Cherry Almond Coffee Cake from Cooking Light

Since cherries are coming into season and I still have a few left in the freezer from last year (can you believe it?), I felt it necessary to get those suckers used up. I found the recipe for Cherry-Almond Coffee Cake in my 2001 Cooking Light Annual cookbook. The recipe originally appeared in the July, 2000 issue.


I did make a couple of changes to the recipe. In place of the plain, low-fat yogurt, I used a 6 oz. container of nonfat raspberry yogurt and 2 oz. of reduced fat sour cream. The flavor of the cake was great and since the recipe yields 9 servings and it's baked in a 8 x 8 pan, you get a nice little hunk of cake for the calories.


Honestly, sometimes I make these coffee cakes and Marc will have a slice and that'll be it. But with this one, he had a little bit each morning with his yogurt before heading out to work. So, I know it was a winner. :o)

Cherry-Almond Coffee Cake
(Source: Cooking Light)

• Topping:
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup regular oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon chilled butter or stick margarine, cut into small pieces
• 
  Cake:
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, softened
• 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 large egg
• Cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cups pitted sweet cherries, quartered
• 2 tablespoons slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare topping, lightly spoon 1/4 cup flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Combine flour, brown sugar, oats, and cinnamon in a small bowl; cut in 1 tablespoon butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.

To prepare the cake, lightly spoon 1 1/2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Beat granulated sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons butter at medium speed of a mixer. Add the yogurt, extracts, and egg; beat well. Add flour mixture, and beat at low speed until well-blended (batter will be thick). Spread half of batter in bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray, and top with cherries. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons topping. Repeat procedure with the remaining batter and topping. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Nutritional info can be found here.