Chocolate Cherry Bars
Chocolate Cherry Bars – like a Texas sheet cake with cherry pie filling added to the batter before baking. Super moist & cherry chocolatey!
It’s like texas sheet cake with cherries!
Let me just say that this is hands down my favorite recipe so far in this baking project. Not only are these Chocolate Cherry Bars delicious, they are super easy to make too. It’s a win win situation! 1 of 2 winners at the 25th Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1974. Recipe on Pillsbury.com by Francis I. Jerzak of Porter, Minnesota.
What you need
More like a Texas sheet cake (not really bars).
Here’s all you need to prepare the cake part of the bars. Only 4 ingredients. Sweet!
1) Chocolate Cake Mix
2) Cherry Pie Filling
3) Three Large Eggs
4) Almond Extract
How to make chocolate cherry bars
• For the cake portion of the bars, simply mix together the 4 ingredients and bake at 350°F. for about 30 minutes.
• While the cake is baking, make the boiled chocolate icing.
• To make the boiled chocolate icing, place the sugar, milk, and butter in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Let boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
• Immediately add chocolate chips and stir until melted. Pour over warm cake.
• Let cool completely before serving.
After the cake has cooled, try not to eat the whole pan! It’s SO good!!
These Chocolate Cherry Bars are so moist with a lovely cherry flavor. Who doesn’t love chocolate and cherries together! This one is a winner indeed!
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Chocolate Cherry Bars
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 box Pillsbury™ Moist Supreme™ Devil's Food Cake Mix, 18.25-oz.
- 21 ounces cherry pie filling
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 large eggs, beaten
For the Frosting
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 5 tablespoons margarine or butter
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, 1 cup
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 15x10x1-inch baking pan or 13×9-inch pan. In large bowl, combine all cake bar ingredients; stir until well blended. Pour into greased and floured pan.
- Bake at 350°F. until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. For 15x10x1-inch pan, bake 20 to 30 minutes; for 13×9-inch pan, bake 25 to 35 minutes.
- In small saucepan, combine sugar, milk and margarine. Bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate chips until smooth. Pour and spread over warm bars. Cool 1 1/4 hours or until completely cooled. Cut into bars.
I was so excited to make these. Planned ro have this as my fourth of July dessert. TOTALLY DISAPPOINTED!! Absolutely not bars & no taste as a cake. Texture was not good! 1st the directions aren’t clear as to whether you make the cake as directed then add the pie filing or just add the pie filing to the cake mix. Now i have nothing to take to my picnic so I’ll not be going as i dont go empty handed anywhere. So upset & disappointed.
I have made these a number of times but I’m running into an issue where I don’t have cherry pie filling. Does anybody know if blueberry would suffice? kstroh84@gmail.com
I WANTED to like these – I really did – but was disappointed. They WERE easy, and they WERE good, but they were NOT bars! This is more like a chocolate-cherry CAKE that you would eat with a fork. I think of bars as finger food, and these weren’t..
Made 3 different batches of these for neighbor Christmas gifts. Delicious!
Be sure and use the Lucky Brand pie filling though. I used another pie filling on the first batch and the bars didn’t taste as rich as when I used the Lucky cherry filling on the subsequent batches.
I also think they get better on the second and third day after baking them. They get more gooey and good!
I’ll have try that, Roxann! 🙂
Have made this several times. Once I didn’t even make the frosting, just had the cake. It’s really, really good.
It’s like a sheet cake, cut into squares. I don’t think it would work as cupcakes.
I typically make this recipe as a layer cake, but it can totally be baked in cupcake tins or anything else you want, even a bundt pan. I add about a cup of glaze and sometimes, raspberry jam between the layers. I’ve also made the chocolate frosting recipe on the side of the Hershey’s Cocoa container and put that between the layers. I have even done all of the above AND spread the Hershey’s chocolate frosting on the top layer and topped that with the chocolate glaze. This is the only cake requested at my house for birthdays and it’s a treat every time!
What are “cake bars?” I don’t understand this ingredient. Thanks!
The way it looks is confusing. I think “cake bars” should be underlined and the 4 ingredients under it are the ingredients of cake bars. Then the “frosting” ingredients are listed next.
can these be made just as well as cupcakes?
so easy and so good !
My mom has been making this for years and years, she calls it “coal miners cake”