I feel the need to be honest with you…. I am NOT a baker. In fact, I burn everything I try to bake from scratch! But my husband Troy has the biggest sweet tooth which motivates me to continue trying my hand at baking.

I wanted to make something sweet this Valentines Day for Troy. I was brainstorming some traditional Valentine flavors and the idea of chocolate and cherries popped up, mmmmm….But how was I, a total non baker, going to accomplish this???

Well, I needed something that was completely uncomplicated. Something that would allow me to feel successful and deliver a delicious bite this Valentines Day. So I decided to throw the scratch made cake out the window! I used a boxed cake mix (Gasp!) and zhuzhed it up a bit. This delivered the flavor profile I was going for!

**SPOILER ALERT** This recipe is for the non baker like me. This is for the person who burns cookies, makes rocks for brownies, and sets off their fire alarms. Even I was successful! Whew!

Happy Eating!

Ingredients

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 1/2 cups of frozen cherries, thawed–plus more for decoration

1 tbs flour

3/4 cup chocolate chips

2 16 oz containers of vanilla icing

1/2 cup powder sugar

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine cake ingredients according to directions. Mix flour with 1 cup of halved cherries. Fold cherries and chocolate chips into the batter. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake.

In a food processor, blitz the remaining cherries. In a separate bowl combine the icing with the blitzed cherries. Stir to combine. If too thin, add in powder sugar, 1 tbs at a time, until you achieve a spreadable consistency.

Once the cake comes out of the oven, cool for 15 minutes. After, turn cake out and let cool in freezer on a wire rack for 20 minutes.

To decorate: Line up 2 pieces of parchment paper onto cake stand or plate. The edges should meet in the middle of the stand. Place the cake on top of where the two pieces meet. Start by placing a dollop of icing on top. Using an offset spatula, spread the icing around the top of the cake and then bring it down the sides. Turn the stand and continue spreading the icing, adding more as you need it. Decorate with halved cherries and sifted powder sugar.