Easy Cherry Crumble Cake Recipe
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This cherry crumble cake is so yummy, it just melts in your mouth! Flaky bottom crust, sweet cherry filling and the tender crumble on top – delicious!
This yummy cherry crumble cake is a cross between a cake and a pie. Just like a cherry pie, this cake has cherry filling nestled between the two layers of dough. Unlike the pie, there is no dough to roll – the bottom crust is press-in, meaning you just press the dough with your hands into the baking dish. Also, unlike the pie, the top crust is not a solid layer of dough – the top crust in this cherry cake is made out of dough crumble. There you have it – a unique cherry cake, so tender, so flaky and so delicious!
To turn the top crust into a crumble, the equipment you need is a box grater. You just put the dough in a freezer for 20 minutes to harden it somewhat, then grate that dough over the cake, using the side with the largest holes of the box grater. Dough crumbles will come out and land on the cherry filling, creating a delicious crumb layer on top of the cherry cake!
The origin of this cake is Russian, it’s an authentic Russian recipe for crumble fruit cake. You can use any type of fruit filling instead of the cherry filling, and of course you can use fresh pitted cherries instead of the filling from a can. I’m just too lazy to take the pits out of the cherries, so I always use the canned ones :) You can also use the fresh or frozen berries for the filling, you don’t need to add any sugar to the filling since the dough already has sugar in it.
So feel free to be creative with the fillings and please do try out this unusual crumb cake technique! Enjoy this yummy cherry crumble cake – it’s a perfect dessert for the summer! Also, check out my perfect apple pie recipe and easy peach cobbler – you’ll love them!
Easy Cherry Crumble Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup 1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 can 21 oz cherry pie filling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Put butter and sugar in a large bowl and mix together until combined. Add the egg and mix until combined. Add flour and baking powder and mix until combined.
- Divide the dough in 2 equal parts. Shape one half of the dough into a log and put in a freezer for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, spray the non-stick 9x13 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Take the dough (the part that's not in a freezer) and press into the bottom of the baking dish with your fingers, shaping it so it covers the bottom and 1-inch of the sides of the baking dish.
- Spread the cherry filling over the dough.
- Take the remaining dough out of the freezer and using the box grater (the side with the largest holes) grate the dough over the top of the cherry cake, so the cherry filling is covered with crumbs of the dough.
- Put the cherry crumble cake in the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
I love the crumble cake… it melts in my mouth and is so delicious.
I baked this in the morning for a snack at the office and shared it with my coworkers they loved it! I think I should do this once or twice a month. 😁