Double-Choc Cherry Cobbler

So, after the pickling came some, er, cobbler-ing!

I was first introduced to cobblers by my friend Sarah who makes the most amazing peach cobbler. If this post was about peaches, I would be singing its praises from the rooftop and then some - but this is not the time for peaches. This is the time for cherries. Deeply dark and boozy cherries. For those that don’t know, a cobbler is a dish, usually sweet (and sometimes savoury) that consists of a fruit base with a cakey batter poured on top before being baked. The top puffs up and becomes golden and what you have left is hot, fragrant fruit below with soft, buttery cake on top.

Armed with this peach cobbler recipe, I was keen to do a little adapting. In the peach recipe, the peaches are marinated in rum (best flavour combo ever) but with the cherries, I decided to soak these bad boys in brandy. Kirsch or even Calvados would work very nicely as well, I think.  You will have no idea unless you walk away from your computer and make this now (after reading this post, of course), how unbelievable the smell of fresh cherries are soaking in brandy. If you do know the smell, you would know how hard it is to restrain yourself from eating them with a spoon sitting on the kitchen floor in front of the fridge.

The top of the peach cobbler is a vanilla based batter, and while it would be great to have the cherry juices stain the blond cake, I think what we needed here was chocolate….and chocolate again. So I added some cocoa powder to the mix and then decided that more chocolate was the order of the day and added some choc chips as well.

The result was a deeply dark and rich dessert. Once you plunge your spoon past the warm cake to the dark, boozy cherries below, you know it is the festive season, a time for letting your hair down, enjoying fantastic food and drink with your friends and family.

Have a fantastic festive season everyone and thanks for reading my blog. See you in 2012 when I will be showing you something pretty cool I have been working on (here’s hoping it works out) and I will also have an update on my garlic that I have been growing. It's all very exciting for me anyway!

Cheers from The Littlest Anchovy

Double-Choc Cherry Cobbler

Loosely based on a recipe given to me by a friend for a peach cobbler.


For the cherry mix
About 600g of pitted and halved cherries
1/2 cup of sugar or less depending on how sweet you would like it
Good splash of brandy, kirsch or calvados
approx 1 tbs plain flour- this creates a sauce


Add all ingredients into a bowl, mix to combine and set aside for at least 1 hour to macerate.


For the cobbler
1 cup of self raising flour
1 1/2 tbs Dutch cocoa powder
about 1/2 cup of chopped dark choc chips
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup of butter
3 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

• Pre-heat the oven to 180-190C
• Sift the flour, cocoa and salt into a food processor, cut the butter into cubes and add them to the food processor. Blend until the flour looks a little like course almond meal. Don't worry if there are a few larger peices of butter in there, this adds to the flakiness. 
• In a seperate bowl, beat the egg with the sugar until it is thick, then beat in the vanilla and milk.
• Fold the wet mix in with the dry mix along with the chopped choc-chips. Only mix until they are combined.

Divide the cherries amongst 4 ramekins or in one large baking dish. Spread the batter over the cherries. Don't worry about leaving gaps, it is great to have the cherry juice bubbling up. Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes depending on your oven. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly - be careful of the filling as it will be VERY hot! Dust with icing sugar once cooled.

Ta da!