Things Neniell Made: Cherry Coffee Cake

There are some recipes that, while I’m in the process of making it, I realize I have no idea what it is supposed to look like and I start to think that I’m doing everything all wrong. This is one of those recipes. The batter was very thick and didn’t spread well at all, the batter to cherry goo ratio seemed too heavy on the cherry goo side, and it looked awful after it was assembled. Everything worked out nicely during the baking process, so I guess I can’t complain.

If you don’t like cherries, you can probably substitute the cherry pie filling for another flavor of pie filling without affecting the outcome. I don’t like almond flavoring, so I left that out and doubled the vanilla amount. Keep in mind that this recipe makes a large amount of coffee cake, so be sure you have people to share it with!

Cherry Coffee Cake (Printer-friendly PDF version)

1 1/2 C sugar

1 C butter, softened

1 1/2 t baking powder

1 t vanilla

1 t almond extract

1/4 t salt

4 eggs

3 C flour

1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling

1 C powdered sugar

2 T milk (plus an optional dash of vanilla)

Place the sugar, butter, baking powder, vanilla, almond extract, salt, and eggs into the mixer. Mix until combined on a low speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix at a high speed for 3 minutes. The mixture will be fluffy.

Reduce the speed to low and slowly stir in the flour. Scrape the side of the bowl once or twice. The batter will be sticky and kind of thick.

Spread 2/3 of the batter on the bottom of a well greased jelly roll pan, 16 x 11 inch pan, or two 9x9 inch pans.

Dump the cherry pie filling on top of the dough and spread it out to the best of your ability. Cherry chunks don’t spread very well.

Drop spoonfuls of the remaining batter on top of the pie filling, spaced out somewhat evenly. Make a vain attempt to spread the batter. It will mix with the cherry goo and not want to spread very much.