Monday, November 24, 2008

Streusel Coffee Cake with Cherries

Streusel Coffee Cake with CherriesI know it's not cherry season anymore around here, but I'm holding onto summer for as long as I can and saw these in the grocery store flown in from Chile, and they sucked me in and said "buy me" and make Streusel Coffee Cake with Cherries.

When I got home, I googled and found out that Chile is 5,454.47 miles (8,777.88 kilometers) from Ottawa. I also found out it would cost me $1,145 to fly from Ottawa to Santiago so that I could taste the local cherries. So, $10 for one pound of cherries means I'm actually being financially responsible!

This recipe comes from my aunt who owns an apple orchard in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia and uses the cherries and apples from her garden for this cake. Most summers, we would drive out to visit my aunt and uncle, and we would stop at all the fruit stands along the way, picking up buckets of freshly-picked cherries. Then, we'd devour them as we continued driving through the Rockies, spitting the pits out the window until our stomachs ached.

This coffee cake would be perfect the morning after Thanksgiving or Christmas. If you want to be more seasonal and responsible, you could also use apples (or pears, nectarines, peaches or plums).

Recipe

1 9x9 pan or 12 muffin-size cakes

Ingredients for Streusel Coffee Cake with CherriesCake:
¼ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup milk
2 cups fresh fruit (cherries, plums, apples, pears), pitted or cored and halved or sliced

Streusel Topping:
½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of allspice

Glaze:
¼ cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon milk
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Butter a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin tin.

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks and beat until fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Stir the flour and baking powder into the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold the egg whites into the batter.

For the streusel topping: Combine all the streusel ingredients.

Fill the pan with the batter. Arrange the fruit on top. Sprinkle streusel on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.

For the glaze: Mix the glaze ingredients until spreading consistency. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Streusel Coffee Cake with CherriesNote: I used the silicon shot glasses for baking some of the batter in, inspired by Hannah from BitterSweet who baked the cutest cupcakes in them.

My Bucket List

  • Visit Santiago, Chile and taste the cherries when they're in season.


  • Other breakfast ideas:
  • Sour Cream and Yogurt Cinnamon Coffee Cake
  • Black-and-White Banana Loaf
  • Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins baked in cookie cutters


  • Check out these coffee cakes from other food bloggers:
  • Apple Praline Coffee Cake
  • Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel
  • Spiced Pumpkin Sour Cream Upside-Down Coffee Cake


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    19 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    LOL love your financial rationalization. Makes total send:-) Where did you get silicone shotglasses from? That's a great idea!

    Patricia Scarpin said...

    I can't wait for cherry season to begin here - it's about to!
    These look amazing, Shari, and so does your blog - beautiful!

    Zoe Francois said...

    These are gorgeous! So creative!

    Maria said...

    Beautiful!! I love the glaze and such a creative shape!!

    Anonymous said...

    I wish I was able to bake with cherries last season....I ended up eating all them instead. Your pictures are gorgeous!

    Anonymous said...

    Those are great! I definitely need to break out those shot glass molds again; they make such fun cakes!

    Anonymous said...

    mmmmm...those look so good. I love cherries. It seemed like the season was so short this year.

    pam said...

    I just bought some frozen cherries, do you think they would work?

    Lynda said...

    These look very yummy and your description brings back lots of fun summer memories.

    Anonymous said...

    Cherries in the middle of november - you are lucky! :) Your streusel cake looks so good!

    Anonymous said...

    now that is my kind of coffee cake! adding cherries is always a good thing :)

    Ingrid_3Bs said...

    Your photos are just fabulous! I know you've been told before but seriously. I love the last one of the cherries! Makes me what to be financially responible and spend $10 on cherries! LOL! Love how you think.......
    ~ingrid

    NKP said...

    That looks beautiful, I love the vibrant red. So seasonal - in colour anyway!

    Manggy said...

    Your bucket list is getting really, really long! If only we could get cherries more consistently here :( I could be enjoying these lovely coffee cakes!

    grace said...

    i so adore cherries, but they're always so expensive! when i do cave and buy them, i like to use them in awesome recipes, and this is most definitely a contender. streusel is simply lovely. :)

    Anne said...

    Wow! Those look delicious and I love the shot of the cherries. Totally worth the money! :)

    Sandy Smith said...

    I don't want to make these . . . I want to come over and eat yours! So beautiful and yummy looking (and i'm up to my neck in pie dough/apples/pumpkin puree/pecans right now, so cherries are a welcome departure).

    Gorgeous!

    Anonymous said...

    This looks absolutely delicious!!! I'm definitely going to try it (well, maybe with seasonal fruits). :)

    Shari said...

    Marc - I'm glad someone agrees with my financial sense!

    Patricia Scarpin - Cherries are so tasty!

    Zoe Francois - Thanks!

    Maria - Thanks for dropping by!

    Veron - It's hard to bake with them when they're so good on their own.

    hannah - They do make fun cakes!

    pinkstripes - It is such a short season!

    Pam - I'm sure the frozen ones would work.

    Lynda - Thanks!

    farida - I paid a lot for them, but once in a while it's nice.

    Ingrid - They're healthy! (Maybe the streusel cake isn't, but who cares!)

    Natashya - Yes, Christmas-y! ;)

    Manggy - I guess my list is getting long!

    Grace - I hesitate to bake with them too, but occasionally it's ok.

    Anne - Thanks!

    Sandy Smith - Come on over!

    Joy - The cake would work with anything in season!

    Thanks for dropping by!
    ~Shari