SUBSCRIBE BY EMAILChocolate Salad Dressing Cake with Cherries and Chocolate Buttercream should be your next “special occasion” cake. This decadent cake is so pretty and the chocolate and cherries go together like, well, chocolate and cherries! It’s quite a treat.
My good friend Kellie passed along the recipe for this lovely chocolate cake. It was her grandmother Jean’s recipe that she referred to as “salad dressing” cake.
The key ingredient is Miracle Whip salad dressing. Very interesting! No oil, no eggs, no milk, no butter, but instead, salad dressing.
Once you’ve tried Chocolate Salad Dressing Cake with Cherries and Chocolate Buttercream, go ahead and give my Zucchini-Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting a try. If you’re anything like me, you probably have some bananas almost ready for their next act!
My friend Kellie said the Salad Dressing Cake was made in a 13×9-inch pan, with a simple buttercream frosting. Take note: I doubled the original cake recipe in order to make this a 2-layer cake.
I was floored by how easy it was to make, and by how rich and moist it turned out. Special occasion, indeed!
Growing up, my mom and dad made all of the “special occasion” cakes for my family: birthdays, confirmations, anniversaries, graduations – there was a cake with a filling (usually cherry) – and it always included pretty, decorative roses.
My dad – baker and joker that he was – loved to gently scoop a rose off one of his cakes and onto a spoon, and present it to someone saying, “You won’t believe how good this rose smells.”
Unless you had seen this gag in action (or were gullible), you would of course bend your head to smell the rose, only to have it pushed into your nose!
I loved those cherry-filled cakes and, I’ll admit, I loved watching the rose smash. I think the chocolate buttercream frosting on this cake is the perfect match for the cherries tucked into this cake.
Chocolate Salad Dressing Cake with Cherries and Chocolate Buttercream
When I told my sister about this cake, she suggested I call it “Departure Cake” since it’s a bit of a stray from my usual, mostly healthy recipes. If you’re looking for a healthier dessert, check out my recipe for Vegan Chocolate-Almond Mousse with Coconut Whipped Topping. It’s really rich and easy to make.
If you’re a cherry lover, give my Cherry-Almond Skillet Cobbler a try. How fun is it to whip up dessert in a cast-iron skillet?
I think everyone needs a departure or special occasion cake once in a while. When the time comes, you’ll enjoy this Chocolate Salad Dressing Cake with Cherries and Chocolate Buttercream. There aren’t any roses to smell, but add them if you’d like!
Remember, you can reduce the cake recipe in half (as well as the buttercream recipe) and bake it in a 13×9-inch pan if you prefer not to make a layer-style cake.
Serves 10
This recipe is from my friend Kellie. It was her Grandmother Jean's recipe. I doubled the original recipe and turned it into this two-layer cake filled with cherries and covered in chocolate buttercream.
Save Recipe5 based on 17 review(s)
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose baking flour
- 2 cup of sugar
- 2 cups Miracle Whip salad dressing
- 2 cups hot water
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 (20-ounce) can cherry pie filling
- Nonstick cooking spray
- Parchment paper
- Waxed paper
- Optional: chocolate shavings to garnish the cake
- 4-5 cups confectioners sugar, more or less depending on the consistency you want
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 5-6 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with the nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the Miracle Whip and hot water, then add to the dry mixture. Blend until combined and smooth.
- Divide the cake batter between each round pan, and fill halfway full.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool in the pans on a baking rack. After about 15 minutes, place the pans in the refrigerator for another 15-20 minutes.
- Remove, and carefully remove the cakes from the pan. Use a very sharp knife to slice a small portion (the domed part) from the top of each cake. Set aside.
- Add the confectioners sugar to a bowl and mix in the unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Add the butter, milk, and vanilla to the bowl, and use a mixer to blend together. If you feel the buttercream needs to be stiffer, add more confectioners sugar, a little at a time. To thin it, add a bit more milk.
- Cut a sheet of waxed paper into 4 (3-inch-wide) strips. Place the waxed paper strips on the cake stand or plate you’ll use to serve the cake from. Place the strips on the outer edges of the plate, overlapping, to form a square. The waxed paper will help to keep your cake plate neat as you decorate the cake.
- Add one cake to the plate. Add a big scoop of the buttercream to the center, and use an offset spatula to spread it out evenly over the cake, to the edges.
- Use a spoon to carefully add the cherry pie filling to the top of the buttercream, not all the way to the edges. You may not want to use the entire can of cherry pie filling, but most of it.
- Carefully add the second cake on top of the first. Use the spatula to spread the buttercream up the side of the cakes, all the way around. Smooth the remaining buttercream over the top of the cake.
- If you’d like, sprinkle with chocolate shavings. After frosting the cake, gently pull the waxed paper strips from under the cake and discard.
- Refrigerate the cake for about 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
If you don't want to make and serve a layer cake, you can reduce the cake recipe in half (as well as the buttercream recipe) and bake it in a 13x9-inch pan instead.
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