Kirsch Krümmeltorte

Great recipe for you all -

I figure that as a desperate hausfrau that I should feature the occasional distaff item in this blog. I've discovered here that when I have to bake something, anything I pull out of an American cookbook is greeted with rave reviews. I was flattered by this until I realized that mundane items like apple pies and brownies are pretty unknown here - at least in any form you'd recognize*. So I now I know not to kill myself - simple but authentic muffins or chocolate chip cookies will still get me, well, brownie points.

So here is a recipe from my mother-in-law for German Crumb Cake. Keep in mind - use jarred cherries; dark, morello or sour if possible. They are in the canned fruit section. Don't use cherry pie filling! If you can't get exact units, don't worry - this recipe is pretty robust and will survive estimation. If you don't have a springform pan, experiment with well greased Pyrex forms of approximately the same size, removing the cake from the pan by first loosening the sides, then inverting it onto a plate and then re-inverting it.

14 Tbs. Butter (7 oz)
1 cup (7 oz) Sugar
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 egg
Pinch of salt
3 1/3 cups flour
1 Tbs. baking powder

1 ~25 oz. jar dark cherries.
1 1.3 oz (37 g) packet cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix

• Whip the butter with a hand-mixer until whipped and creamy (very pale yellow). Mix in the egg.
• Mix all the dry ingredients together.
• Mix dry ingredients into wet until a crumby dough forms. Chill until needed.
• Put the cherries into a pot, reserving some of the juice. Bring the cherries to a simmer. Meanwhile dissolve pudding in the reserved juice, and add mixture to the pot. Cook until juice thickens.
• Press a bit more than 1/2 the dough into a greased Springform (30cm or 11.8"), forming a thin crust up the sides of the pan. Press the dough well into the corners - don't let it remain too thick.
• Pour the cherry mixture into the shell.
• Sprinkle the remaining dough as a streusel over the top of the cherries.
• Bake at 175 degrees, checking starting at 40 minutes. Cook until the top is golden brown - 45-55 minutes.
• Let cool until the pan is touchable, then remove from Springform to wire rack to fully cool.
• Serve warm or cold, unaccompanied or with whipped cream or ice cream. Great with coffee!

The original ingredients, in case you're metric:
200 grams butter
200 grams sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
1 egg
pinch of salt
500 grams flour
1 packet baking powder (15 g)

1 jar dark cherries
1 packet vanilla pudding (cook and serve)



* If you've ever had real Blackforest ham or apple streudel, you'd know that American versions of German items are just as bad!