Cherry Brown Butter Spoon Cake
File this one under easy summer desserts that will please everyone. Spoon cake is super casual—it’s a simple batter that’s studded with fruits (this is the place to use all those local summer beauties—feel free to swap the cherries out for berries or sliced stone fruit), baked and simply spooned into bowls—still just a bit warm from the oven—and served with scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
1 stick unsalted European-style butter, plus more for pan
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted
2 tsp cornstarch
¾ cup light brown sugar (packed), divided
½ tsp ground coriander
½ cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp orange zest
1 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp turbinado sugar
Vanilla ice cream, for serving
METHOD
Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 8” cake pan or a 2 quart baking dish with butter and set aside.
In a small pot melt butter over medium heat until nutty, golden brown and fragrant, approximately 3-5 minutes. Pour into a large bowl and let cool.
Add cherries to a medium bowl and add cornstarch, ¼ cup brown sugar and coriander. Toss to coat, using a spoon to break some of the cherries in half. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, tossing occasionally until the cherries have released some of their juices.
To the cooled butter, whisk in milk, vanilla extract, egg, lemon zest, orange zest and remaining brown sugar until smooth. Then add flour, baking powder and salt and whisk until just combined and batter is smooth and thick.
Pour batter into the prepared dish (it won’t look like a lot of batter, but don’t worry) then spoon berries (along with their juices) onto the batter. Sprinkle turbinado sugar atop, more so on the exposed dough.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes, then spoon into bowls and serve with vanilla ice cream.
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