Sweet and sour, like the season: Sour cherry crumb cake.

1. 

So, ragazzi, what could Annalena mean when she says the season is "sweet and sour?"  Well, everyone loves summer, don't they?  Even when we factor in the awful humidity,  the days when it is TOO hot, the brown outs, the blackouts, we still love it.    But to quote Elinor Wylie (which Annalena does, often):  "summer, much too beautiful to stay."   And indeed.  Already in the way the trees are setting their winged fruits, Annalena can see the beginning of the end.  We have already said goodbye to asparagus, and to southern Jersey strawberries (they come from upstate now, and will be gone, soon), and the plums are coming in.  "And the seasons, they go round and round." 

For those of us who live by the farmers market rhythm, there are certainties, and variations.  This year, for example, we are in a flood of cherries.  WAY more cherries than Annalena remembers ever having.  But they will end.  So, gather them while ye may and gorge on them.  Every sweet red one of them. 

In her experience, Annalena finds that the sweet cherries are good for eating out of hand, and that's about it.  Now, there is nothing wrong with that, but for those of you who are fans of cherries cooked in... something, it's probably sour cherries you ate, and it's sour cherries you should buy.  Annalena loves to eat them fresh, which is a practice that many people find to be yet another aspect of her unsavory side, but what can one do?  She loves them.  

One of her favorite baking publications, King Arthur's "The Baking Sheet" has just published its farewell issue, but in it Annalena has found tons of things to make.  And this is one of them.  It is essentially a sour cherry coffee cake, which has an incredible amount of variation available to you.  Rather than show the whole mass of a cake, she is showing you what was left after she and the Guyman had a  piece each, and then she brought half of it to the Karlin clan for breakfast. 

This is a good one for an informal dinner or brunch, or just for breakfast.  Not too sweet, and really easy.  You will need a cherry pitter if you use them fresh, but you don't have to.  And for those of you who are going to pit them yourself, let's get to work. 

You will need 3 cups of pitted sour cherries.  How much is this by weight?  Annalena knows not.  She just pitted until  she had what she needed, and if you are a sour cherry fan and can get to them, you won't have a problem either.  If you can't get them (this means YOU, Gilda), you can do this by draining cans of them, or by using frozen ones.  You will probably need two pound cans of sour cherries, and probably at least one bag of them, frozen.  If you use frozen, don't thaw them.  If you use canned, drain them really well. 

Let's make the streussel.  This is easy.  You mix a heaping cup of flour, a quarter cup each of white sugar and brown sugar (any type,  a pinch of salt, a half teaspoon of cinnamon, and a little nutmeg. Add a few drops of almond extract too, and then pour in a stick of unsalted butter that you have melted.  

With a spoon, or with your hands (better), mix this together until you get a crumbly mass. Put it aside, wash your hands, and if you haven't pitted the cherries, pit them.  (Save the pits as pie weights, ragazzi, the way Europeans do).  

Let's get our cake together.  First, put 3 cups of flour in a bowl, together with a half teaspoon of all of baking powder, baking soda, and salt (that's half a teaspoon EACH, babes.  NOT a total of half teaspoon).    Also put a cup of sugar in there - the white kind.  (This varies from the recipe.  Annalena made a mistake and it made no difference).    If you are using a stand mixer, you can add a stick of unsalted butter, right out of the fridge to this, and start working it with the paddle.  If you'd rather not work that hard, or you're not using one, get the stick of butter soft, and work it into the flour mixer.  Then add two eggs, one at a time, together with a teaspoon of vanilla. 

To the buttermilk:  a  heaping cup.  No buttermilk?  Use yogurt, and remember that a cup is six ounces so you will want to use two.  No yogurt?  Use whole or 2% milk to which you have added a teaspoon of vinegar and let it  sit for ten minutes.  Stir this into the batter,  in halves, and combine it well as you go.  Then, grease a 9x13 inch pan (metal is fine here), and spread out the cake batter.  Now, festoon that with your pitted sour cherries, and finally, sprinkle the streussel over this.  You can have nerdy fun with the streussel topping by pressing small bits of it together, to make bigger ones.  

Get the beast into a 350 degree oven, and let her rock for 30-45 minutes.  Annalena had a cake ready in 30 or so, but she wanted a darker topping (who doesn't?), so she let it sit for an extra ten. 

Here's the good news:  this is GREAT.  Here is the bad news:  Annalena is trying to find something nutritionally worthwhile about it, and she's coming up blank.   Well, such is life.  It's summer. Go for a long walk and burn some of it off.  But make it.   Make it today.  Really.