
Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake
I love cherries, and Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake is one of my favorite ways to eat them! This lovely coffee cake is filled with plump, luscious cherries. I baked the coffeecake in a cast iron skillet then topped the batter with a brown sugar streusel topping. Finally, cherries were added on top. After baking the cake, I iced it with a delightful powdered sugar icing. Yes, this is one of those drool-worthy desserts or breakfast coffee cakes you won’t be able to stay out of!
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At the end of June, I was contacted by the Northwest Cherry Growers Association and asked if I would be a #Canbassador for their cherries. I received a huge 20-pound box of cherries. They asked me to make a recipe and post about it. (I did not receive any monetary compensation except for the cherries). I was only too glad to participate. However, 20-pounds of cherries is a lot! I made ten recipes with the cherries, not merely one! And I will be pumping out those recipes multiple times a week through July and August.

I received ten of these bags! That’s a lot of cherries.
I have to admit these really are some of the best cherries I’ve ever eaten. My husband said he couldn’t remember ever eating cherries as large as these. Yes, we loved them. All our close neighbors and John’s co-workers enjoyed them even more since they were recipients of most of my goodies!

These were some of the plumpest, largest cherries we’ve ever seen.
I am partial to cherries. My mom grew up on a farm in southeastern Ohio. They planted three cherry trees in the early 1900s or 1910s when they bought the farm. My grandfather immigrated from Czechoslovakia at the turn of the century. He and his brother worked very hard in the coal mines of West Virginia in order to save up enough for their own family nest eggs. Grandpa purchased the land and then after marrying my grandma (he was 22, she was 14!), he went back to the coal mines again in order to make enough to build the farmhouse, barn and other improvements on the property. This would have been completed before World War I.
It was in the early to mid 1960s before my family visited the family farm every year to see my grandparents. By then the cherry trees were mammoth (at least through a small girl’s eyes). Grandma’s cherry trees were huge producers. So much so that she kept the five of nine children who lived locally with all the cherries they could possibly eat. I remember eating a lot of homemade cherry pies whenever we vacationed there each June or July. No one could ever beat Grandma’s cherry pies grown from her own cherry trees. Those pies were nothing short of spectacular.
Even my mom’s pies were not as good and she baked pies every week from the time she got married. I think because Grandma used lard in her homemade pie crust and the pies were cooked over a wood stove. She had an electric stove by the mid-sixties, but she still cooked most of her food over that trusty old wood stove. It added flavor and essence to the pies that no other cooking method can replicate.
Well, I’ve never cooked over a wood stove, but I do cook in cast iron skillets. This Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake is wonderful baked in a cast iron skillet. However, if you don’t have one, simply transfer the mixture to a 9×13″ baking dish and you will be fine. You will have to adjust the time based on how full the dough fills the dish. My batter almost filled the cast iron skillet I was using, so it took about one and a half hours to bake completely. A shallower pan will cook more quickly.
If you’re looking for a terrific way to enjoy cherries for either a breakfast coffeecake or a dessert, give this luscious Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake a try. But be warned! This dessert will have you drooling after the first bite!

Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake is absolutely mouthwatering!

This lovely coffee cake is wonderful for either breakfast or dinner.

If you enjoy cherries, you’ll love this cake.

Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake is rich, decadent and heavenly. 🙂
Here’s what I did.

I used these ingredients for the streusel topping.

Combine UNBLEACHED all-purpose flour, sugar and cinnamon. (Bleached flour toughens baked goods).

Cut in cold butter until coarse crumbs form.

Set streusel topping aside.

I used these ingredients for the cake.

Soften butter. Add to a mixing bowl with sugar, egg, baking powder, salt and vanilla.

Add half-and-half.

Mix with an electric mixer until smooth.

Add UNBLEACHED all-purpose flour. Bleached flour toughens baked goods. Add part of the pitted cherry halves.

Stir with a wooden spoon to combine.

Grease and flour a large cast-iron skillet. Spoon batter into prepared skillet.

Spread streusel topping over top.

Sprinkle remaining cherry halves over top of streusel topping. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. The center area must be completely done.

I used these ingredients for the icing.

Whisk to combine.

After coffee cake has cooled completely, drizzle icing over top. Allow icing to set and harden about 15 minutes before cutting.

Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake is moist and delicious because of all the plump, juicy cherries in the batter.

This is one of those “gotta make” breakfast coffee cakes during the summer when fresh cherries are in season.

