Bing Cherry Coffee Cake

I am posting a bit later than I had anticipated, but it better late than never. Today's recipe (and the very first recipe) from The American Diner Cookbook is Blueberry Coffee Cake. Now you are probably saying to yourself, "Hey, isn't this post titled Bing Cherry Coffee Cake? Where does blueberries come into this thing?". Well my dear friends you are correct in questioning this, but I do have a good excuse for changing the fruit in the cake. As I love blueberries in muffins and cakes, some of my family are not totally keen on them. Plus I absolutely adore cherries. The are my all time favourite fruit. As a secret between you and me, I sometimes eat cherry pie filling straight from the tin instead of messing about with pesky pastry!

I haven't had coffee cake in ages, but have been having a hankering for a piece of the warm cinnamon goodness for a while now. I am a lover of cinnamon as well and the thought a a bit of cinnamon & cherry favoured cake with a latte was too good to pass up.

Here's the recipe as it appears in the book with substitutions added in red:

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar (granulated)

2 cups all-purpose flour (plain)

3/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 large egg

3/4 cup milk

2 cups blueberries (bing cherries)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup all-purpose flour (plain)

1/2 cup sugar (granulated)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Grease a 9-inch square pan.

2. In a mixing bowl cream together the shortening and 3/4 cup of sugar. In a separate bowl combine 2 cups of flour, the salt, and baking powder. Add the egg and milk, and mix well. Add the sugar mixture, and mix thoroughly. Gently add the blueberries (cherries). Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan.

3. In a mixing bowl mix together the remaining butter, flour, and sugar, and the cinnamon with a fork until the mixture begins to crumble. Sprinkle over the top of the batter. Bake at 375F/180C for 45 minutes or until cake tests done.

Verdict:

The cake tasted lovely, but was missing the traditional heavy cinnamon taste. If I were to make it again, I would add a bit a cinnamon to the cake batter in addition to the cinnamon included it the topping. I really liked the tanginess of the cherries in the cake, but I think using the blueberries originally called for would have very tasty too. When the cake came out of the oven, I added a slight sprinkling of vanilla sugar to give it a warm wintry smell.

P.S. On another note, I finished my second placement on Thursday and return to theory at uni on Tuesday. I am soooo looking forward to it! Not only will I be back in academics again, but it allows me (for the next 9 weeks) to be able to bake and work on this blog again. Woo hoo!