Every time I walk into the grocery store lately, the piles upon piles of dark red, sweet Bing cherries call my name. And I ignore them. Not that I don’t like them. Oh, I love them. But they are too dang expensive! Until a couple of days ago that is. I walked in and behold, they were half the normal cost! Hello! I immediately bagged some up and high-tailed it home to bake. Naturally.
I already had a recipe in mind: Cherry Crumble Cake. Does that not sound divine? Sweet, juicy cherries mixed into a moist cake, topped with a brown sugar and butter crumb topping…mmmm mmm mmm! And it was very, very good. There were cherries in every bite and their flavor really came through the mild and not overly-sweet cake. Reminded me of my mom’s apple cake that I absolutely love. One thing I didn’t care for was how crumbly the crumble topping was. It just kind of fell off the cake whenever it was cut so next time I think I’ll do a whole stick of butter instead of a half and that should take care of it. I also whipped up some almond whipped cream to go with it, but some good quality vanilla ice cream would be just as good.
If you’ve been wanting to bake with some of those beautiful cherries but not sure what to do, give this recipe a try. Delicious!
(See original recipe here.)
- Crumble Topping
- 1 c. AP Flour
- 2 T. Dark Brown Sugar, packed
- 1 T. Granulated Sugar
- 1 t. Cinnamon
- ¼ t. Salt
- ½ Stick Unsalted Butter, chilled and diced
- 1 c. Chopped Pecans, toasted
- Cake
- 1 c. AP Flour
- 1 t. Baking Powder
- ¼ t. Baking Soda
- ½ t. Salt
- ½ c. Sour Cream, room temperature
- 2 t. Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 t. Almond Extract
- ½ Stick Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- ¾ c. Granulated Sugar
- 2 T. Packed Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 Large Egg, room termperature
- 1¼ lb. Whole Bing Cherries, stemmed, pitted and quartered
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease a 9-inch round, springform pan (or 9-inch square).
- For the crumble topping, in a small bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. With a pastry blender or fork (or your fingers--that's what I find easiest), blend in butter until it has the consistency of crumbs. Set aside.
- For the cake, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
- In another small bowl, combine the sour cream, vanilla extract and almond extract. Set aside.
- In an electric mixer, cream the butter and both sugars on high speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat just until combined.
- Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Gently fold cherries into the batter.
- Spoon batter into the pan and smooth the top. Spread half of the crumble topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 25 minutes.
- Stir pecans into remaining crumble topping and spread over the cake. Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes more.
- Allow to cool 20-30 minutes and serve.
