Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake - Easily Coffee's Best Friend

This picture was stolen from Food Wanderings in Asia, check her recipe for the original

Someone asked me the other day, if you could be any type of dessert, what dessert would you be? (That never happened.) But without skipping a beat I said a coffee cake. See there are few desserts in the food universe that are allowed to jump meal times. One of these are the danish and the other is the coffee cake. And this coffee cake, is the king of all coffee cakes. I don't care if you're allergic to strawberries, or if you're lactose intolerant, what doesn't kill you makes you happier. This Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake has everything that you could possibly want in a dessert and a breakfast. So take your epinepherine shot so we can get started. 

Preheat your oven to 350. 
Because this dessert is composed of four different layers I'll go over each layer individually before assembly. 

For the cake I'm gonna start by combining my flour and sugar in a bowl. Take your butter that is reasonably cold, not frozen but definitely not melted, and cut the butter into the flour. If you don't have a pastry cutter then buy one, but if you're too cheap to do that, you can use two forks and some elbow grease. By the way that's not an extra ingredient, it's just a saying. If you want to skip all the hard work than a food processor can also be used. Once the mixture resembles coarse crumbs measure off 3/4 of a cup and set aside. This is going to be our traditional coffee cake crumb topping. 

Continuing with the rest of the cake batter, add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and combine well. In another bowl whisk together your yogurt, lemon juice, egg, and vanilla. I've tried this recipe with sour cream and it worked beautifully, but what I've been meaning to try is using greek yogurt. I assume because the water has been strained out of the yogurt the cake would be a little drier, but if someone is willing to take the risk please comment below on how it worked out. 

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir thoroughly. It'll look really ugly, but do not panic. Those lumps will smooth out in the oven. 




I knew I was meant to make this cake because God told me so. It turns out I had exactly 1 cup of cream cheese left, the exact amount to make this recipe! I know I was as stoked as you were. 

So now it's time to make the cheese layer, which could not be any simpler. With a whisk, or a mixer, beat your room temperature cream cheese until smooth. I cannot stress room temperature enough, save us both the trouble and just leave it out early. To our smooth cream cheese we are going to add in the egg and sugar and blend thoroughly. Now that that's done we can move on to the jam. 

If you were making your own jam, which I'm not, the recipe would follow. My ol' friend Martha provided this recipe.
Strawberry Jam 
For me, I'm just going to use my local costco's standard strawberry preserves. Microwave this for 30 seconds or until it's runny and shines. By the way, I forgot to do this and mine was really hard to spread, but I'll explain that more later.

We have all of our layers ready so let's assemble. Spray an 8 inch spring form pan and line the bottom with a circle of parchment. The circle doesn't have to be exact, it's only for extra protection. We don't need any accidents, if you know what I mean. Pour the batter into the mold, and using a spoon, push the batter a half an inch up the sides to create a well to pour in the cream cheese. It's crucial that when you pour in the cream cheese, you do not let it touch the sides of the pan. Be very careful. After this dollop your teaspoons of jam onto the cheese center and spread an even layer over the cake. After you are satisfied with your spreading skills, sprinkle the reserved crumble on top. I never took a jam spreading class so my spreading was a little funky. I was too embarrassed to show you how mine looked so I just didn't. 

You want to bake this for 50-55 minutes, or until the top is golden, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Don't bother testing the cake until after 40 minutes. When you think it's ready let the cake rest with the oven door ajar. I just stuck a spoon in the oven door. Keep it in their for about 10 minutes, this will help the cream cheese part to not crack. After letting it rest, set it on the counter top until it's cool enough to handle. After it's cool enough to handle unmold it and chuck it into the fridge to completely cool. I was too impatient and I cut it before it was ready. Completely ruined one side of the cake, but I wasn't worried cause it still tasted amazing. 

Your tribulations will be rewarded for this is one of the most moist, delicious, beautiful desserts on the market. Some people even call this visual poetry, looking at the picture I have to agree. When you serve this to your friends they'll be amazed, and more importantly proper hierarchy will be restored. So I really, really hope you give this a try. And as always, 

Chow!

So beautiful

Recipe

For the Cake and Crumble
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into chunks
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sour cream or yogurt with one tablespoon of lemon juice
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Filling
8oz or 1 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg

Jam

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Strawberry Jam

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