Iowa recipes: Cherry Coffee Cake II

I wasn't sure if I was going to share this new recipe I found for cherry coffee cake, because it looked a little odd when I pulled it from the oven.  But it was so wonderful to eat, I just had to share it with you all.

I found this recipe for cherry coffee cake in an Iowa farm newspaper. It was very easy to mix up, but not so easy to spread in the pan.  For some reason, I couldn't get the cake batter to spread on the bottom of the pan without sticking to my spatula.  Also, the recipe says to spread only half the batter on the bottom of the pan, but I had to use three-fourths of the batter to cover the pan.  That didn't leave much batter to spread on top.  I ended up dropping the batter on top of the cherry pie filling, then swirling it.  As a result, the cherry pie filling got mixed into the batter, and once baked, the cake looked an odd brown color.  Thankfully, it still tasted excellent, and the photos turned out OK.

Cherry coffee cake, with the flowers my hubby gave me for Valentine's Day. Please excuse my messy kitchen!

My husband and I loved this coffee cake, so I'm sure I'll be making it again soon.  Hope you enjoy it, too!

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Cherry Coffee Cake

• 3/4 C. butter, softened
• 1-1/2 C. sugar, divided
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 C. sour cream
• 2-1/2 C. flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 can (21-oz.) cherry pie filling
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 C. pecans, chopped

Cream butter and 1 C. sugar.  Combine eggs and sour cream, and add to butter mixture.  Stir in flour, salt and baking soda; combine well. Spread half of the batter in a greased 13 x 9-inc pan. Spread pie filling over batter evenly. Combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle half over pie filling. Drop and spread remaining batter on top and sprinkle with remaining sugar and cinnamon. Garnish with pecans. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 to 45 minutes.  If desired, drizzle baked coffee cake with a mixture of 2/3 C. powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp. vanilla extra and 1 Tbl. warm water.