You all know how obsessed I was with cranberries this autumn. Well, their summertime rival is the sour cherry which has finally made it’s way to farmers markets in the Midwest. Sour cherries have a painfully short season and as soon as they arrive I feel panic set in. I know that there isn’t much time to try to bake all of the recipes I have been saving that require their tart electric sweetness. I hoard them. On my way to the market I am worrying that they may be sold out. I freeze them. I find excuses to bake things for friends. In short, I am obsessed.
I’ve also already shared my love of coffee cake with you so you won’t be surprised that this sour cherry coffee cake was at the top of my must-make list. The recipe combines two of my favorite things into one thoroughly enjoyable dessert. The crumb is nice and crunchy and the cake is rich and tender. The sweetness of both are nice foils to the tartness of the ruby cherries. I know, I know, it might seem to you like all I do is make coffee cakes, but who could blame me? This one will easily become a classic in your house.
Apologies for posting so infrequently in recent weeks! We’ve had a bunch of friends visiting and my eating has either been at our favorite restaurants or whatever we scrape together as we frantically clean the apartment and try to keep up with daily life. Plus, I’ve been working on some exciting outside projects which I’ll be sharing with you in the coming weeks. All good things! One more trip (to Montreal!) and then I will be back in the kitchen as usual. Can’t wait.
Sour Cherry Coffee Cake (adapted from Martha Stewart Living, July 2009)
For the topping:
- 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for dish
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dish
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 cups fresh sour cherries, pitted
Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch round baking dish, dust with flour, tap out excess.
In a medium bowl, stir together butter, flour, sugars, salt, and cinnamon. Set topping aside.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Working in alternating batches, add flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until just combined. Pour into prepared dish, and smooth with an offset spatula. Dot top with cherries, and sprinkle with crumb topping.
Bake until golden and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool before cutting.
Whitney says:
July 10th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Perfect timing! I have a quart of sour cherries on my counter just waiting for a perfect recipe. YUM.
Kerrin @ MyKugelhopf says:
July 11th, 2009 at 4:42 am
Oooh how I want to pinch off those big clumpy pieces of the crumble topping above – I can taste it with these fabulous photos !! Love it !
Jennifer says:
July 11th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I had to laugh at the sour cherry panic – I bought 3+ flats on Thursday! I will certainly be doing lots of baking and preserving, too!
Amy says:
July 11th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I don’t blame you for being sour cherry-obsessed! They’re amazing. I grew up with sour cherry trees so we did exactly what you talk about: hoard them, freeze them, bake with them. I just put in a sour cherry tree this spring and the little thang made about ten cherries, which was a surprise. Birds got nine of them though!
Have you made straight up sour cherry pie? It’s my favorite pie. With luck I’ll be able to scrape together enough next spring to make it.
ingrid says:
July 12th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Hey, I appreciate your obsession with coffee cakes! This one looks insanely good especially that crumb topping.
~ingrid
Sam says:
July 12th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Mmm…I just picked up some sour cherries at the farmers market, now I know what I’ll be using them for!
laura says:
July 13th, 2009 at 10:47 am
My coffee looks pretty lonely without that coffee cake. Yogurt just isn’t cutting it.
Lisa (dinner party) says:
July 13th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
You’ve just motivated me to buy my first pint of sour cherries.
Dawn in CA says:
July 13th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
It’s like a cake and a cobbler all rolled into one. I can almost taste it from the photos… which are beautiful, as always.
I would love to see some reviews of your favorite restaurants. One of these days I hope to visit Chicago (after a single business trip there, my husband opined that it was one of his favorite cities). It would be great to have a list of yummy places to try.
Tim says:
July 13th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Hey Dawn! I am working on a Chicago guide- unfortunately life keeps getting in the way. I hope to have something up by the end of the summer. If you need recommendations sooner, you can certainly shoot me an email and I’d be happy to help.
And thanks, as always, for being such a loyal and supportive reader!
Tina says:
July 14th, 2009 at 5:02 am
I love the cake to crumb topping ratio. Now I’m hungry!
sivan says:
July 14th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Tim, this looks amazing and I would bet it tastes even better than it looks! i have been seeing sour cherries at the market, maybe I’ll grab a pint this Saturday and test this recipe out!
unconfidentialcook.com says:
July 14th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I panic, too, when I don’t think I can get enough of what I’m dying for…and that goes for many things!
Dawn in CA says:
July 14th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Hey Tim! Unfortunately, I think my Chicago trip won’t be happening for some time. It’s on my very long list of places to visit — anew or again. But I like to file away little tasty tidbits so I’m ready when the day comes. ;) We ARE heading down Mexico way in a few weeks… which I guess really has nothing to do with Chicago. It will involve lots of good food though, so that’s how I’m going to justify the segue… ¡Disfrute la vida!
