- 9
- 20 mins
- 80 mins
Ingredients
- 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 salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- For the cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon 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 1/2 cups (1 pound) fresh sour cherries, pitted, or frozen dark sweet cherries
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking dish, and dust with flour, tapping out excess.
Make the topping: Stir together butter, flour, sugars, salt, and cinnamon.
Make the cakes: Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. With a mixer, cream butter and granulated sugar in another bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Working in alternating batches, add flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. 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.
Notes:
As said above, the recipe obviously calls for sour cherries, but we just used the regular fresh sweet cherries from our local Publix and they worked out so well. I lacked a cherry pitting tool, so I carefully used the sharp end of an apple corer to extract the pits. Emphasis on careful. The apple corer actually worked pretty well. You can do this step ahead if you want to save some prep time. Save them in the fridge till you’re ready to assemble the rest of the recipe.
Once baked, keep this in the fridge if you think you’ll snack on it more than a couple of days. I wouldn’t keep it in the fridge longer than five or so days. Reheat for a few seconds in the microwave. It’s best the day of baking and the day after.
Good news: You can make this one the morning of your afternoon or evening gathering, or the night before if you want to serve it for breakfast. Make sure to cover it well with foil or some tight plastic wrap after thoroughly cooling it.