If using frozen cherries, keep them frozen until blending. If using fresh cherries, pit them first, then freeze them for at least 1–2 hours if possible, since frozen fruit gives the thickest smoothie and keeps it cold without watering it down. Slice the bananas, and for the thickest, most milkshake-like texture, use bananas that were sliced and frozen in advance. At least one main fruit component needs to be cold or frozen — if both the cherries and bananas sit at room temperature, the smoothie turns out noticeably thinner and far less creamy. That frozen mass is what gives the blended drink real body without relying on melted ice to bulk it out, since ice dilutes flavour in a way frozen fruit simply doesn't.

Add the milk first, then the Greek yogurt, bananas, cherries, cocoa powder, chopped dark chocolate if using, vanilla, salt, and optional honey or maple syrup. Blend on high until the mixture is mostly smooth. Adding the liquid first helps the blender pull the frozen fruit down evenly and prevents the dry cocoa powder from sticking to the sides instead of incorporating fully. That same sequencing matters doubly here, since cocoa powder clumps and cakes against a dry blender wall far more readily than it does once it's already surrounded by milk.

Check the consistency: if it's too thick to blend properly, add more milk 1–2 tablespoons at a time; if it's too thin, add a few ice cubes or a little more frozen cherry and blend again. Blend until the smoothie is fully smooth, thick, and glossy, with no obvious cocoa lumps and only tiny cherry flecks visible. The finished texture should be thick enough to support the garnish briefly on top, but still pourable into glasses. Reaching for more frozen cherry rather than ice alone, when the mixture runs thin, keeps the cherry flavour concentrated instead of diluted by meltwater that carries no flavour of its own.

Taste before serving and adjust if needed: a little sweetener if the cherries are very tart, a little more cocoa for deeper chocolate flavour, a touch more vanilla for a softer, more dessert-like profile, or a pinch more salt if the chocolate tastes flat. Cocoa can mute perceived sweetness slightly, so always taste after blending, once everything is fully cold and combined, before deciding whether the drink actually needs more sweetener. That order protects against over-sweetening early, since a smoothie that tastes merely good before chilling and fully blending often tastes properly balanced once it's finished.

Pour into 4 glasses, about 250ml each. Top each serving with a small yogurt swirl, halved cherries, and dark chocolate shavings, then serve immediately. That immediate serving matters here just as it does with any fruit-and-ice-thickened blend — the fruit begins warming and loosening the texture within minutes, so the glossy, spoon-thick body built over the previous steps is genuinely at its best the moment it's poured.