I always try to teach—in my classes…through m blog—that a large part of learning to cook well is finding and honing a few basic, reliable and versatile recipes. You should make these basics so often that you can practically make them in your sleep. It might seem like this approach to food preparation might be boring…or limiting. But it isn’t. It is actually liberating. The repetition will hone your skills in the kitchen. And it will actually make you more adventurous as you recognize the patterns and techniques you have learned when you encounter them in new recipes (which will in turn give you confidence to try them). French home cooking—as I learned it—leans heavily on this idea of learning a slate of basic tried and true recipes and then expanding your repertoire out from this core. Julia Child called this style of cooking “theme & variation.”
My short crust pastry is one of these foundational recipes in my kitchen. When approaching a new recipe for a tart, pie or turnover, unless there is a compelling reason to use another recipe for the crust (maybe the dough needs an alternate flour/grain…or a very specific textural result that my recipe doesn’t provide is required…etc), I just substitute my own dough. This leaves me free to focus on the part of the recipe that is new to me…and gives me a leg up on having a successful result.
For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you are probably aware that this is the way I approach cooking in general. I have posted several kinds of quiche…all with the same custard ratio. Many ice cream recipes have appeared—all with the same basic formula underneath their varied flavors. And so on.
It will probably come as no surprise then that many of my coffeecake recipes are frequently variations on one basic, simple cake: a rich, sour cream cake that is itself a variation on the classic American 1-2-3-4 cake (1 c. butter, 2 c. sugar, 3 c. flour, 4 eggs.). I shared it first in a Pear & Walnut Coffeecake. It has since popped up (almost unchanged) in a Pineapple Upside-down Cake and a Peach Streusel Coffeecake. And it has been the springboard for variations that eventually became Coconut Coffeecake, Piña Colada Cupcakes, Rhubarb Upside-down Cake and Chocolate Coffeecake with Browned Butter Streusel (to name a few).
A few weeks ago, after poking around on line a bit searching for a streusel coffeecake that suited my pantry and finding nothing appealing, I remembered that I already had a delicious recipe that I could use…and that I was pretty sure would turn out well. Just like the pear coffeecake…and the peach one…I wanted a coffeecake that used the abundant fruit of the moment. This time it was Bing cherries (not only was I almost out of coffeecake at the time…I had purchased too many cherries for some reason). I love Bing cherries with chocolate…so I wanted a little chocolate in the cake. My basic recipe was able to accommodate all of these things easily. It was a no brainer to make it.
If you make it…I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. The basic cake—underneath the cherries and chocolate—might even become one of your favorite basic recipes.
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. pecans (60g), lightly toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 c. chocolate chips (85g)
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour (200g)
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
8 T. (1 stick/114g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c. sugar (200 grams)
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 t. vanilla
1 c. sour cream (242 grams)
360g (about 2 1/2 c) Bing (or other dark, sweet cherry) cherries, stemmed, pitted and halved
To make the topping, combine the first four ingredients in a small bowl, rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients. Add the walnuts and chill until ready to build the coffee cake.
Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 to 3 minutes using a stand mixer). Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the sour cream in two additions. Spread the batter in a greased and floured 13- by 9-inch baking pan. Arrange the cherry halves, cut side up, over the batter so they are relatively evenly spaced.
Scatter the topping evenly over all. Bake in a 350° oven until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean—35 to 45 minutes.
Note: This cake freezes beautifully. If you want to have a slice for breakfast every morning, portion the whole cake and freeze the individual portions in an airtight container or in a single layer in a Ziplock freezer bag. A piece can be thawed in the microwave (medium power) or you can let it thaw overnight. To do this, before you go to bed, take out a slice, set it on a plate and cover it tightly with plastic to conserve the moisture as the cake thaws.
