What Happens When You Put Too Much Topping On Fruit Cobbler?

Fruit cobbler. A baked concoction of fruit, sugar, butter, and a crumbly topping, this decadent dessert is easy to make and perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. It's also very forgiving when it comes to different fruit varieties, as recipes can extend beyond the traditional peach, apple, or strawberry fare and into exotic territory with the help of huckleberry or dewberry flavors. You can even put your unique spin on this traditional dessert by blending various fruits, which may result in a blueberry orange ginger cobbler or a tropical fruit spin with bananas, pineapples, and coconuts.

But such a simplistic dessert also presents a few potential obstacles during preparation and baking. In other words, it can be easy to mess this up if you undercook it, use canned fruit, or opt for pie crust as your topping (per Kitchn). But today, we're going to focus on one big no-no, which has to do with putting too much topping on a fruit cobbler.

Unless you're looking to steam both the bottom of the topping and the fruit itself, steer clear of overcrowding the top of a cobbler, per Kitchn. This will moisten the cobbler topping and make its texture wet, not crumbly and crispy as it should properly be.

Bon Appétit adds to this by suggesting less than two inches of topping to place on top of the cobbler. This will not only make the fruit filling the focal point of the dessert, but it will also prevent the texture from becoming overly dense (in addition to the wet, steamed texture that Kitchn mentioned).

To prevent these mishaps from occurring, Kitchn states the importance of letting steam release. To do this, simply space out your topping when placing it on the cobbler, which will also aid in the creation of caramelized fruit in the filling. Soggy and dense cobbler toppings are likely to ruin such a decadent dessert. Luckily, you can avoid this obstacle by leaving a little bit of room between each part of the cobbler topping so steam can release.