Exquisite Cherry Cream Streusel Recipe

Streusel is a crumbly cake dough like a shortbread pastry (unlike crumble which is used as a cover for a cooked fruit preparation). It is a classic German pastry with its numerous variations that reminds me of my childhood cakes. This recipe is simple to make, rich in flavour and easy to transform to your liking. I have perfected it with great care and many trials and errors until I was completely satisfied. The cake is excellent and of superior quality. Guaranteed success among gourmets. Everything is detailed so that you can succeed on the first try.

• a 24 cm diameter springform mould,
• 350 g sour cherries in a jar (German speciality, do not take cherries like bigarreau because they are too sweet), or other slightly sour but not very juicy fruits (tangy apple, poppy seed paste and pear [see photo], rhubarb, quetsche plum, mirabelle plum, red fruit jelly…).

Streusel dough:

• 300 g all-purpose wheat flour T65 type,
• 10 g baking powder (1 packet) or 40 g almond powder,
• 100 g blond cane caster sugar,
• 1 medium egg (about 55 g with its shell),
• 150 g soft butter,
• optional: citrus zest or 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) ground spices (cinnamon, clove, star anise, vanilla powder…) or 18 g cocoa.

Cream:

To be prepared at least 1/2 day in advance. Either you make a custard cream, the best choice for the taste, or a corn starch-based cream that is easy to flavour, or a poppy seed paste. You can find inspiration with cottage cheese cakes or entremet recipes depending on the fruit and chosen texture.

1. Custard cream:
• 250 ml milk, 2 medium egg yolks (40 g), 40 g blond cane caster sugar, 12 g wheat flour, 12 g corn starch, possible addition of 2 g (1/2 teaspoon) vanilla powder, or the beans of a small vanilla bean, or 7.5 ml (11/2 teaspoons) of liquid natural vanilla extract (and 10 ml of amber rum depending on the fruit and taste), or 15 ml (1 tablespoon) of orange blossoms.
• In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until they whiten (image 1), then flour and corn starch to obtain a smooth mixture (image 2). Warm the milk over medium heat (5/10). Pour the milk gently into the bowl, mix with a whisk and transfer it back into the saucepan and, without stopping stirring with the whisk, warm over medium-high heat (7/10) until it boils and then turn off the heat. The cream thickens quickly in 2 to 3 minutes (image 3). Stir a few more minutes until the cream texture develops threads. Cover a soup plate with plastic wrap of 50 cm long and 30 cm wide, pour the hot cream over it and cover with plastic wrap in contact with the cream (like a pouch) so that it does not cool in the air and does not form a crust (image 4). Chill the cream for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator, it can be kept up to one week in its airtight pouch in a cool place.
2. Vanilla cream with corn starch:
• 30 g blond cane caster sugar, 15 g corn starch, 250 ml milk, 3 g (3/4 teaspoon) powdered vanilla or 10 ml (2 teaspoons) liquid natural vanilla extract or the seeds of a small vanilla bean, or 20 g (2 packets) vanilla sugar with an intense taste but remove 15 g of the 30 g sugar or equivalent flavourings.
• Whisk it all in 100 ml of cold milk and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Heat the rest of the milk in a saucepan over high heat (8/10), pour in the mixture when the milk starts to boil, then quickly reduce the heat to medium-low (4/10), stirring constantly with a whisk and let it thicken. Cover a soup plate with plastic wrap of 50 cm long and 30 cm wide, pour the hot cream over it and cover with plastic wrap in contact with the cream (like a pouch) so that it does not cool in the air and does not form a crust. Cool the cream at least 4 hours in the refrigerator, it will keep for 1 week in its pouch.
3. Cream of poppy seeds:
• 150 g ground poppy seeds, 150 g liquid cream, 60 g honey, 30 g blond cane caster sugar, 1 egg, 10 g wheat semolina (1 tablespoon), the grated zest of an untreated organic lemon or orange.
• Heat the cream, honey and sugar in a saucepan over high heat (8/10) and mix. When it starts to boil, pour in the poppy seeds and semolina, stir constantly and let thicken. Cool the mixture off the heat about 1/2 hour, then add the egg and zest. Cool the cream at least 4 hours in the refrigerator, it will keep for 3 days in a closed container.

Course of the recipe:

Wash a little and drain the cherries to remove the sweet syrup.
Cut out a circle of baking paper and place it on the bottom of the springform pan, and grease the edges of the pan or cover with a strip of baking paper.

Preparing the cream

Preparing the dough

Streusel dough:

In a large bowl, mix the flour and baking powder or almond powder (either will weaken the dough cohesion which will not be hard but crumbly). Add the rest of the dough ingredients, caster sugar, vanilla, egg and soft butter. Mix with a mixer or a food processor to obtain the consistency of a crumble. Do not mix too long (between 2 and 5 minutes depending on the machine). The more you mix, the more the lumps in the dough start to clump together. It should remain crumbly with lumps as big as a hazelnut (image 5). The dough is quickly (in 30 seconds) transformed from a crumbly state to a smooth state. The mixing stops before the dough starts to agglomerate completely, the consistency must remain sandy.

Divide the dough in half. Put one half in the springform pan (image 6), press the dough well into the bottom of the pan to have a flat and uniform surface about 0.5 to 1 cm thick (image 7). Keep the bowl with the other half of the dough in the refrigerator.

Cream:

The day before or 1/2 day before, prepare the cream according to one of the three recipes described above. Pour the cooled cream over the bottom of the dough, leaving 1 cm empty at the edge of the mould (image 8). Distribute the cherries evenly over the cream (image 9). Sprinkle the remaining streusel over the cream and cherries, forming large chunks or lumps with your hands. Do not press to form a paste, leave the pieces as they are (image 10).

Baking:

Put in the oven at 180° (convection) or 160° (fan-assisted oven) for about 45 minutes. Then take it out of the oven, release the springform pan clamp and remove the side, but leave the cake on the bottom of the pan. Allow it to cool down completely (so that the butter becomes hard again) and remove the cake from the mould entirely. It can be eaten the same day and kept for 2 days in the refrigerator. It can be kept for 1 month in the freezer.

Poppy seeds and pear streusel cake