Kuchen is just the German word for cake. This recipe was passed to my great-grandmother when she moved to the United States at an early age, still speaking German. Settling in Michigan, it fed my father and his brothers and made its way into my kitchen when my mom added it to an Air Force base wives cookbook.
It took me six years to get this recipe. After leaving home and making my way in the world, whenever I would get homesick, the thought of this dessert would always comfort me. A layer of sweet cake covered with a solid inch of cherry pie filling topped with crispy islands of batter.
At least once a month throughout my youth, my mother would make a cherry kuchen (pronounced koo-gan) for my family of five. On a bad day, the cake would be around for more than 24 hours. It made appearances at Super Bowl parties and as my actual birthday cake on more than one occasion.
Ingredients
1 ¾ cans cherry pie filling
1 cup of butter or margarine
4 eggs
1 ¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
First, cream the butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla. It is important to remember to use soft butter, not melted. Using firm or hard butter could cause the dough to become flaky and difficult to work with. Sift the flower, baking powder, and salt into the creamed mixture. Add the dough to a greased cake pan. Use all the dough except for one cup, we will use this later on top of the cherries.
Spread the cherry pie filling over the dough. This is where you could use blueberry pie filling as well as cherry. I haven’t tried it, but the principles are the same. Once the cherry pie filling is completely spread out, place three to five dough “islands” on top of the cherries. These should be thin, as they will add a crunchy bit once the whole thing is cooked.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until done. Remember, this thing will continue to cook once it is pulled out of the oven, so check it often. There is a sweet spot, undercooked and you have a doughy cake, overcooked and it dries out and becomes really flaky. Once you have it just right though, it will bring back childhood memories for a lifetime.
by Nicholas Ryan
