for weeks. And *just* so happened to schedule my recipe testing and photography so I could enjoy the finished product on my birthday. I’d say it was a coincidence, but we all know it’s not 😉

Anyways – my birthday has come and gone, and I thoroughly enjoyed it + this cake. But now it’s time to share the love with all of you!

side photo of layers of chocolate cake, cherries, and coconut cream on white cake stand

This Chocolate Cherry Cake has layers of :

  • moist, rich, and decadent chocolate cake, 
  • maple cherry compote, 
  • and a few good dollops of coconut cream for good measure

If you love cherries and you love chocolate, you’re going to love this cake. And another thing to love? It’s totally vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, and refined sugar-free.

It all starts with our fluffy cake base…

ingredients for chocolate cherry cake mix in small white bowls

…which I loosely based on my One Bowl Chocolate Donut recipe! The cake made primarily of Oat Flour and Cacao Powder. Gluten-free flours can get pretty pricey and I wanted to keep things as budget-friendly as possible!

We’ll combine the dry cake ingredients with some Almond Butter, Plant-Based “Buttermilk”, and Vanilla + Almond Extracts to make our decadent, fluffy cake batter. I spiked both the cake batter and the cherry filling with Almond Extract because it helps to really bring out that cherry flavor. If you’re not a fan of Maraschino cherries, however, you can skip it.

cooked cake, cherry filling, and coconut cream in small bowls on grey background

After the cake(s) cool, it’s time to layer them with our maple cherry compote (made by simmering cherries with maple syrup!) and whipped coconut cream. If you don’t want to make your own coconut cream, you can also use store-bought cocowhip or your favorite vanilla frosting! The frosting will be a little dense, but I still think it will be delicious. You can also use a really thick coconut yogurt for a wholesome (and sugar-free) option.

whole chocolate cake topped with cherries and coconut whipped cream on white cake stand

I also decided to top my cake with a little chopped and shaved chocolate because, you know. Might as well go all out! 😉

This Chocolate Cherry Cake is moist, rich, and the perfect balance of creamy, sweet, and tart from the cherries. It would be great for parties and gatherings of all sorts! The coconut “frosting” will wilt a little in the heat, so it’s best to keep it refrigerated right until serving.

slice of chocolate cherry cake on white speckled plate on grey background

A Few Final Thoughts:

  • The recipe below is enough to make one cake + toppings. If you’d like to make two layers (like the photos you see here) you’ll need to double it 🙂 
  • Nut allergy? You can replace the almond butter with tahini or sunflower butter!
  • You can use either fresh or frozen cherries for this recipe. We’ll be cooking the cherries down, so it doesn’t really make a difference. I actually prefer to use frozen cherries as I find them to be more affordable, plus I don’t have to individually pit each one (which is kind of the worst when you need 4 cups).

This Chocolate Cherry Cake tastes decadent and indulgent, but is actually made from wholesome, unrefined ingredients! Vegan & Gluten-Free. #chocolate #cherry #chocolatecherrycake #vegandesserts #glutenfreecake | frommybowl.com

If you’re looking for more chocolate-y dessert recipes, you’ll also love these One Bowl Chocolate Donuts, this No Bake Chocolate Raspberry Tart, and these No Bake Chocolate Turtle Cookies!

Finally, if you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I love seeing your delicious recreations 🙂

Print

Chocolate Cherry Cake

This Chocolate Cherry Cake tastes decadent and indulgent, but is actually made from wholesome, unrefined ingredients! 

  • Author: Caitlin Shoemaker
  • Prep Time: 30 Minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 Minutes
  • Total Time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 8-12 slices 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

For One 9” Cake:

  • 1 ¼ cup (133 g) quick-cooking oats, blended into a fine flour*
  • ⅓ cup (27 g) cacao powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 2 flax “eggs” (2 tbsp ground flax + 5 tbsp water)
  • 1 cup unsweetened soy milk*
  • ½ cup (130g) unsalted almond butter
  • ½ cup (75g) coconut sugar
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp almond extract (optional)

For the Cherry Jam:

  • 2 cups of pitted cherries (fresh or frozen)
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup or coconut sugar
  • ⅛ tsp almond extract (optional)
  • 1 tbsp filtered water

For Serving:

  • 1 cup coconut whipped cream* 
  • Chopped and/or shaved chocolate (optional)

Instructions

  1. Material Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly grease or spray a 9” cake pan with a neutral cooking oil.
  2. Prepare the Wet Ingredients: Mix the ground flax together with filtered water to create a flax “egg” in a small bowl. Combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in the base of a medium bowl – the vinegar will curdle the milk to create a “buttermilk”. Let both mixtures sit for at least 5 minutes, then add the thickened flax egg to the larger bowl with the almond butter, coconut sugar, vanilla, and almond extracts. Whisk until well-combined.
  3. Mix the Dry Ingredients together in a separate, larger bowl. Form a well in the center of the mixture, pour in the wet ingredients, and use a spatula to mix everything together until no clumps remain. Pour the cake batter into the cake pan and bake on the middle rack for 20-22 minutes. (If you are baking multiple cakes, bake for 23-25 minutes).
  4. Once cooked, remove the cake from the oven and let sit in the pan for 5 minutes before loosening the edges with a butter knife and flipping onto a baking rack to let cool completely.
  5. Make the Cherry Compote: in the meantime, add all of the ingredients of the cherry compote to a large, nonstick pan. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Let the cherries cook down for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set the compote aside and let cool completely.
  6. Assemble the Cake: top the cake with a layer of coconut cream, then spoon the cherry compote (and extra liquid) on top. Garnish with chopped and shaved chocolate, if desired. Serve immediately – leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Notes

