Cherry vanilla breakfast cake

Good morning!

I’m in a particularly wonderful mood for a few reasons this morning, a few of them being that it’s Saturday and sunny…but mainly because I just ate cake for breakfast.

You heard me! Cake for breakfast! It truly doesn’t get better than that. Especially on a Saturday.

This cherry vanilla breakfast cake is super easy to throw together and not overly sweet, which makes it great for breakfast (or snack, or dessert or…dinner).

Actually, it’s more like a giant vanilla bean muffin studded with ripe cherries, if I do say so myself. Perfect with some French press coffee or a foamy tea latte.

This was actually my first attempt at baking with fresh cherries. I’ve always been deterred from it in the past because I never wanted to spend an extra five minutes to remove cherry pits.

But guess what? This cake is totally worth the extra five minutes. In fact, I think baking this spurred a deep love for fresh cherries and I can foresee a lot more cherry baked goods coming in the future.

Well, as long as sweet cherries keep going on sale at Trader Joe’s, that is.

I also love how rustic this cake is. It reminds me of something I would get at a small French bakery. I sprinkled vanilla sugar over the top before baking and it totally took the whole thing over the top. I loved the sweet crunch!

This cake also reminds me of Jergen’s cherry vanilla body lotion….in a very good way. I need to pick up some more of that stuff next time I’m at Target!

This is best baked while in your pajamas…..so go for it!

Cherry Vanilla Breakfast Cake

yields 16 small slices

Print this recipe!

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 T baking powder

1 cup sweet cherries, pitted (you could also try blackberries or blueberries here)

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

4 T melted butter

1 vanilla bean, scraped of seeds (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)

vanilla sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter and flour a nine inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Whisk together well then set aside.

Beat the eggs until foamy, add the vanilla bean seeds (or extract), buttermilk and melted butter. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until combined. Batter will be thick; be careful not to over-mix.

Spread batter into baking pan and sprinkle cherries over top, pressing in gently. Sprinkle an additional tablespoon of sugar over the cake and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden and the sides begin to pull away from the pan.