Recipe | Cherry Crumble Cake

A few weeks ago, I saw the jars of Dark Morello Cherries at Trader Joe’s and magically one of them ended up in my shopping cart. I love cherries and thought it would be time to bake a cherry crumble cake again sometime soon. Crumble cake is one of my – and J’s – favorites.

I love to bake. I don’t do it nearly often enough because you can only eat so much cake in a 2-person household, but every once in a while, when I get a craving, I will bake a small batch of cake or muffins. Like a couple of weekends ago. Because one single person inquired in my last post about the recipe for the crumble cake, I thought I should definitely share it with all of you. Naturally.

Crumble cake is super-easy and tasty and can be made with any fruit you like.

I halved the original recipe (which is an original recipe from my Mom) because it’s enough for a whole baking sheet, which is definitely too much for 2 people (unless you want to eat cake for a whole week, which I am not necessarily opposed to, but which probably wouldn’t make me feel too great by the end of the week).

I used a small casserole dish instead (you can also use a small round baking form).

I had a few cherries leftover (that I used in my overnight oats the following week – yum!), but I realize I could have used the whole jar. There was enough batter to take the cherries and extra liquid. J said it was perfect the way it came out (sweet, I know!).

The bottom layer was spongy and on the dry side (just how I like it). I found that German cake recipes generally tend to be a little “drier” than American cakes, but also not as sweet.

I had a piece (ok, two) with a cup of coffee shortly after it came out of the oven. I also had some leftover cake that I took to work the next couple of days. It keeps well in the fridge (I wrap it in aluminum foil) and it can be warmed up a bit in the microwave, if you prefer (without the foil, of course).

Ingredients
  1. 1/4 cup butter (softened)
  2. 1/4 cup sugar
  3. 1 package vanilla sugar (or 1 tbsp vanilla extract)
  4. 2 cups all-purpose or pastry flour
  5. 3 eggs
  6. 2 tbsp milk
  7. 1tsp baking powder
  8. 1 jar of morello cherries (drained)
For the crumbs
  1. 1/2 cup butter (softened)
  2. 1 cup sugar
  3. 1 cup of flour
  4. cinnamon (to taste)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a small baking dish or 10-inch springform pan with cooking spray, set aside.
  2. In a bowl, beat the butter until it’s light and fluffy. Add the sugar and vanilla sugar and continue to beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add the eggs gradually until each one is incorporated. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and baking powder one spoon at a time alternating with milk.
  3. For the crumbs, combine butter (cut in pieces, but still cold), sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl and combine between your fingertips until crumbs form.
  4. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Top the batter with the drained cherries. Finally, add the crumbs on top and then bake for 45-55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean
  5. Let cool completely before cutting or removing from baking dish.
  1. Oooh, this looks so good!

  2. This looks so good! It seems like the perfect Valentine’s treat!

  3. Yum! That looks absolutely delicious!

    1. You should give it a try :)

  4. That was probably me who asked for the recipe :) and if I didn’t, I certainly thought it so thank you for sharing!! This sounds amazing; I love a good crumble—especially with coffee :)

    1. Crumble is definitely one of my favorite cakes…. and it could have totally been you who asked for the recipe :)

  5. Haha great minds think alike! I made cherry pies last week and with the leftover cherries I made cherry pancakes which I blogged about today before reading this! Cherries are yum!

    1. Cherries are the forgotten fruit of baking… so glad someone else bakes with them :)

  6. Yum, this looks so good. I don’t do much baking either since there are just 2 of us in the house but I do enjoy baking so try to find reasons to bake! I’m looking forward to going off my gestational diabetes diet so I can eat more sweets and treats!

    1. I will also find reasons to bake :)

  7. Oh wow, this looks – and sounds – absolutely amazing!! Thanks for sharing the recipes. That’s good to know it keeps in the fridge for a bit.

    -Lauren

    1. Yeah, it keeps surprisingly well… that is a plus if you’re only a two-person household :)

  8. Yaaay, I’m so excited to see this recipe! A jar of those cherries magically wound up my cart too, and then I got another one as part of a Christmas present and I need something to do with them! This looks perfect, I’m making it tomorrow! <3

    1. I hope it turned out great! ;)

  9. This is my moms signature cake and I just realized a) I don’t have the recipe and b) I’ve never made that cake.
    But than crumble cakes are just something I am not good in.
    I’ll have to ask for my moms recipe and than compare. Because I always love to see what the difference are.
    Anyhow, now I crave cherry crumble cake so mission accomplished San!

    1. Did you compare your Mom’s recipe? ;)

  10. Hi San, we’re in Tahoe and I just made your cake for dessert. It’s delicious, fed 8 of us and there’s still some leftover! I used a tad more sugar and we actually ate it when it was still warm with some vanilla yogurt – yum! Thanks for sharing this recipe, it definitely has potential to become a new favorite sunday cake. :-) I made a picture, but I don’t know how to add it to the comment.

  11. This looks AMAZING, San! I have been craving a crumb cake for so long and this is the recipe I want to try. I can’t wait for the first bite!

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