Door County Cherry Coffee Cake

With sweet cherries & crunchy cinnamon streusel, Door County Cherry Coffee Cake is perfect for a holiday brunch, special breakfast or snack.

I always think of spring as brunch season. With Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day in quick succession, it’s a great opportunity for gatherings that are fun–and tasty! 

Since most people will have smaller celebrations this year, I decided to do a coffee cake that will fit right in with fewer guests. It can serve from four to six, depending on what else you have (options to go bigger are included too).

Recently I read that people gained nearly a half-pound a week during the pandemic. But who wants to give up celebrating! Here’s to having fun—without leftovers!

This recipe is based on the Blueberry Coffee Cake from a local B&B that I had previously posted.

How to Make Cherry Coffee Cake

This Cherry Coffee Cake is easy enough to make the same day for a brunch or special breakfast treat.  You start by mixiing the topping ingredients.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla

Add egg  

Spread a scant half of the batter in pan. Top with chopped cherries, then 1/3 of the streusel topping.

Spread the remaining cake batter over the top

Then sprinkle with the remaining crumb mixture

Bake, let cool briefly.  Run a thin knife along outside of cake, then remove outside of springform pan.

Serve warm or cold.

Tips and Notes

I chopped the cherries for this. They are such a large fruit that I think the texture and distribution work better if chopped. Mine were frozen and I tried to leave them as frozen as possible.

Spreading the cake batter out is a challenge but does work with a little patience. The cake will look flat before you bake it, but then rise in the oven–don’t worry that you are baking a pancake! Someday I hope to experiment to increase the batter just a bit, but for now this will have to do.

I like using a springform pan, since it makes such a nice presentation. As a bonus, I also don’t have to worry about “breaking” the first piece as I pull it out of a rectangular pan. Not that this ever happens to me, ahem.

I love small “sweets” because leftovers can be so hard on anyone watching calories or sugar–but it’s easy to make this larger. Just double this recipe for a 9-inch springform pan or quadruple for 9 x 13 rectangular pan (or just see the original for those measurements). I don’t think the batter will spread to cover an 8 x 8 pan.

Door County Cherry Coffee Cake

With sweet cherries & crunchy cinnamon streusel, Door County Cherry Coffee Cake is perfect for a holiday brunch, special breakfast or snack.

Author: Inger

4.34 from 3 votes

Print

Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 30 mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings 6

Calories 315 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Topping:

• 6 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Coffee cake:

• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour or more all-purpose
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup butter softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ cup chopped cherries try to minimize thawing if frozen

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Make topping by mixing brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts together. Set aside.
• Mix together sour cream and baking soda. Set aside. In separate bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Set aside.
• In medium mixing bowl cream butter, vanilla and sugar together. Add egg (one at a time if you are doubling or quadrupling the recipe). Cream until fluffy. Add sour cream and flour mixtures alternately and mix thoroughly.
• Spread a scant (see note) one half of the cake mixture in greased 6-inch springform pan. Sprinkle chopped cherries over this, then top with 1/3 of the topping. Carefully spread the remaining batter on top, then sprinkle with the rest of the topping.
• Bake for about 1 hour, testing for doneness with a toothpick. Check periodically and cover with foil if browning too quickly (I had to do this).
• When done, let cool briefly.  Run a thin knife along outside of cake if needed, then remove outside of springform pan.  
• Serve warm or cold.

Notes

The top layer of cake batter is a little challenging to spread over the nuts, topping & berries. Be sure you use only half (or a bit less) of the batter for the bottom layer.

If you serve this alone, I would cut into 4 pieces instead of 6.

Nutrition

Calories: 315kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 5gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 59mgSodium: 243mgPotassium: 125mgFiber: 2gSugar: 25gVitamin A: 399IUVitamin C: 0.3mgCalcium: 91mgIron: 1mg

I am not a health professional and nutrition data is calculated programatically. Accuracy may vary with product selection, calculator accuracy, etc. Consult a professional for the best information.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Bake Up a Coffee Cake

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