Cream Cheese and Fruit Coffeecake

If fruit in a coffeecake is good then fruit and cream cheese should be even better, right? We decided to find out. We took our coffeecake recipe with fruit pie filling and added a layer of cream cheese filling. The results were scrumptious. A little on the rich side, maybe even more of a dessert than a coffeecake—but you decide.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 packages (12 ounces) cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons sour cream

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, whisked
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 21 oz can fruit pie filling

Optional icing

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1-2 tablespoons milk

For the optional icing, mix the confectioners’ sugar, extract and enough milk to form an icing of drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the coffeecake.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a ten- to twelve-inch baking or tart pan by greasing well and flouring the inside of the pan. (A springform pan works wonderfully well and if you are using a springform pan, you will not need to flour it.) For the coffeecake in this picture, we used a ten-inch glass-based springform pan.

1. Mix the flour and brown sugar together. With a pastry knife, cut in the butter until the mixture is granular in appearance. Measure and set aside 3/4 cup of the crumb mixture.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until it is soft. Add the vanilla, egg, sour cream, and sugar and beat until well-combined.
3. Stir the baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt into the remaining crumb mixture. Form a well in the center of this dry mixture. Add the buttermilk to the egg and add the extract. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the well in the dry mixture. Stir with a fork until combined. Do not over mix. Some lumps will remain. Set aside just over one cup of this batter.
4. Place the batter (not the cup set aside) in the prepared pan. Spread it evenly across the bottom and slightly up the sides with a rubber spatula. Spread the cream cheese filling over the batter. Spread the pie filling over the cream cheese. Spoon the set aside batter on the pie filling in drops—it will not cover the filling but will spread while baking. Sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup crumb mixture over the batter. (You will have five layers: batter on the bottom, then cream cheese, then fruit filling, then batter, and finally the crumb topping.)
5. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until golden and the cake portion tests done with a toothpick. Baking times will vary with different pans. Let the cake cool for ten minutes in the pan on the rack. If you are using a springform pan, loosen the edges and remove the ring after ten minutes.
6. Mix the confectioners’ sugar, extract and enough milk to form an icing of drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the coffeecake.

Baker’s Notes: Unlike most coffeecakes, this one needs to be chilled to set the cream cheese filling. We felt like the coffeecake was sweet enough without icing. For a sweeter dessert, the icing may be desirable.