As I was typing up this recipe, my mouth was watering thinking of all the flavor in this cake. This is my sisterโs recipe; she is a pro with Drunken Cherry cakes. Any church bake sale, she makes about 20 of them and they are the first to go.
I often serve this cake for our friends and it’s always a hit. Especially if I invite someone we don’t know very well, this is my go to cake because you just cant go wrong with this one.
Other Similar Cake Recipes to Try
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cup Rum (I used Bacardi, clear color)
- 58 oz Pitted Cherries in Syrup Morello Cherries
Sponge Cake
- 8 Eggs
- 1 1/3 cup White Sugar
- 1 1/3 cup Flour
- 1/4 cup Cacao
Drunken Cherry Cake Cream
- 2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream very cold
- 1 cup Sugar
Topping
- 1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
- 3/4 cup Whipping Cream
Instructions
- Drain cherries from their juice, place them in a dish and pour rum over the cherries. Let them soak in rum for at least 12 hours.
- Beat 8 eggs (no need to separate them) with sugar until it’s three times in volume. Combine flour together with cacao. Using a spatula, fold in flour by thirds; be very gentle with the dough so you don't over mix it and lose the fluffiness. Place butter in a greased 9 inch pan. Bake it for 40 minutes at 350F, check it with a wooden toothpick. If the cake is ready, dough should not stick to the toothpick.
- Cut off top thin layer off the sponge cake and set it aside, this so in the end you can have flat nice top to over your cake with once it’s filled.
- Cut line close to edges on the inside. Rip out the inside of the cake where it ends up looking like bowl. Rip cake in small pieces, set aside.
- Whip together 1 cup sugar and whipping cream. Make sure bowl and whipping cream is very cold, it will make cream firm.
- Drain all rum from cherries. Mix together pieces from sponge cake, cherries and about 90% of the cream.
- Fill the cake bowl with the mixture, apply a little bit of cream. Cover with the cake lid. With remaining cream cover the cake. Refrigerate it while you prepare chocolate ganache.
- Bring whipping cream to a boil, pore it over chocolate chips, stir until smooth. Let ganache cool a little.
- Place chocolate ganache in a ziplock or a piping bag. Drizzle chocolate on the edges of the cake, letting the chocolate drip off the sides. Apply the remaining chocolate ganache to the top of the cake. Use remaining cherries to decorate the outside of the cake.
- Keep cake refrigerated overnight.
Couldnโt find Pitted Cherries in Syrup Morello Cherries in the store. Can I use red tart cherries instead? Or what other cherries will be okay for this recipe?
Couldnโt find Pitted Cherries in Syrup Morello Cherries in the store. Can I use red tart cherries instead? Or what other cherries will be okay for the recipe?
Red tart cherries would be great options. Drain all the liquid from them. Enjoy!
Can I use fresh cherries?
You can, you may want to drain the juices out.
Honestly I wish people rated recipes based on how it turned out instead of how it looks. This cake was not edible. The cherries were extremely potent, way too much alchohol. It doesn't matter what rum you would use soaking anything in alcohol for 12 hrs and then eating it would be too much. The sponge cake was great I will give you that.
Hi! I know what you mean - the first time I made it, the cake was way to overpowering. The second time I only "marinated" cherries for 6hrs and it a huge difference! Everyone's test buds are different ๐
I just used Malibu rum which is lighter and adds a little coconut flavor.
Hey Michael, thanks for sharing that tip. I appreciate it.
Hey Olia, thanks for sharing your tip. I think it will help others.
Thank you for sharing your feedback. Typical people love the โvery drunkโ taste. Sorry this didnโt exceed your expectations.
This is by far the best drunken cherry cake. Your sponge recipe is perfection!! Thanks so much for a simple recipe.
Vita, thank you so much for such an amazing review. I am glad you loved the cake.
hay can i omit alcohol?
Yes, the cake would state different but it will still be delicious.
Hi Natalya. First of all I have to say this is The Best Recipe of all for the dough!! It turned out picture perfect.
I have a question about the cherries. The recipe says 58 ounces. Can that be? My whole jar of morello cherries from trader joes is drained 12 ounces. That basically over a large glass( Russian 250 ml glass). That was more than enough. 58 ounces won't even fit in the cake with all of the other stuff. Is there some misunderstanding with all of the measurements? Just curious. Thank you so much
The jar that I purchase from Russian store is 58oz, but it has a lot of juice and not too much cherries. With Trader Joes one, I use two jars.
Thank you Natalya for this wonderful recipe. I picked sour cherries over the summer and canned them. They will be perfect for this cake ๐
Yeah, this cake is really good. Expecially with drunken sour cherries. I have never tried any fresh sour cherries in US.
How come there are no instructions after #2? Only photos.
Lily, I emailed you. We are trying to narrow down what browser is not showing instructions. We cant figure out the issue.
I use firefox.
For now try using other browser, we will fix this asap! Thanks
what is Beskvit cakes?
Hi Janie, Beskvit is a Russian sponge cake. We use it in so many different Russian cakes. Here is a link on how you can prepare it at home ๐ You will love how easy it is to prepare. http://momsdish.com/recipe/92โฆ
oh my, that looks heavenly!
I love butter creams. Do you use cooked condensed milk?
Sometimes I soak cherries in vodka.
Natalya, your cake looks delish! Next time please try buttercream
( butter and condensed milk whipped) in this recipe.You are going to love it!!! I also soak cherries in vodka - amazing!
Wow, your cake is so beautiful. Thanks for sharing your pic.
The cake was yummy.
You can soak cherries for shorter time, it will not be so drunk.
This cake is delicious but too much alcohol will kill it. Me personally, I would much rather have it on the lighter side because this cake is so wonderfully complex with so many flavors.
It is 10 inches
what size is the beskvit?
๐
Lol then definitely try the yellow, puerto rican 40% alcohol rum! That's the one I used ๐
I like my cake pretty strong so 24 hrs (maybe I should try yellow rum , lol) but just overnight would do it also.
Also, do you soak the cherries in clear rum for 24 hours? Just wanteto make sure that was accurate on the time frame..
Oh yeah there's like 4 or 5 different Bacardi rum. And I did see the white rum but bought the yellow one and boy oh boy was it crazy strong! I'll definitely try it next time with the white rum. I'm sure that would fix my problem. Thank you!
I didnt realize they have 2 types of rum. My is white rum, always turned out perfect. Thanks for letting me know, I will note it in recipe also.
I think you can still use that rum just soak it only for few hrs, taste it to see how strong it is.
So I made the cake for a family gathering...and no one ate it! Lol! I bought puerto rican bacardi rum; it's this dark yellow color rum. Well I guess it's extremely strong so it ruined the whole cake ๐ every bite just burned in the mouth. I think the cake would have been excellent had I bought a lighter rum. Do you get the one that's very light? I saw that one but wasn't sure which one to get and definitely got the wrong one
I am not 100% sure, it may be because you cook it for too long. Keep it on medium the whole time and util it boils, turn it off right away.
I will test it this week, look for all the details and see how it turns out
Hi Natasha! First off, congrats on your site! It looks great!
Second, I have made this ganache at least 10 times now, and can never get it right! My consistency always comes out very thick and I have to spread it over the cake (which makes an ugly mess). I follow directions to the dot and still can't get it ๐ so I use 3 tbsp of sugar, cocoa, 1 tbsp of milk and 3.5 tbsp of butter. I heat it on low heat until melted an then a bit higher to bring it to a boil. I don't know why I'm doing wrong but it doesn't look anything like your smooth ganache on this cake! Help??