Of course, Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake is also delicious as a dessert. 🙂
Here’s the recipe.
CHERRY CRUMB COFFEE CAKE
(My own concoction)

Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake
Equipment
- 1 large cast-iron skillet or other oven-proof skillet
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 electric mixer
- 1 whisk
- 2 wooden spoons
- 1 spatula
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- 1 pastry blender
- 1 bamboo skewer to check for doneness on the cake
- 1 small mixing bowl
- 1 cherry pitter or sharp knife to pit cherries
Ingredients
STREUSEL TOPPING:
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 2/3 cup UNBLEACHED all-purpose flour (bleached flour toughens baked goods)
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cold (1 stick)
CAKE:
- 2 cups UNBLEACHED all-purpose flour (bleached flour toughens baked goods)
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened (1 stick)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup 2% milk (I didn’t have milk so I used half-and-half)
- 3 cups fresh cherries pitted and halved (divided use)
GLAZE:
- 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp. half-and-half or about 1 tbsp. water or milk
Instructions
STREUSEL TOPPING:
- Mix 1 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cup flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
- Cut in ½ cup butter with a pastry blender; topping mixture will be crumbly.
- Set aside.
CAKE:
- Heat oven to 350°.
- Grease and flour a large 12” cast iron skillet very well.
- Beat softened butter, granulated sugar, egg, vanilla, baking powder, salt and cream with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy in texture.
- Add flour and 2 cups cherries and stir to combine.
- Spread mixture into prepared cast-iron skillet.
- Spread streusel topping over top of batter in skillet.
- Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of halved cherries over the top.
- Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes, until deep golden brown.
- If knife or bamboo skewer inserted in center comes out clean, cake is done.
- Remove skillet to wire rack to cool.
- Glaze with icing when cool.
- Allow glaze to harden and dry about 15 minutes before serving.
GLAZE:
- Combine ingredients with whisk and drizzle over top of cooled cake.
Notes
Cherries courtesy of Northwest Cherry Growers.
© Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen
Nutrition

Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake is an awesome treat your family and friends will love.

If you are into canning, you can preserve the cherries during the summer, then make this luscious cake any time of the year.
You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!




Cherry Crumb Coffee Cake
Equipment
- 1 large cast-iron skillet or other oven-proof skillet
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 electric mixer
- 1 whisk
- 2 wooden spoons
- 1 spatula
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- 1 pastry blender
- 1 bamboo skewer to check for doneness on the cake
- 1 small mixing bowl
- 1 cherry pitter or sharp knife to pit cherries
Ingredients
STREUSEL TOPPING:
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 2/3 cup UNBLEACHED all-purpose flour (bleached flour toughens baked goods)
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cold (1 stick)
CAKE:
- 2 cups UNBLEACHED all-purpose flour (bleached flour toughens baked goods)
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened (1 stick)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup 2% milk (I didn’t have milk so I used half-and-half)
- 3 cups fresh cherries pitted and halved (divided use)
GLAZE:
- 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp. half-and-half or about 1 tbsp. water or milk
Instructions
STREUSEL TOPPING:
- Mix 1 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cup flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
- Cut in ½ cup butter with a pastry blender; topping mixture will be crumbly.
- Set aside.
CAKE:
- Heat oven to 350°.
- Grease and flour a large 12” cast iron skillet very well.
- Beat softened butter, granulated sugar, egg, vanilla, baking powder, salt and cream with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy in texture.
- Add flour and 2 cups cherries and stir to combine.
- Spread mixture into prepared cast-iron skillet.
- Spread streusel topping over top of batter in skillet.
- Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of halved cherries over the top.
- Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes, until deep golden brown.
- If knife or bamboo skewer inserted in center comes out clean, cake is done.
- Remove skillet to wire rack to cool.
- Glaze with icing when cool.
- Allow glaze to harden and dry about 15 minutes before serving.
GLAZE:
- Combine ingredients with whisk and drizzle over top of cooled cake.
4 Comments
word wipe
October 7, 2022 at 2:24 am
It looks amazing. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Teresa
October 10, 2022 at 7:44 am
It’s a terrific recipe.
Karen
July 7, 2018 at 3:01 pm
I don’t own a cast iron skillet. Can this be made in a heavy stainless steel pan?
Teresa
July 8, 2018 at 7:34 am
Karen, I don’t think I would bake it in a stainless steel pan unless it’s one that is oven-proof. I would bake it in a 9×13″ glass baking dish instead. Just adjust the time.