Kirschkuchen (Cherry Coffee Cake)

 

 

It's become an annual tradition, five years and counting!, to go cherry picking with my family to herald the beginning of summer.  My parents live in California's San Joaquin Valley and there are several U-pick places near them. Normally we go cherry-picking around Memorial Day weekend, but this year we went two weeks later and most of the trees had been picked over.  Fortunately we were still able to find a few trees that were bursting with ripe, sweet Bing cherries, our favorite variety.  

 

 

When it comes to cherry picking my family doesn't mess around. No joke, in previous years we've picked in the neighborhood of 50-60 pounds!  And no, lest you think we're complete fruit gluttons, we do not eat all the cherries ourselves!  A majority of the fruit is distributed to family and friends to enjoy.

 

Ironically, while Bing cherries are great for eating and snacking, when it comes to baking it's actually tart cherries that are preferred.  Sadly I haven't really been able to source fresh tart cherries near me.  One year I even considered having some sent from Michigan, but after seeing the exorbitant shipping costs to San Francisco I immediately changed my mind.   Luckily canned tart cherries can be easily sourced at my local supermarket.

  

 

 

 

Pie is normally the first thing that comes to people's minds with cherry baking, but I happened upon this recipe for Kirschkuchen (Cherry Coffee Cake) from Red Currant Bakery and wanted to try it instead.  If you aren't already following Audrey's blog you should because she focuses on German baking.  What I especially like about this particular recipe is the use of tart AND sweet cherries.   Nothing goes better with cherries than almonds.  I just love the fruit and nut combination so I added hints of almond to the recipe where I could.  For the cake batter and streusel I replaced some of the vanilla extract with almond extract and to give the streusel topping some extra crunch I mixed in raw sliced almonds.  

 

 

It took immense willpower to let the cake cool slightly before digging into it but once it was warm enough to cut I immediately polished off two slices.  It's THAT good!  I think I might have found a new cherry tradition because I will definitely be making this recipe again and again.

Sour Cherry Pie

 

For the past few years it's been a family tradition to go cherry-picking in the month of May.  My parents literally live down the road from a u-pick farm which primarily grows the Coral Champagne and Tulare varieties.  There's nothing better than hand selecting the sweetest and firmest fruits right off the tree branches.  While the sweet cherries grown locally are perfect for snacking, when it comes to baked goods I prefer the sour variety.

 

 

 

At a springtime luncheon I hosted a few months ago a friend brought along a Sour Cherry Pie for dessert that was utterly delicious.  Unfortunately it's difficult to find fresh or fresh frozen sour cherries  in California and when I looked into having the frozen ones shipped from the Midwest or Washington state the costs were too exorbitant. 

Then I remembered seeing canned sour cherries at the supermarket, in the same location where the pie fillings were located.   I particularly like this brand because the fruit is packed in just water, no added sugar or other preservatives.  Using a Stella Parks filling recipe I added in sugar, tapioca starch, lemon juice and salt to the cherries.  When it came to the crusts of course I used my favorite one with vodka which guarantees the flakiest crust. 

I brought the pie to a recent Memorial Day barbecue and it got rave review from my family which aren't easy to come by.  Honestly, I wasn't sure how it would be received since I'd never made a sour cherry pie before but I was very happy with how much my family loved it.  Now that I know I can make cherry pie any time of the year this definitely will NOT be just a summertime dessert.