Sour cherry coffee cake with crunchy topping

I must confess, coffee cakes are some of my favourite cakes(I know, this doesn't sound impressive as I have lots of favourite cake types). I really like eating cake and drinking coffee on a Sunday afternoon, especially when the weather is bad.

A long time ago, someone requested a sour cherry cake and I asked my grandmother for her recipe as I really like her sour cherry cake, but somehow I managed to lose the recipe. As it was too complicated to ask my grandma again for her recipe(will do sometime soon), I started researching on the internet after a suitable recipe.

And here it is, the best, most delicious sour cherry coffee cake  after a recipe from Martha Stewart. Here I must say two things:

1. all Martha Stewart recipes I tried are pretty darn delicious

2. it is very important what kind of vanilla extract you use for your coffee and not coffee cakes. I tried all possible vanilla extracts I was able to find here, and in my opinion this one from Dr. Oetker is the best, better even than using real vanilla bean (I know, here some bakers will be very mad at me)

Utensils: 23 cm round baking tin, 2 bowls, spatula, mixer

Servings: 8

Difficulty: easy

Preparation time: 30 min preparation + 1 hour cooking

Ingredients:

For the topping

• 55 g unsalted butter, melted
• 90 g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
• 50 g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar 
• 55 g (1/4 cup) brown sugar 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 

For the cake

• 180 g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 115 g butter, softened 
• 150 g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar 
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (or 1 Dr. Oetker Finesse vanilla aroma stuff from above)
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) buttermilk 
• 450 g (2 1/2 cups) fresh or frozen sour cherries, pitted(mine were 350 g from a glass)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees. 
• Butter a 23 cm round baking dish, and dust with flour, tapping out excess. 
• Make the topping: in a bowl stir together butter, flour, sugars, salt, and cinnamon.  Set aside.
• Make the cakes: Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. 
• With a mixer, cream butter and granulated sugar in another bowl until pale and fluffy. 
• Beat in eggs and vanilla. 
• Working in alternating batches, add flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat until just combined. 
• Pour into prepared dish, and smooth with an offset spatula. 
• Dot top with cherries, and sprinkle with crumb topping. 
• Bake until golden and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool before cutting.