Brown Butter Stone Fruit Streusel Coffee Cake

It may be the beginning of September, but the markets are still filled with stone fruit of all sorts. In fact, plums are just coming on strong now!

So this melt in your mouth, buttery, tender coffee cake is perfect for right now.

This simple to make, but melt in your mouth result, is the cake that you will love at breakfast, or with coffee when friends pop over.  Once you’ve made it, you’ll want to make it over and over, playing with the filling, using the last few apricots, nectarines, peaches or plums in the crisper, or switching out the fruit over the seasons.

Brown Butter

Browning butter is an extra step, but makes the world of difference in just about any recipe.  Letting the butter melt and foam away over medium low heat, till the bits of fat turn fragrant and nutty brown at the bottom of the pot gives such a depth of flavour and earthiness to all sorts of bakes.  Of course, you can skip this step, but why? It really doesn’t take that long, and while the butter is bubbling away, you can easily prep the rest of the ingredients. 

Ideally, use a smaller pot (I have a small butter pan for just this method) since the wider the pan, the quicker the butter will go through the stages, and the higher the chances you will scorch the bottom of the pan and the butter.  Just use the smallest pan you have, and keep an eye on it, swirling the butter occasionally to see what the bottom of the pan looks like.  After browning butter a few times, you will get the hang of it, and will anticipate the length of time it will take with your pan and your stove.

Fruit

As I mentioned above, this is a great recipe to use all the fruit in your bowl.  For instance, I’ve made it with a couple of apricots, a stray nectarine, and a few peaches all at the same time.  No matter which fruit combo you decide on, you want two full cups worth of chopped fruit.  No worries about the skins, they will soften nicely while baking.  You want to cut the slices to about 1/2 inch cubes or so.

Streusel Topping

Everything is better with a streusel topping, isn’t it!? This is a simple one of flour (this recipe works equally well with all purpose wheat or a cup for cup gluten free blend), chilled butter, sugar, and spices.  You could add some chopped nuts if you felt so inclined.  Use your fingers to gently combine grated chilled butter into the rest of the ingredients, and then just scatter it all over the chopped fruit.  As it bakes up, it will melt and then turn into a craggy beautiful topping that will be golden brown, and melt in your mouth.

Assemble

This is a simple bowl and wooden spoon batter.  The dry ingredients include a beautiful warm blend of cinnamon, allspice and brown sugar. And the wet ingredients include the cooled browned butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla.  The fruit is tossed with orange zest (yes, you could use lemon zest as well)  Blend them together and then spoon into a prepared springform pan. 

I always place parchment paper OVER the bottom of a springform pan, and then close the sides around it, trapping the paper between them both.  This creates a great seal, and even with the most wet batters I have never experienced a leak.  Lightly spray the sides with non-stick spray (or softened butter). 

Once the batter has been spooned in, layer in the fruit, getting it spread evenly over the entire surface.  Finally finish with the streusel topping.  Bake till fragrant and golden brown.  Depending on your oven, this can take anywhere between 45-60 minutes.  Check with a skewer inserted into the centre.  If it has just a few crumbs it’s fine to come out.  Let it cool, use a knife to release the edges from the sides of the pan and release the springform sides.   

Final Thoughts

This cake is best once cooled, but can be served warmed in a toaster oven.  It is a tender and soft cake, don’t leave it out on the counter.  It is best stored in a sealed container or wrapped and placed in the fridge. It will last 3-4 days in the fridge this way.  Warming a slice and buttering it (for even more decadence!) is a perfect breakfast!

If you want to make this autumnal, sauté sliced apples in butter, brown sugar and spices in a skillet till just softened.  Let this mixture cool and spoon over the batter as you would the chopped stone fruit.  In the summer feel free to use blackberries or blueberries, or even cherries.

If you make this Brown Butter Stone Fruit Streusel Coffee Cake, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! It’s always lovely to hear from you guys, and I always do my best to respond to each comment or question. And of course, if you do make this recipe, if you post it on Instagram, don’t forget to also tag me so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is such a treat.

For other late summer baking ideas, check out Stone Fruit and Spice Pie in a Cinnamon Crust, Apricot Basil Gluten Free Crumble, Gluten Free Buckwheat Walnut Crumble, Plum Strudel, Plum Butter, Plum Torte with Roasted Plum and Cardamom Ice Cream

Disclaimer

When I sent this recipe out in the August newsletter, there was a typo! So very sorry.  For the streusel topping it should read 4 Tbsp not 4 tsp of chilled butter. Oops!

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Brown Butter Stone Fruit Crumble Cake

A tender cake with brown butter for extra depth of flavour celebrates stone fruit season. The golden crumble on top and the jammy fruit make it feel all cozy and irresistable!

Course Baking, Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine North American

Keyword brown butter, cinnamon, stone fruit, turbinado sugar

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/2 cup 1 stick butter
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, can sub with a cup for cup gluten free flour blend
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp orange zest
• 2 cups fresh chopped stone fruit, apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines, or a combo of all About 1/2-3/4 inch cubes

Crumble

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 4 tbsp salted butter, chilled
• 2 tbsp raw or turbinado sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan with parchment, butter or spray the sides.
2. Place the stick of butter into a small sauce pan on the stove over medium low heat. Let it go through all the stages of foaming and bubbles, till a pleasantly nutty aroma is achieved, and the bottom is covered with browned bits of butter fat. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and sugar in a large bowl.
4. In a medium bowl combine the milk, eggs, vanilla, and cooled browned butter. Pour this into the flour mixture and use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to stir till just combined, don't over mix. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
5. Toss together the cubed stone fruit with the orange zest and then scatter it all evenly over the batter.

Crumble

1. Gently toss the flour, sugar, cinnamon and allspice in a small bowl. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the butter into the flour mixture. Mix gently with your fingertips until a pleasant crumble forms. Scatter the crumble evenly over the stone fruit.
2. Scatter the raw sugar evenly over the crumble.
3. Place the pan on a baking sheet and then place this onto the centre rack of the oven. Bake until golden on top, and a skewer comes out with few crumbs. This may require 45-55 minutes, depending on your oven. Let the cake cool 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the sides before removing the sides of the pan.

4. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store wrapped in the fridge, up to 5 days.

5. Can be served with ice cream, vanilla yogurt, or just dusted with icing sugar!

6. See blog post for more details.

Recipe Notes

I say that this cake feeds eight. But you can easily feed more, depending on how you slice it.  It is quite buttery and slightly rich, so you don't need a large slice to be satisfied.