Tender, moist almond coffee cake loaded with fresh cherries crowned with a crunchy, sweet crumb topping and drizzled with a sweet almond glaze. A delicious way to enjoy those gorgeous cherries that are only at the market for a short time.
I bought a bag of dark, red, juicy Utah cherries at the supermarket, but my family was busy, and the cherries just sat untouched in the refrigerator. I definitely didn’t want to waste those gorgeous cherries, so I decided to bake with them.
My lemon blueberry coffee cake is a fantastic coffee cake, and one of my most popular recipes right now. I used that batter for the base, but switched out the lemon flavor for almond. My husband loves the combination of cherries and almond.
I decided an almond cake needed almonds in the streusel topping as well, so I added sliced almonds to the streusel topping.
Then for a final layer of almond, I add a little bit of almond extract to the glaze. I thought a cherry coffee cake would be fun with a pink glaze, but I added way more pink gel coloring than I had planned and my icing was neon pink. Which looked fine on a slice, but was a bit much on an entire coffee cake.
I’d recommend using just a drop of red food coloring, or omitting the food coloring all together. Although, no one at my house even commented on the bright pink color, they just gobbled it up in a flash.
Cherry Almond Streusel Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 cups fresh cherries pitted and quartered
Crumb Topping
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- ½ cup sliced almonds
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a 9″ springform pan with non-stick cooking spray with flour.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, almond extract and milk. Add flour mixture and mix just until combine. Stir in cherries.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
- To make the crumb topping add the sugar, flour, and butter in a small bowl and use a fork to combine well. Add the almonds and stir to combine. Sprinkle over the top of the cake batter
- Bake at 350º for 40 – 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.
- Whisk together powdered sugar, milk, and almond extract to create a thin glaze. Drizzle over the cake.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Medeja
Cake with cherries sounds so good! I would love a slice with coffee 🙂
Anita
Do you see any reason why this wouldn’t work in a coffee cake pan?
Thanks.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Anita – I think it would be great made in a coffee cake pan. I almost used that instead. Your bake time will probably be a little shorter.
Anita
Thanks for the quick reply. I was getting both ready. I’ll try the coffee cake pan and let you know.
Anita
Decided to go w springform bc of topping. Chicken.
sherry from sherryspickings
i love the pink icing. what could be prettier? and this looks delish..
Ashley @ QLCC
I haven’t had a coffee cake in foreverrr but this looks amazing! I love the fresh fruit 🙂
Linda
Just made this last night. I doubled the recipe and used two disposable (roughly) 8×8 square pans. I believe they had to bake longer but figured that was due to slightly smaller pan and two in the oven. I have to say this is one PRETTY coffeecake. I did break up the sliced almonds slightly to make it easier to distribute on the top. Rose beautifully and the top looks amazingly crunchy and full of flavor. I still have lots of cherries left to use so I might have to do this one again. Might even try a 9×13 when doubled for a larger group. Thanks for a great recipe. This one is a keeper for when we have fresh cherries (which is a pretty long season in Portland, Oregon).
Kitchen Belleicious
fresh cherries go so well with crunchy silky almonds. I love the streusel addition too. This is one heck of a cake:)
Jessica @ Sweet Menu
What a scrummy looking cake! I just love the bright pink icing on top and all those gorgeous cherries!
Linda
Going to do this one today! I have a half-flat of fresh Rainier cherries begging to be used in a coffee cake. Thanks for the recipe!!
Cookin Canuck
The cherries are so good right now and I can only imagine how good they taste in this coffee cake!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
Mum if you had me in the house they wouldn’t have gone untouched. Cherries are one of my favourite fruit and eating them like this has got to be delicious! 😀 xxx
Carol
Oh boy—-that has my name written ALL over it. The fresh cherries have been AMAZING at the grocery store this year. We’ve been enjoying them in all ways-right out of the bag and I’ve used them in baking. Your coffee cake looks like the perfect home for some of the ones I bought over the weekend.
Thank you Barbara!
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
LOL it’s always easy to add more coloring but not so easy to take it away without having so much glaze you could make donuts. 🙂
Your coffee cake looks amazing to me. I love cherries. They’ll be around at Christmas here and I’ll remember your cake!
Angie (@angiesrecipess)
Streusel cake is the BEST coffee cake! The buttery nutty topping looks totally irresistible, Barbara.
Claire @ Claire K Creations
I always get so jealous when my favourite fruits are in season on your side of the world and not mine! This looks just delicious Barbara!
PassTheKnife
Delicious coffee cake version! Amaretto is one of my favorite flavors.
Carol at Wild Goose Tea
I make a lot of coffee cakes and I have done one in a spring form pan. Which has brought to mind that someone borrowed mine and I never got it back. Of course I can’t remember who that was. But I definitely need another. What a sweet recipe. I love the ‘pink’ on top. It just was that extra touch that makes it
even more fun to eat and gives a hint that this is not your regular coffee cake!
Jodee Weiland
This looks delicious! I love the use of cherries and almonds, two of my favorites…thanks for sharing!
Luci {Luci's Morsels}
I’ve never tried the almond and cherry combination but I’m sure I’d love it. Don’t you just love coffee cake? I always think it sounds good. It’s so light and airy and always reminds me of growing up!
Amanda
I love the pink icing! 🙂
Rosa
Exquisite! I’ll have to try this recipe (I’ll use blackberries instead of cherries)…
Cheers,
Rosa