Streusal is probably one of my most favorite words to say as well as one of my favorite things to eat. But now I have a new favorite word: Kuchen. Kuchen just means cake in German, but it’s so much more fun to call it kuchen, isn’t it? It’s especially fun to say those words together: streusal kuchen. It just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it. 😉 Whatever you want to call this recipe, it’s really good and very easy to make. It got the Brandon seal of approval and he rarely likes fruit-filled cakes, especially ones with cranberry. He said it tasted way too good to be a light recipe, but it is, so you don’t even have to feel guilty about eating it!
This is basically a coffee cake, but it doesn’t matter if you eat it for breakfast or dessert. I would venture to guess that you’ll want to have it both times! It’s an extremely moist cake, filled with caramelized pears and dried cranberries and then topped with a delicious streusal topping (I added some oats to give it a bit of crunch and make it healthier). You can make this recipe with apples and raisins if that’s more your thing. I had a bunch of Anjou pears sitting in my fridge, so I decided to use them instead.
It’s supposed to be made in a 10″ springform pan, but I halved the recipe and used my mini springforms
I thought this cake tasted even better after sitting for a while, so it would be a really easy recipe to whip up at night and then eat for breakfast the next day. I think any day that starts with cake automatically has to be a good day.
Pear-Cranberry Streusal Kuchen
adapted from Cooking Light
Breakfast, Dessert | Servings: 8-10
Prep time: 25 min | Cook time: 50 min | Total time: 1 hour 15 min
Ingredients
- 5 cups (about 4 large) chopped Anjou (or whatever is in season/your favorite) pears (substitute: Golden Delicious or Rome apples)
- 2 tbsp. sugar, divided
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. ginger or nutmeg
- 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1/4 cup egg substitute (or 1 egg)
- 2 1/2 tbsp. canola or vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries (substitute: raisins)
Streusal:
Note: if you’re like me and you really like streusal, you may want to double this.
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 tbsp. AP or whole wheat flour
- 3 tbsp. rolled oats (optional)
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. ginger or nutmeg
- 2 1/2 tbsp. cold butter or margarine
- 2 tsp. light corn syrup
Process
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees (F).
- Arrange chopped pears in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray, and sprinkle with 1 tbsp. sugar. Bake for 8 minutes, stirring well. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp. sugar and bake an 7 more minutes or until pears are slightly soft. Set aside to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
- While pears are baking, make the streusal: combine brown sugar, oats, flour, and spices in a small bowl. Using your fingers or a pastry blender cut in margarine and corn syrup until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine with next flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
- In a smaller bowl, stir together buttermilk, egg substitute, oil, and lemon rind. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.
- Gently fold in pears and cranberries.
- Spoon mixture into a 10-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray; place pan on a baking sheet.
- Sprinkle streusal evenly over batter in pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes (20-25 minutes in mini springform pans) or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Serve slightly warm or room temperature.
Oh Yum! Pears and cranberries are my favorite. I wonder if it would work with fresh cranberries? I might have to give that a try!
The pears make it a very moist cake, so I think fresh cranberries might make it too soggy? But I bet it would be ok if you used less pears. Maybe half or 2/3 the amount? I still have tons of cranberries sitting in my freezer, so I’m going to have to try that, too!
youre so cute lol.
streusel kuchen. yum!
love this!
Thanks, Tia! Your comments got caught by the spam filter for some reason, but I approved them. Hopefully that shouldn’t happen again anymore.
#Pears and #cranberries are always good together, too: https://bit.ly/hs7EZI ( via @emiline200) #recipes
Yep..I will eat just about anything with a streusal topping! Love your mini versions.