Tim says:
July 15th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Mexico sounds pretty perfect right now. Eat well and happy travels!
Kaitlyn says:
July 15th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I just bought a cherry pitter so that I can fully enjoy sour cherries! Tomorrow I think I’ll bake a pie, but maybe this weekend I’ll make this coffee cake!
Tim says:
July 15th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Kaitlyn: Check out the Cherry Pie recipe I posted, it remains the best cherry pie I have ever eaten. Brilliant recipe: https://www.lottieanddoof.com/2008/09/cherry-pie/
I love my cherry pitter, also works well on olives. Enjoy!
Megan says:
July 18th, 2009 at 5:17 am
I just received sour cherries from our CSA and had a class breakfast yesterday to prepare something for. This recipe was fantastic. I was surprised how easy it was to pit the cherries by hand. I was also worried that all that liquid from the cherries would be a problem, but the recipe handled that beautifully.
The only bad side was the rest of the parents ate the rest – no left-overs for my family!
carol says:
July 18th, 2009 at 10:56 am
you inspired me.
they had sour cherries at the Aurora farmer’s market and besides snacking on them, this coffeecake will be made!
Day says:
July 19th, 2009 at 10:08 am
woow i wonder i can make it in my house.hehe i really wanna try this :D
dess says:
July 19th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I suppose this could turn out well with any fruit, right?
Tim says:
July 20th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Megan! So glad you liked the recipe. Such good cherries!
Amanda says:
July 24th, 2009 at 11:29 am
YUM! I have a big bag of sour cherries in my fridge, I picked them from my neighbor’s tree last week. There are still more there, but I need to get over there and get them before they go to waste! I made a Sour Cherry Almond Cake that was incredible.
Oh and howdy neighbor, I’m in Twin Lakes, WI :)
Johanne says:
July 30th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Can’t wait to try… have picked my cherries this morning!!
Will substitutes Cinnamon for Lemmon cause my boyfriend doesn’t like cinnamon!!
Wish me Luck!!
Tim says:
July 30th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Good luck!
Amelia says:
July 31st, 2009 at 9:41 pm
I love your website. After reading this post, I am now bound and determined to find sour cherries (or some other fruit) at the farmers’ market tomorrow morning and bake my fool heart out! :)
Amelia says:
August 1st, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I made the recipe, and oh. my. God. :) They weren’t sour cherries, but they were the sweetest, most awesome cherries I ever tasted, and so I can’t wait to dig in to the cake!
JessicaO says:
July 19th, 2010 at 8:24 am
I made this last night, and while I could not find sour cherries I did use sweet bing cherries…it is so delicious! I brought it to work with me this morning – my coworkers agree that it is moist, not-too-sweet, and are asking when I’m going to make it again. Thanks for the recipe!!
Tim says:
July 21st, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Great, Jessica! I am glad it was a hit.
Paola says:
February 11th, 2011 at 4:55 am
i made a rhubarb coffee cake not long ago and thought that the frozen cherries i had recently bought would be a nice variation…thats were this recipe came in! I made this a few nights ago but with some substitutions; used dark brown sugar in place of light since that was all i had on hand, replaced the buttermilk with an almond milk lemon juice mixture and used 2 egg replacers for the eggs- to my delight these changes were completely undetectable! Been having a slice of the cake with greek yogurt for breakfast for the past two days, sooo yummmy. thank you so much for the recipe! Next time however i think i will add more cherries. yes, there will definitely be a next time ;)
Amanda W says:
June 22nd, 2014 at 3:49 pm
This is sitting on my counter cooling and I’m dying to dig in! My friend has a sour cherry tree and gave me a huge bag, and this is the recipe I found via Google that I couldn’t stop thinking about. It sure looks lovely and I’m sure it tastes amazing. Love your blog!
Ryan says:
August 3rd, 2014 at 9:51 am
This is an awesome cake! I have made it three times and each time it is great!
Ryan says:
August 3rd, 2014 at 9:52 am
It is great! Great crumbly top
stacey snacks says:
July 29th, 2015 at 2:21 pm
This is in the oven right now……..I know it’s going to be great!
Thanks Tim (I know, I am 6 years late to the party!).
Stacey
Tim says:
July 29th, 2015 at 2:25 pm
Stacy! Never too late. I just made this again a couple of weeks ago and I still love it…hope you do too.
Bloom or says:
October 30th, 2015 at 8:40 am
Hi there. Will this work w frozen sour cherries? I froze several pounds after u-picking this summer and my girlfriend liked this so much she is requesting it as her birthday cake!
Tim says:
November 2nd, 2015 at 3:48 pm
Yep! Will work with frozen cherries!
Connie says:
November 14th, 2017 at 11:15 am
I am anxious to try this but my cherries are frozen. I suspect I should drain the water after I defrost them. Has anyone tried this with frozen cherries?
Thanks