This Door County Cherry Coffee Cake is packed with tart cherries, buttery streusel, and soft sour cream cake for the ultimate Midwest summer dessert.
Nothing says summer in the Midwest quite like a slice of homemade Door County Cherry Coffee Cake. Made with tart cherries, buttery streusel, and a soft sour cream cake, this easy cinnamon coffee cake is perfect for brunch, breakfast, snack time, or any holiday gathering. If you love cherry pie or coffee cake, this recipe combines all those flavors into a single pan.
Door County, Wisconsin, is famous for its tart cherries, especially Montmorency cherries that are used in pies, jams, coffee cakes, and other summer desserts. Around here, cherry season feels like a celebration of Midwest summers and family vacations. This cake has all of those nostalgic flavors with layers of buttery cake, juicy tart cherries, and a crumb topping loaded with brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts.
If you happen to have frozen Door County Cherries, Door County Pie Filling, or any other homemade cherry pie filling, I recommend you use that, but if you don’t have any, I recommend canned tart cherries with all the juice drained.
This recipe is surprisingly easy to make. The batter comes together in a medium mixing bowl with simple pantry staples, and the streusel topping adds the perfect bakery-style texture that everyone will love. The tart cherries bake into the center of the cake, creating a filling almost like cherry pie.
Ingredients
Cake Batter
Butter
Sugar
Eggs
Vanilla extract
Almond extract
Sour cream
Flour
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt
Cherry Filling
Sugar
Cornstarch
Lemon juice
Streusel Topping
Brown sugar
Flour
Cinnamon
Salt
Butter
Walnuts
Equipment
Mixing Bowls
Electric Mixer or Stand mixer
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Toothpick
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 pan with butter or baking spray.
- Drain the tart cherries well. In a small saucepan, stir together the cherries, cup sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until thickened slightly, then cool.
- In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extract.
- In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the flour mixture and sour cream to the butter mixture until combined.
- Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan.
- Spoon the tart cherry mixture evenly over the batter.
- Carefully spread the rest of the batter over the cherries.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, and salt. Cut in the remaining butter until crumbly to create the streusel topping.
- Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the cake.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- If the topping browns too quickly, loosely cover with foil during the last part of baking.
- Let cool before slicing with a knife and serving.
Other Cherry Recipes You Should Try
If you love cherry desserts, be sure to check out these other cherry recipes on my site:
Cherry Broccoli Salad
Cherry Granola Cookies
Cherry Oatmeal Crumble Bars
Cherry Pie Buttons
Cherry Jello Salad
Cherry Coffee Cake
This Door County Cherry Coffee Cake is packed with tart cherries, buttery streusel, and soft sour cream cake for the ultimate Midwest summer dessert.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened two sticks
- 1.5 cups granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 2 cups sour cream
- 3 cups all- flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Cherry Filling
- 3 15 ounce cans tart cherries drained
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 4 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Streusel Topping
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan with butter or baking spray.
-
Drain the tart cherries well. In a small saucepan, stir together the cherries, cup sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until thickened slightly, then cool.
-
In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.
-
Add the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extract.
-
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
-
Add the flour mixture and sour cream to the butter mixture until combined.
-
Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan.
-
Spoon the tart cherry mixture evenly over the batter.
-
Carefully spread the rest of the batter over the cherries.
-
In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, and salt. Cut in the remaining butter until crumbly to create the streusel topping.
-
Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the cake.
-
Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
-
If the topping browns too quickly, loosely cover with foil during the last part of baking.
-
Let cool before slicing with a knife and serving.
Storage Instructions
Store leftover coffee cake tightly covered at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. This cake also freezes well. Wrap slices individually in foil or plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months.
This Door County Cherry Coffee Cake is perfect for summer brunch, weekend baking, holiday mornings, or anytime you want a cozy Midwest dessert. The tart cherries balance the sweet cinnamon streusel perfectly, while the sour cream cake stays soft and moist for days. I recommend heating it up before eating!
This Cherry Coffee cake feels homemade and nostalgic in the best way, especially those who love Door County, Cherries, or Door County Cherries. Whether you serve it with coffee on a summer morning with your loved ones or bring it to a family gathering, this Wisconsin-inspired coffee cake always disappears quickly, and everyone will be asking for the recipe!
Did you like this Door County Cherry Coffee Cake? I would love to hear how it worked out for you!  Please comment below this blog post or tag me on social media! You can find me on Facebook and Pinterest!
