Cherry Coffee Cake

Why is coffee cake called "coffee cake" when coffee is almost never actually one of the ingredients? {Except here.} That's always kinda bugged me. I'm a coffee lover, so please do not tease me by putting "coffee" in something's name when it doesn't contain one drop. I'm sure the reason for the misleading name is most likely because it's often enjoyed with a nice, hot cup of coffee. Still, pretty silly if you ask me. I don't go around calling my Oreos "Milk Cookies" just because they are often enjoyed with a cold glass of milk, now do I?

Now that I've gotten that off my chest.... let's talk about this coffee cake. 🙂

Coffee cake in general is one of my favorite breakfast treats because it is a good excuse to consume copious amounts of sugar before 11 a.m. without prompting judgemental looks from strangers. {Or husbands.} What??? It's a breakfast food! That said, it is also one of those "special occasion" foods that I don't really indulge in all that often {but wish I could}.

What I liked a lot about this coffee cake recipe {found at My Baking Addiction} is that it doesn't have the cinnamon component that is usually found in coffee cakes. {Although, you could certainly add some cinnamon to it if coffee cake isn't the same to you without it.} This one uses fruit preserves for a pleasantly sweet layer of gooey, fruity goodness. The addition of fruit makes this coffee cake feel more "summery" to me. Jamie's recipe calls for lemon, but I didn't have any lemons around so I omitted it and added in a few different extracts to make up for the lack of zest. It worked out perfectly.

So, after giving it some thought, I think I will refer to this as "Anything Cake". Because obviously, this cake doesn't require a cup of coffee to make it enjoyable... you'll enjoy it with just about anything. 🙂

"Anything" {Coffee} Cake

The Kitchen Prep

{slightly adapted from a My Baking Addiction recipe}

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Ingredients

  

• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ cup butter melted
• 1 large egg
• ⅔ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
• ¾ cup blueberry preserves {or preserves of your choice I think it would be just as yum with any other type}

For the Topping

• ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup slivered almonds
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon cold butter

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray an 8 inch square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add butter, egg, milk and vanilla, almond extract and lemon extract. Mix until just combined.
• Pour about half of batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Stir the preserves and spread it evenly over batter. Top with remaining batter, again spreading evenly.*
• In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients; mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over top of the batter.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with dry crumbs.

Notes

 *When I followed this step, I accidentally poured more than half of the batter the first time, leaving me with not enough batter to evenly cover the jam layer. Instead, I applied large blobs of batter and spread them out as much as possible, but some jam still peeked through. It will all be covered by the streusel topping anyway. I still loved how it turned out.