  • The recipe listed above makes one cake. If you would like to create a layered cake like the photos, double all of the ingredients (compote and cream included)
  • Nut Allergies: replace the almond butter with tahini or sunflower butter
  • Coconut Whipped Cream: if you don’t want to make it yourself you can replace it with store-bought coconut whipped topping or a vanilla frosting of your choice! You can also use a super-thick coconut yogurt for a completely sugar-free option.
  • Other Substitutions: Almond butter can be replaced with another nut or seed butter and coconut sugar can be replaced with brown sugar or another granulated sweetener. I do not recommend replacing the soy milk as other plant milks do not create a good “buttermilk” due to lower protein content. I have not tested this recipe with any other flours.

Keywords: chocolate cherry cake, gluten free chocolate cake, black forest cake, vegan black forest cake, oil free chocolate cake

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About the Author

Hey there, I’m Caitlin! I make easy-to-follow, wholesome, and budget-friendly vegan recipes that are mostly gluten-free and refined sugar-free. I’m also an avid yogi, love the great outdoors, am chocolate-obsessed, and enjoy eating almond butter straight off of the spoon.

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Comments

  1. I’m making this for my moms birthday. She can’t do almonds. Can I sub natural peanut butter for the almond butter?

    1. Hey there! That’d be very cool! I think it should be doable (we haven’t tried it). But if you do you might need to cook them for less time and possibly at a slightly lower temperature.

  2. Hi Caitlin
    This looks great. Do you think I could bake the cakes 5 days prior to a Birthday, freeze them then defrost and ice on the day? Or would they not be very good once defrosted?

    Thanks for your help ????

    1. Freezing cake is actually a super common practice! You’d be surprised how often professionals freeze cakes for events. If you freeze just the base layer of the cake without the icing you can wrap it in foil and then thaw as needed!

  3. After having such success w/your chocolate / cherry cake, I have your carrot cake in the oven right now so we can give something else a whirl! Soaking the cashews so I can frost later this afternoon. Will let you know how it goes on the carrot cake. I am LOVING your site and genuinely appreciate the easy instructions. YOU ARE JUST THE BEST, CAITLIN! PS – already have a request for me to bring a repeat of the chocolate cake/cherry to a friends dinner party in March. How great is that?

    1. That’s awesome! Love to hear it! Really happy to hear you’re liking all of the recipes!

  4. Oh gosh, I SO love this cake! I have made it twice now in one week. Yes….in one week – ha ha. And we are not even a huge chocolate fan, but this is converting us. I like that you can make a single 9″ pan so portion sizing is reasonable. I actually used chunky pure almond butter instead of smooth b/c this is what I had on hand and we kind of liked the ‘little almond bits’ within the cake. I plan to try it w/smooth almond butter in the future. I did add almond extract to the cherry compote. And with the second cake after the compote cooled I added some dark cherry balsamic vinegar that I had on hand and it helped with a little extra punch of stronger cherry flavor. I will definitely use the vinegar again in future. It was delicious. I actually think it is great the next day as well….fresh from the oven or refrigerated…yummy either way! Will be making this again to bring to a friend’s house for a group dinner. My guess is that nobody will even know how ‘healthy’ this cake!!

    1. That’s so awesome – thanks for the notes on your substitutions. The use of vinegar sounds great! So happy to hear you’re enjoying it!

      1. OK – one more thing I tried on recent baking round. I added about 1/2-1 TBLS of very finely ground coffee into the dry ingredients. It added yet another layer to this already SUPER cake. I do not have egg allergy issues, but my friends do. So I have followed this recipe w/both the flax seed eggs and then another time I added two real eggs. I was curious as to see what difference may occur between the two. Nothing. Nada. Both were equally as great which really surprised me. I will continue w/the flax eggs most of the time, but good to know that real eggs can be an option as well. #winner #WINNER #BIGhit

      2. Happy to hear the that the flax seed eggs are doing their job! ALSO so glad you’re enjoying this recipe so much!!

  5. Hi Caitlin I’m very excited to make this cake for Christmas! Would it be possible to use date sugar instead of coconut sugar and use an unsweetened yogurt instead of the coconut while cream? Would it still be sweet?
    Thank you!

    1. Sure, you can swap the coconut sugar for another granulated sugar like date sugar. For the yogurt, we recommend a thick yogurt (something like a coconut yogurt if possible). Hope that helps!

  6. My youngest daughter helped me make this cake and not only was it fun to make it is sooo yummy.
    Thank you for the recipe I’m sure this won’t be the only time we make it.

  7. I made the cake and icing yesterday morning; I assembled it last night and ate a slice today – this is definitely a keeper!!!

  8. I made this recipe it came out great! Nice vegan/gf option I thought it was wonderful. Well done!

  9. LOVE! & want to make! Do you think almond flour/coconut flour would work for this recipe? Or any other gluten free flours?

    1. Hey! We have not tested it with any other flours so at the moment we can’t recommend any substitutions.