George Washington's Birthday Cherry Cake

My mother started making this recipe for George Washington’s birthday when I was little. Chock full of cherries, chocolate chips and nuts, this moist cake is a winner any time of the year!

Original recipe makes 1 9-inch cake

Ingredients

1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 dash salt
1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling
1 (6 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons confectioners’ sugar for dusting

PREP

15 mins
COOK

1 hr
READY IN

2 hrs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Thoroughly grease a 9-inch Bundt® pan with shortening, then dust with flour. Shake off any excess flour from the pan.
In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until thoroughly combined. Gently mix in the cherry pie filling, chocolate chips and nuts, and scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with moist crumbs, about 1 hour. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert pan and remove cake. Allow cake to finish cooling on a rack; sprinkle lightly with confectioners’ sugar.