Homestyle Cherry Pie Cake
This cake is one-of-a-kind, and yet, it offers endless possibilities to riff on it in your own way.
Active Time: 40 Minutes, Total Time: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
A coming together of sorts.
Bourbon cherries,
Brown sugar streusel,
Cherry syrup glaze,
and a Cake that lands
somewhere between cobbler,
pound cake and tea cake.
This is a versatile recipe, like most fruit filled bakes, you can easily swap in an alternative pie filling.
Here, the pie filling is made from
scratch, but you can cut the time in half by employing a can of pie filling instead.
10.5 ounces of pie filling are needed - about half of a regular can of pie filling - or double the recipe to use it all in one go!
Surprisingly, the juices from the fruit
filling don't result in a wet, spoon-eating cake, but rather a dense, buttery,
sour cream cake mouthfeel
that offers some chew.
Make this recipe your own! A glaze was not originally planned to top this homestyle cake, while I made a corn starch slurry with bourbon cherry juice to add back to my pot to thicken, I was overjoyed by the deep, pink color I created. I decided to reserve a 1/3 cup of unreduced cherry juice from my simmering fruit to combine with confectioners sugar and make this beautiful glaze!
If you need a reduced the sugar content, forgo the glaze.
For an even faster, simpler bake, skip the streusel as well, and enjoy the bourbon cherries as a pure, singular highlight of your cake...
Let's get baking!
Homestyle Cherry Pie Cake
8 large servings
Ingredients
Cake
½ cup salted butter (113g) softened
1 cup granulated sugar (120g)
2 large eggs - room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract + ½ teaspoon almond extract*
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (180g)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
Cherries
roughly 2 cups fresh cherries (40 individual) pits removed
1/4 cup bourbon
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn starch
Streusel
1/4 cup all- purpose flour
4 tablespoons softened butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
Cherry Glaze
1/4 cup withheld cherry juice*
1/2 confectioners sugar - or more to desired consistency
Procedure
This recipe will require a 5x7" pan, a small saucepan or pot, and a hand mixer or stand mixer.
Begin heating a small pan at medium heat, add your pitted cherries, bourbon (optional*) and sugar. Cook, without stirring, until a nice bourbon cherry juice has formed beneath the fruit. Allow the juice to simmer for at least 60 seconds, making sure it is fully bubbling. Remove 1/4 cup of cherry juice and set aside in a small bowl.
In a ramekin or additional small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon corn starch and a few spoonfuls of cherry juice from the pan to make a slurry. Add this back to the simmering fruit and cook 1-2 minutes more. The juice should be slightly thickened, but not jammy. Set in the fridge.
In a small bowl combine the 3 streusel ingredients and mix with a fork, or your fingers, to create small streusel crumbles. Set aside.
Moving on to the cake batter - preheat the oven to 350F and prepare your 5x7" pan -place parchment on the bottom leaving it to overhang on two sides, grease parchment and pan with butter.
In a medium bowl, cream butter and granulated sugar until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Follow with vanilla and almond extract.
Sift in flour and baking powder. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet at high speed for 10 seconds, then switch to a spatula to finish folding any remaining flour streaks.
Spread 2/3 of the batter in your prepared baking pan (it doesn't need to look nice and even). Dollop spoonfuls of cherry filling all over the batter, use all of the filling you made! If there is a lot of juice below your cherry filling, you can reserve it from the cake, OR you can add it in (up to 1/3 cup) the cake will absorb the juice beautifully and develop a crisp edge.
Dollop the remaining batter randomly atop your cherry puddles, leaving a few gaps to let the cherries show. Sprinkle the streusel all over the cake, if using.
Place on the center rack of your preheated oven and bake for 30-45 minutes (depending on the amount of cherry juice you included) - the cake should be golden brown on top when it is done.
Let cool 15 minutes in the pan. While you wait, mix the reserved cherry juice and confectioners sugar to make cherry glaze (if desired), adding more sugar to reach your preferred consistency. Remove the cake from the pan and place on a wire rack, finish with a drizzle of glaze.
Slice into 8 large slices (can feed 12 as smaller slices).
Save at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
*you are welcome to use vanilla & almond extract, or just one! I only used almond extract in one of my tests and it tasted great.
*the cherry juice will be reserved in step 2, this is different from the juice used in the corn starch slurry.
*if you would like to forgo the bourbon, replace with water and a squeeze of lemon juice! Thank you for reading. Subscribe at the bottom for more recipes. Signed, The Mellow Baker