Amish Cobblestone Coffee Cake

 

 Oh, it's good! And easy, too.

 First, you can find the recipe here. I'll offer some suggestions to make it even easier.

 I simplified the directions by first combing the "wet" ingredients (melted butter, eggs) and then adding the sugar, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Mix this thoroughly (a large spoon is fine).

 Add the flour last and mix again. The batter is thicker than I'd have expected (quite pasty) but it makes it easier to spread into a pan and then place the cherry pie filling atop. By the way, I skipped the almond extract. It was $3.99 for a small bottle and I didn't figure it was needed (it wasn't).

 By the way, I used a 9x13" metal baking pan. Normally I'd shorten the baking  time when I substitute metal for glass but I found the full 35 minutes just right.

 When you add the  second half of the batter a spoonful at a time, it'll just sit there as "lumps" but they'll melt down as it bakes. Here's how the basic cake looks when it comes out of the oven.

 And here's a wide view just after the icing is drizzled onto the cooling (though not cold) cake.

 A close-up view of a corner of the cake.

 It's quite a nice cake and just as easy as can be. I don't know why it's called a "Coffee Cake" because there's no coffee in the ingredients (I think a true coffee cake should include it). Sure, it's great as a breakfast treat with coffee ... but still.

 We three (Bob, Tom and myself) just had a nice-sized slice as we played our Saturday morning game of cards. Delicious! And far better and fresher than the store-bought pastries.

 Wouldn't this be great with other pie fillings, too? I'd like to try blueberry. But peach would be another great idea.