Cherry and Raspberry Coffee Cake with fresh fruit instead of streusel. This yeast based coffee cake with a vanilla glaze will make your morning extra special.
While cinnamon rolls and coffee cakes are fabulous for breakfast, cherry and raspberry coffee cake is a cross between a cinnamon roll and a coffee cake, just without the streusel. It’s the best of both worlds.
There’s nothing dry about this breakfast cake, with butter and eggs in the batter and juicy cheeries on top, it can’t help but be moist. While I’m calling this a coffee cake, I recently served it for dessert. It’s not overly sweet so I like the addition of a simple vanilla glaze on top.
Normally the best part of a coffee cake is the streusel, so I’m surprised how much I like this fruit version. Even my peach coffee cake has streusel! I do love cherries so that might be why this is such a favorite in our house.
You won’t find any cherry pie filling in this delicious coffee cake, instead just fresh cherries and raspberries.
If you’re a fan of raspberries, add them along with the cherries to this coffee cake. Raspberries, while fabulous fresh can be a little tart when purchased at the grocery, so adjust your fruit based on what you can find.
While you don’t have to add a glaze to this recipe, a simple vanilla glaze adds just enough sweetness.
This is best served warm right out of the oven but will still be good the next day.
Ingredients you’ll need
- The basics – milk, brown sugar, butter, eggs, flour, cream, vanilla and salt.
- Yeast
- Cherries – fresh or frozen
- Raspberries
- Turbinado sugar
- Powdered sugar
How to make cherry coffee cake
Step 1: Warm the milk, brown sugar and butter in the microwave, and while warm and not hot, add the yeast.
Step 2: Add the milk mixture along with whisked eggs to flour and gently combine. Let rise until doubled about an hour.
Step 3: Add fruit to the top of the batter and sprinkle with turbinado sugar and melted butter.
Step 4: Bake at 350º for 30 minutes then lower the temperature to 325º and bake an additional 10 minutes.
Step 5: While warm, drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze.
This makes a very large coffee cake that’s great for feeding a crowd or taking to a breakfast meeting.
If you’re going to freeze it, I would suggest freezing before adding the glaze. Let it thaw to room temperature, wrap in aluminum foil and warm in the oven. Remove and while warm add the glaze.
Frozen cherries retain their shape and flavor when frozen so you can hardly tell the difference in this recipe.
If you love cherries, you’ll want to try these recipes
- Pork tenderloin with cherry sauce
- Cherry hand pies
- Cherry streusel bars
- Cherry clafoutis
- Cherry chocolate cookies
More breakfast treats
- Hawaiian cinnamon rolls
- Creme brulee French toast
- Blueberry scones
- Mimosa monkey bread
- Cream cheese filled banana bread
Adapted from The Grand Central Baking Book
Cherry and Raspberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients
BATTER
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 10 tablespoons butter
- 2 packets active dry yeast 4 1/2 teaspoons
- 3 eggs
- 3 ½ cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
TOPPING
- 2 cups cherries pitted and halved
- 1 cup raspberries fresh
- ¼ cup turbinado sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
GLAZE
- 1 cup Powdered sugar
- 4-5 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Lightly grease and flour a 9 X 13 inch baking pan.
- Gently heat milk, brown sugar and 10 tablespoons butter in the microwave, it should feel warm to the touch but not hot. When the butter has almost melted, add the yeast and let the mixture stand. The yeast should get foamy.
- Whisk eggs lightly. Measure the flour and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the eggs and the milk mixture over the flour and gently stir with a wooden spoon or spatula, mixing just until the wet ingredients are incorporated. Spread the batter in the prepared pan, it will be sticky. Spray a piece of plastic wrap with cooking spray and cover the pan.
- Place the pan in a warm spot and let rise for an hour or until doubled in height, or refrigerate until you are ready to bake.
- Preheat oven to 350º. Evenly distribute the fruit over the dough then sprinkle with the turbinado sugar. Melt 4 tablespoons butter and drizzle it over the top. Bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the pan and lower the temperature to 325º and bake for 8-10 minutes. The top should be golden brown.
- While the cake is baking, whisk together the glaze and drizzle over warm coffee cake.
Notes
Recipe Tips
- To get a great rise from the dough, try heating up some water in a microwave and placing the pan of dough in the warm microwave to rise. The steam and heat from the water is a great place for dough to rise.
- If the raspberries are sour, use more cherries, or leave out the raspberries and just use cherries.
- You can use frozen cherries, let them thaw before adding.
- This can be frozen after it has cooled. Freeze before adding the glaze. Add the glaze right before serving.
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