More fun with cherries: a coffee cake

I have been obsessed with blueberry cakes recently.  I keep downloading all of these recipes for thick fluffy blueberry coffee cakes.  Is it because it's blueberry season or am I just in a cake phase?  It's probably because the pictures of these cakes are amaaaaazing!!!  So basically I got stuck on this one recipe for days because the photos were so gorgeous.  I switched out the blueberries for cherries because I still had some left over from my very dense cherry brownies.  I also changes from lemon zest to orange zest because I didn't have any lemons.

Cherry Buttermilk Coffee Cake
Adapted from Cooking Bride

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest (zest from 1 large orange)
• 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups pitted and quartered cherries
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9x9 pan.  Cream the butter, zest, and all but one tablespoon of sugar in your stand mixer.  Add the egg and vanilla to the mixer and beat just til combined.  In another bowl mix the flour (minus 1/4 cup reserved for later), b powder, and salt, set aside.  Toss the pitted and quartered cherries in the reserved 1/4 cup of flour, set aside.  Measure out the buttermilk and then add 1/2 the flour mixture to the mixer, alternating with 1/2 the buttermilk, mixing slightly in between, until all flour and milk has been added.  Add the cherries and beat on low til just combined.  Pour batter into prepared pan, sprinkle reserved 1 tablespoon of sugar on top, and bake for 45-55 minutes or until top is getting browned and a toothpick tester comes out pretty clean from the center.