Adventures In Tradition

As an Amazon associate, I may earn a small commission if you navigate to Amazon from my site and buy something.  This will not result in an extra cost to you.

When I was a child, anytime my mother did something I particularly liked, usually involving food, I pronounced that a new tradition, thereby trapping my mother into having to fulfill the “tradition” every year.  And that’s why my mother has been stuck privileged to make our Christmas Cherry Coffee Cake for more than 30 years now.  Perhaps the only person in our family who loves this delightful breakfast cake more than I do is my youngest brother.  On the rare occasion that my mother has protested making the dish (“We don’t need all that sugar, surely…”), my brother was at least as quick as I was to make sure she understood that we would tolerate NO VIOLATION of the tradition.

My mother got the recipe from a neighbor years ago, and I don’t know where the neighbor got it. But it is a true delight which can be enjoyed any time of the year.  The only time of the year that it’s absolutely mandatory is Christmas Day.  Tradition, you know.

My mother and I have both struggled to have this cake come out properly over the years.  We wondered if we were doing something wrong with the recipe…leaving out some vital ingredient or not mixing it properly.  We’d either bake it until it was dry and the edges were brown, or we’d stop when the edges were golden, but the middle was still…ummm….soupy.  Not nice.  Turns out, we only needed to use the correct pan and everything works perfectly.  Good to know!

The pan needed for this is a rimmed half-sheet pan, which is approximately 13”x18”.  I have this one but Amazon apparently now only has these as a 2-pack.  Not that it wouldn’t be handy to have two, but if you only want one, maybe try something like this aluminum one or this steel one.  If you use a smaller pan, you will run into the same baking difficulty that my mother and I encountered.  Also, don’t use one of those fancy insulated baking sheets; those are fantastic for baking cookies but will prevent this cake from cooking properly.

The method, then the recipe:  cream together the butter and sugar, and then add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, beating in between additions.  Add the vanilla and almond extracts.  Sift together your dry ingredients and add them.  Then, beat everything at high speed for about three minutes.  Grease your baking sheet well (I use Baker’s Joy cooking spray, which has flour in it…works a treat on almost everything), and spread 2/3 of the batter over the baking sheet.  Then spread out the cherry pie filling as evenly as you can.   Drop the rest of the batter by spoonsful over the cherry pie filling.  Bake for 20-30 minutes.  When it’s done, it will be slightly golden and a toothpick will come out clean (as long as you don’t stab it through some cherry pie filling).  While the cake is still warm, drizzle a powdered sugar/milk glaze over it and then let it cool before cutting.  If you wish, you could add some slivered almonds over the top before baking.  My entirely unscientific survey (of my local family members) revealed about a 50/50 split on whether they prefer this with or without almonds.  You could compromise and put almonds on just half.  Way to make everyone happy, team!

Our family loves this cake, and I hope that you will too.  Why not start a tradition of your own?

Christmas Cherry Coffee Cake

(click here for a printable PDF of the recipe)

INGREDIENTS

Cake

1½ cups sugar

1 cup softened butter

1 ½ tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp almond extract

4 room-temperature eggs

3 cups flour

1½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 21 oz can cherry pie filling

Glaze

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1-2 Tbsp milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°. Generously grease a rimmed half sheet pan (roughly 13”x18”). Cream together sugar and butter. Then add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla and almond extracts. Sift together the flour,baking powder, and salt and add to the wet ingredients. Beat at high speed for about 3 minutes. Spread 2/3 of the mixture in the jelly roll pan. Top with the cherry pie filling. Then drop the rest of the batter by spoonsful over the top of the cherry pie filling. Bake for 20-35 minutes. Test with toothpick to see when it’s done.

For the glaze, beat together the confectioner’s sugar and about 1 T of the milk. Add milk a little at a time until you like the consistency. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes and then drizzle the glaze over the still-warm coffee cake.