• Home
• Substitutions
• Index
  • A-C
  • D-O
  • P-Z

Cherry Almond Coffee Cake: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, a 9 x 3 inch (23 x 7.5 cm) round springform pan.

In a bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture (in three additions) and sour cream (in two additions), starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until combined.

Place 2/3 of the batter (2 cups) (600 grams) in your pan, smoothing with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Next, spread the cherry pie filling over the batter. Top with the remaining cake batter, again smoothing with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Sprinkle with the almonds.

Bake in preheated oven for about 55 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Then remove the cake from the pan.

Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold.

Makes about 10 to 12 servings.

This Cherry Almond Coffee Cake has been a family favorite for years. I especially like to serve it on special occasions as part of a breakfast or brunch menu, although it really is perfect any time of the day. It consists of two layers of a rich almond flavored butter cake sandwiched together with a layer of sweet red "canned" cherries. A sprinkling of flaked or sliced almonds is the ideal garnish. You can serve this cake warm from the oven, at room temperature, or even cold.

In North America, we call this type of cake a "Coffee" Cake, although it may or may not contain coffee. The name refers to how the cake is served, that is, with a cup of coffee. While some Coffee Cakes contain yeast, this is a butter cake, so it is leavened with baking powder and baking soda. Its rich flavor and texture comes from adding sour cream to the batter, although you could use plain yogurt.

The cake has a middle layer of Cherry Pie Filling, which is a canned mixture of sweet red pitted cherries that are packed in sweetened water and thickened with cornstarch. This recipe uses 1 cup (300 grams), which is half of a 21 ounce can (595 grams) of Cherry Pie Filling, although you can use more if you want a thicker layer of cherries. Any leftover pie filling can be frozen. But don't feel you have to use cherry pie filling as you can also use a 10 ounce (280 gram) jar of drained Morello Cherries. Or you could use cranberry sauce or even your favorite jam or preserve.