Cherry Breakfast Cake

I got this from Rachael Ray Everyday magazine, but the original recipe can also be found here.

This seemed like a great breakfast recipe for us on a weekend morning. It was, sort of. I had a bag of frozen raspberries and a bag of frozen mixed berries (raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries, I believe). I also didn't have buttermilk, so used 1/2c of skim milk and 1/2T of lemon juice.

I had a really hard time getting the topping to crumble, so after hand blending it for what felt like 15 minutes, I stopped and moved on. It didn't want to crumble, but it sure smelled great!

I made the recipe and then stuck it in the oven. It came out and while it wasn't as crumbly as the picture, it looked pretty darn good. The first pieces we had were good too; both of us went back for seconds.

Alas, my second piece was still batter on the cake portion. We are still trying to figure out the intricacies of the oven in our new home. In short, the outside edges were cooked just fine, but the interior spaces were not done at all.

But this is not the recipe's fault, but rather mine in not knowing how our oven works well.... We'll definitely be trying this one again.

Ingredients:

• 4-1/2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Two 10-ounce bags frozen cherries, thawed and drained

Make it your own
Replace the cherries with your favorite fruit.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, using your fingers, combine 3 cups flour, the brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix in all but 2 tablespoons butter until large crumbs form; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, the egg and the buttermilk.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour, the granulated sugar, baking powder and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the egg mixture and stir to form a thick, smooth batter. Fold about a third of the reserved crumb mixture into the batter; spread evenly into the prepared baking dish.
3. Scatter the cherries over the batter; sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture on top. Bake the cake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for about 20 minutes before serving.