Apricot And Tarragon Cream Cheese Crumb Cake
The delightful flavors of sweet, tangy apricot jam with accents of fresh tarragon – the perfect combo to make this cream cheese coffeecake absolutely scrumptious! With a hefty topping of buttery streusel crumbs, this tender cake has four layers that add up to… perfection! Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea for breakfast, after a meal, or for a snack anytime.
Ingredients
For The Crumble Topping:
- 3 TBSP chilled butter
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ½ cup flour
For The Cream Cheese Filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 1 egg white
- ¼ cup sugar
For The Apricot Jam Layer (for homemade jam see notes below):
- 1½-2 cups apricot jam
For The Cake:
- 5.5 TBSP unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- ¾ cup Greek style thick yogurt or sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 TBSP finely chopped fresh tarragon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease and flour a 9-inch cake pan (a cheesecake pan or a regular cake pan will do; your choice; I use a cake pan but if you want to remove the whole cake for presentation, use a spring form pan). Optional: you can also line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper; I don't and the cake did not stick to the pan.
For The Streusel Crumb Topping:
- Combine the sugar and flour in a bowl. Cut in the cold butter and, using a fork or your fingers, crumble the ingredients together until they form crumbles that do not fall apart. Be sure that all the flour is incorporated into buttery crumbs! Set in the fridge until ready to use.
For The Cream Cheese Layer:
- Either by hand or with a hand held mixer, blend softened cream cheese and sugar together until creamy. Add the egg white and blend until just incorporated. Set aside.
For The Cake Layer:
- Mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar on low-medium speed or by hand. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and blend together. Add in half of the yogurt and alternate half of the dry ingredients then the rest of the yogurt and flour until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Mix in the chopped tarragon and gently stir.
To Assemble:
- Spoon/pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth to an even layer.
- Spoon the cream cheese onto the cake layer and gently smooth to the edges with the back of a spoon.
- Add the jam to the top of the cream cheese in large blobs and then gently smooth the blobs together to make one even layer without mixing the jam into the cream cheese. Leave about ¼ inch uncovered around the edges.
- Remove the crumble from the fridge and sprinkle the crumbs liberally over the top of the cake, trying to leave no area uncovered. Use all of the crumbs, even to the edges of the pan!
- Place the cake in a preheated oven and bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a toothpick or tester comes out clean. Check at 30 minutes to make sure that you do not over cook the cake.
- Allow the cake to cool until just warm before slicing or removing from pan.
Notes
NOTES
If you don’t have fresh tarragon, you can still make this cake! It will be yummy…
You can also substitute apricot jam with other fruit or berry preserves or with 1 – 1.5 cups of fresh fruit sprinkled over the cream cheese layer. For homemade apricot jam: Cut fresh ripe apricots into small chunks… about 4 cups of chopped fruit. Place the chopped fruit in the bottom of a large heavy-bottomed pot… I use a stainless one and you want to make sure it is heavy enough so the fruit does not burn while it’s cooking. Add 1 cup of sugar. Stir to coat the apricot pieces with sugar and bring the pot to a boil. As the sugar melts and starts to liquefy, add about 1/2 cup of water. You’re going to boil this on medium high heat until the fruit has softened and melted down, and the sugar has thickened so that the juice will hold its shape – I usually test it several times on a ceramic plate. If your apricots are very sweet and not tangy, you can add a tablespoon of lemon juice. Taste the jam for sweetness and add more sugar if needed. See, I told you, it’s not really a recipe!
If you don’t have fresh tarragon, you can still make this cake! It will be yummy…
You can also substitute apricot jam with other fruit or berry preserves or with 1 – 1.5 cups of fresh fruit sprinkled over the cream cheese layer. For homemade apricot jam: Cut fresh ripe apricots into small chunks… about 4 cups of chopped fruit. Place the chopped fruit in the bottom of a large heavy-bottomed pot… I use a stainless one and you want to make sure it is heavy enough so the fruit does not burn while it’s cooking. Add 1 cup of sugar. Stir to coat the apricot pieces with sugar and bring the pot to a boil. As the sugar melts and starts to liquefy, add about 1/2 cup of water. You’re going to boil this on medium high heat until the fruit has softened and melted down, and the sugar has thickened so that the juice will hold its shape – I usually test it several times on a ceramic plate. If your apricots are very sweet and not tangy, you can add a tablespoon of lemon juice. Taste the jam for sweetness and add more sugar if needed. See, I told you, it’s not really a recipe!