This is a wonderfully moist chocolate and cherry cake but it is the slight undertone of beer that makes it great.
Totally delicious and not too sweet! What kind of beer you use makes a difference here (guiness is prob the best choice) - I used a belgian-style white beer because it was what i had on hand, and it ended up with a lingering alcohol taste (not in a good way). So instead of fighting it, I went with it! Just before icing, I brushed on about 1/4c of SoCo and a bit of homemade apricot liqueur. It was DELICIOUS! I'm sure any liquer would work... Grand Marnier, perhaps? Substituted a Cream cheese icing also - Cream together 1 pkg Neufchatel or Cream Cheese & 1/2 stick butter, then mix in 1 to 1.5 cups confectioner's sugar (depending on your sweet tooth) and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. This was a big birthday hit :-) - 21 Jul 2009 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
The ingredients alone seem a bit suspect... even as you are making the batter!! How they marry to compliment one another in the end result is absolutely wonderful!!! Not too sweet, very moist and great with or without the frosting. I didn't have cherry juice so I used raspberry syrup mixed with water and eleminated the actual cherries altogether..... I'd doubled the recipe and everyone truly enjoyed it. Three have asked for the recipe and I've been asked to bake another for a birthday just three days after I'd baked the first one!! - 21 Aug 2008 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
I used Sam Adams-Cherry Wheat beer since the recipe called for cherries, and it came out deliciously moist! I also used a cream cheese icing instead of the icing pvodied that worked wonderfully. - 07 Aug 2009 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)