Dark Chocolate & Cherry Yogurt Cake

a one-bowl, no mixer required treat perfect for breakfast or dessert

It’s a tricky time of year. All the feelings are creeping up, and getting through the days is a delicate balance of self awareness, self love, and reminding myself that the feelings of the day don’t define my entire life.

This time 14 years ago he was alive. We were headed into some rocky terrain. I had an unsettling feeling, like there was a rift building between us. I felt like I was losing him. Isabella jokes we’re a family of witches, but looking back on that period, I’m inclined to believe her. I’ve always had this sense of intuition. Maybe it comes from feeling so deeply, or being attuned to people I love. I had no idea the feelings I was having would come to fruition in the way they did.

All I can do now is continue to be thankful he left this world with us on good terms. We had reconciled the morning he died. He told me he could never stop loving me, and I was silly to think otherwise.

The only thing I know about loss after all these years is that it doesn’t get easier. It just gets different. I float through some days, weeks, and months with such ease, it’s almost easy to fool myself that I’m finally through to the other side of it. But it’s always there, an invisible cloak, capable of offering both comfort and pain akin to a hot branding iron. I am now the sole keeper of the memories from our shared experience.

Just the other day I was thinking about something from our past, and turned to ask him a question, momentarily forgetting he was gone. That is how deeply Michael’s ingrained in my soul. It’s both oddly refreshing and maddening.

One way to conquer what I’m feeling is to create—a powerful reminder that amidst all the emotional rubble, new things can indeed blossom. I’ve been doing a lot of routine baking lately, and needed to step away from the rinse & repeat of making bagels, hamburger buns, and sourdough breadsticks. That’s how this breakfast cake came to be. It’s a spin off of a banana bread recipe of mine which was inspired by banana split sundaes (you can find that recipe in my Summer Fruits ebook here).

I made one major tweak by removing the banana, and subbing in an equal weight of thick Greek yogurt. This is a neat trick for recipes where only one banana is needed. I upped the sugar ever so slightly to compensate for the sweetness the banana also added to that original recipe.

Overall, the cake part itself is not very sweet but that’s balanced by the natural flavor from sweet red cherries. The dark chocolate adds a faintly bitter contrast. You can certainly use milk chocolate for a sweeter take. It’s one of those cakes that would be delightful with morning coffee but also quench nighttime dessert cravings. The cake is especially delightful the next day, after it’s had some time to rest if you have the patience or will power to wait. —xo, j.