Baking in Berlin: Attempt #1

I usually do a lot of baking and cooking over the summer but didn't really have much time with our move to Berlin. So after not baking for over two months, it was time. We were going to a friend's place for dinner which gave me the perfect excuse.  I wanted to bake something I knew well and something easy as we were pretty busy that day.  So I went to an old standby that I know from memory:  Chocolate Cherry One-Pan Cake.  However, I couldn't find almost any of the items I needed, so I had to make do with some substitutions.  It didn't come out at all like what I normally make, but was still pretty good.  I've listed the recipes here.

Original Version (I don't recall where I go the recipe from originally, and I have made some alterations to it.)

Berlin Version

1 can cherry pie filling 1 can strawberry pie filling 1/4 cup sugar 1 bag chocolate chips 1 dark choc. cake mix butter Grease bottom of 9x13 pan. Pour in pie filling.  Sprinkle sugar over top.  Pour chocolate chips over sugar.  Pour dry cake mix over the chips.  Slice butter into thin pats and put across the top.  Bake at 350° F.  After ten minutes check and make sure butter covers the top.  Add more if needed.  Bake for another 20-30 minutes until it looks set and is bubbly on the sides.

1 jar of pitted cherries 1 jar of Rote Grutze (berry compote) 1/4 cup sugar 1 box of French chocolate torte mix (because it was the only one that didn't need to have milk added so it was the most like what I've used before) butter Grease bottom of larger, thinner pan.  Pour in Rote Grutze and cherries (without the juice).  Sprinkle sugar over the top.  Pour dry cake mix over the sugar next.  Slice butter into thin pats and put across the top.  Bake at 180°C.  After ten minutes check and make sure butter covers the top.  Add more if needed.  Bake for another 20-30 minutes until it looks set and is bubbly on the sides.

Berlin Version- cross section so you can see the lack of layers

This cake was much thinner than I am used to, even taking into account the larger pan size.  Apparently the chocolate chips (I didn't see any and only later thought about getting chocolate and chopping it myself) keep the layers separated a bit.  This cake became one thin chocolate cherry mush instead of a layer cake. Final verdict: good, but not the same.