May is Coffee Cake Month

(May is not coffee cake month)

Lady on Left: “Gee, I think coffee cake is awful swell.” Lady on Right: “Girl, me too!”

My friend T has insisted for years that May is Coffee Cake Month. He flatly refuses to recognize April 7th as National Coffee Cake Day, which is his natural right as a Canadian. I see his point, since something as lovely as coffee cake deserves better than having to share a crowded stage with National Beer Day, International Beaver Day, and Girl, Me Too Day.

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Instead, my friend thinks coffee cake deserves a full thirty-one days of celebration, unconcerned that it might not pair well with Lyme Disease Awareness and Vinegar Months, which happen at the same time.

Of course, May also happens to be where T’s birthday lands and it turns out his push for a full month of Kaffeekuchen hoopla is just his way of tricking people into giving him more cake.

I can’t blame him for trying, but I can’t refuse him either, even though I saw through his bluff nearly twenty years ago.

Now in the spring when a young man’s fancy turns to love, this middle-aged fellow finds himself reaching for the sour cream. The annual urge to bake a coffee cake has become instinct.

My friend has programmed me well.

The baked good in question.

Amarena Cherry and Almond Coffee Cake

I was going through my pantry the other day and discovered I possessed an embarrassing amount of slivered almonds and a second jar of Amarena cherries, which is something that never happens here at Spatchcock House. Feeling cherry rich and almond foolish, I thought it might be a good idea to use them in the coffee cake my body was demanding that I make.

And reader, it was a good idea.

Amarena cherries get along well with their natural friends, the almonds, but they also play nicely with swarthy warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom.

This cake is a liberal adaptation of a King Arthur Baking recipe.

Makes: one 9-inch coffee cake that is far too expensive to ship to Canada. Or Greece.

Ingredients:

For the Streusel:
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup slivered almonds
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup almond paste
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• 5 tablespoons cold butter cut into small cubes

For the Cake:
• 8 tablespoons softened butter (1 stick)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅔ cup sour cream
• 1 cup Amarena cherries drained and dried

Preparation:

1. Heat your oven to 350℉ and butter a 9” round springform pan. Cut a circle of parchment paper, place it in the bottom of the pan, and butter that, too.

2. Drain the cherries, making certain to save the syrup for later use because you are not a fool. Dry them gently with paper towels (They do not need to be 100% syrup-free). Cut ½ of the cherries in half (the most camera-ready ones, please), and chop the other ½ a bit more roughly. The pretty cherry halves will be used to decorate the top of the cake, while the chopped ones will be mixed with some of the streusel. Keep them separate and ready for future use.

3. For the streusel: Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Crumble in the almond paste, add the almond extract, and work the cold butter in until the mixture is good and crumbly, as its name suggests. This is extremely satisfying to do with clean hands. Now add the slivered almond and mix well.

4. For the cake: If you’ve got a stand mixer, you’re in luck. Beat the butter and sugar along with the salt, almond extract, and baking powder until light and fluffy. You can really let it go for ages.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure the first one has fully incorporated into the butter mixture before adding the second.

6. Add ⅓ of the flour to the mixture, alternating with half the sour cream, then the next ⅓ bit of flour, second half of the sour cream, and last ⅓ of the flour. Make certain to mix well after each addition and please do not forget to periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

7. Put ½ of the cake batter into the pan and smooth it around until it’s more or less level and evenly distributed across the bottom. In a small bowl, mix ½ the streusel with the chopped up cherries, then sprinkle the cherry-streusel evenly over the surface. Gently press in into the batter. Gently. It’s a fairly thick batter, so nothing (reasonable) you put in there is going to sink to the bottom.

8. Scrape the remaining batter over the streusel layer, smoothing out the top as evenly as beautifully as you can manage. Arrange the cherry halves (rounded side up, of course) around the surface of the batter, and sprinkle the remaining streusel over them. Note: You want the cherries to sort of peek through, so don’t overdo it. Or do. You’re the one likely eating this.

9. Bake in the center of your oven for 50 minutes to an hour. Check in on the cake at around minute 45 to assess its progress. It’s done when a knife or toothpick stabbed through its farinaceous little heart comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let cook thoroughly on a wire rack. I try to ignore the thing until morning, leaving it out on the counter overnight. I can do that because I do not live with cats or people.

10. Dust with powdered sugar and serve to a friend who doesn’t think they get enough cake in their day-to-day life. Or simply freeze the half you didn’t binge eat over the sink when you remembered you no longer have any friends. Not after what you did, which was unforgivable.

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