Mom's Cherry Coffee Cake
My mom used to make this for holidays, weekends and desserts. It has many memories associated with it and I still love it. If using it as a dessert be sure to serve with homemade vanilla ice cream.
My mom used to make this for holidays, weekends and desserts. It has many memories associated with it and I still love it. If using it as a dessert be sure to serve with homemade vanilla ice cream.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- topping
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cups pecans chopped
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
- coffee cake
- 1 can cherry pie filling
- Carbohydrate 126.750513198351 g
- Cholesterol 263.1905 mg
- Fat 28.7070857145588 g
- Fiber 1.62695609698131 g
- Protein 10.1514064250945 g
- Saturated Fat 14.1301752436292 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (273g)
- Sodium 182.424690111345 mg
- Sugar 125.12355710137 g
- Trans Fat 2.63221284309349 g
- Calories 791 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheta oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix together 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter. Whisk in eggs until blended. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Finally stir in sour cream and vanilla. Batter will be thick.
- To make the topping, mix together brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1 tablespoon butter and pecans.
- Spread half of the batter into a buttered and floured 9 X 13 inch glass baking dish. Spread the cherry pie filling over the top and spread remaing batter in another layer over the pie filling. Sprinkle topping mixture all over the top. Bake for 45 minutes and serve.
Baking this cake in a glass dish rather than metal changes how heat transfers to the center, often leading to undercooked spots beneath heavy fruit fillings unless the oven is accurately preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Glass retains thermal energy longer than aluminum, which requires watching the edges closely during the final 10 minutes of the 45-minute bake time to prevent excessive browning. Sour cream introduces high moisture content and acidity into the batter, reacting with the baking soda to create a tender crumb that helps the structure support layers of heavy pie filling without collapsing entirely.
Freezing works exceptionally well for baked portions when wrapped tightly in plastic wrap followed by heavy-duty aluminum foil, extending storage for up to three months without significant loss of texture. Slices should be completely cooled on a wire rack before freezing to prevent condensation from forming inside the wrapping, which causes ice crystals and soggy crusts upon thawing. Defrosting frozen squares overnight in the refrigerator maintains the integrity of the pecan and brown sugar topping better than bench thawing at room temperature.
Reheating single portions in a toaster oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 10 minutes restores the crumbly texture of the topping far more effectively than using a microwave, which makes the pastry rubbery. Unsalted butter must be genuinely softened to room temperature—measuring between 65 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit—before creaming with sugar to ensure proper air incorporation during the mixing stage. Substituting commercial sour cream with full-fat Greek yogurt yields identical structural results due to comparable acidity levels and moisture ratios.
Coffee cakes emerged from European baking traditions where sweetened yeast breads were paired with morning coffee, eventually evolving in American kitchens during the nineteenth century into quick-bread styles utilizing chemical leaveners. Utilizing a standard 9x13-inch pan ensures the batter spreads thin enough to cook evenly around the central layer of fruit. Allowing the dense batter to rest for five minutes after mixing helps hydrate the flour fully before assembly into the baking vessel.
