Raspberry Coffee Cake

Because raspberries.

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you would have seen pictures of the raspberry Danish braid I made on Sunday and may be wondering why more raspberries? Well, simply put, Kroger had them on sale: $0.99 for a 6 oz package! The best part (besides the price)? They actually looked good, which is not always the case at Kroger when it comes to any produce, especially if it's on super sale. Maybe they've been listening to all the critical feedback I've been giving on those surveys they print on the receipts.



This lovely recipe was a Pinterest find (if I'm looking to make something I hardly ever look in a cook book, unless it's a family recipe and then I know it's in the family cookbook) and was originally posted on The Baker Upstairs, by a fellow blogger named Alicia. I could just send you to her site, but this coffee cake is so scrumptious that I just had to share it with you all. Plus, I added a little something to it!

First, I'll do a rundown with pictures and then I'll give you the recipe without pictures. As always, I will provide a link to a printable recipe.

Ingredients:

Filling:
2 cups fresh raspberries
1/4 cup water
1/4 sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Cake:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4 Tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk + a splash of vinegar)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Crumb topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a 9x9 baking dish by buttering or spraying with cooking spray.

Note: I used an 8x8 with no problem. It just took a little bit longer so the bottom and sides were a little darker, but not tougher.

2. Wash your raspberries!

3. In a small saucepan whisk together sugar, water, and cornstarch over medium heat.

4. Stir in raspberries and keep stirring until the mixture starts to simmer.

5. Allow the filling to simmer for 4-6 minutes or until it gets thick. Then set aside.

Note: I see no reason why you couldn't go this a day (or several days ahead). I'm also pretty sure that you could easily freeze this mixture to use at a later time. Most recipes I've run across for something baked with raspberries had you make this type of filling.

6. To make the cake, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and soda. Then cut in the butter.

Note: I began cutting in the butter with a pastry blender, but after a while decided it would be easier to use my hands. You just rub the butter and dry ingredients between your fingers until the butter is nicely incorporated into the dry ingredients. I am sure you could also use a food processor for this, just pulse until you have coarse crumbs.

(small butter pieces)

6. continued: Your mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.

Note: If you have made crumb topping before for other baked goods this batter will NOT look like that. This batter will be much finer. There is simply too much dry vs. butter to have the same look. If you haven't made crumbs before, you'll see what I mean when you see the crumbs I made for this.

7. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, milk, and vanilla. Then add to the batter crumbs and mix until just combined. Do not over mix, you want the batter to retain it's buttery chunks.

Note: I did not have buttermilk so I had to add a splash of vinegar to my milk. I used a 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar since it was probably safer than trying to actually splash some in to the milk.

8. Pour about half of the batter into the prepared baking dish.

9. Spoon the raspberry goodness on top.

10. Spoon the remaining batter on top of the raspberry filling.

11. Next, prepare the crumbs by mixing together the flour and sugar.

12. Cut the butter into the flour/sugar mixture. Again, I started with the pastry blender, moved to using my hands, and then finished with the pastry blender to get these very crummy crumbs. Obviously quite different from the cake batter.

13. Sprinkle the crumbs on top. The bake for 40-45 minutes (mine took closer to 50 minutes).

14. Ta-da!!!

15. To borrow an expression from a much better cook than myself, I decided to kick things up a notch by adding a vanilla glaze. I was introduced to this glaze when I made this raspberry danish braid, and I thought- why not? 

To make the glaze you will need:

1/2 cup confectioner sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon milk

Simply whisk the ingredients together and drizzle on top. I didn't use all of it, so you could probably cut this in half.

Yum!

Raspberry Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

Filling:

2 cups fresh raspberries

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Cake:

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

4 Tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg

1/2 cup buttermilk (or a 1/2 cup milk + a splash of vinegar)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Crumbs:

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Optional Vanilla Glaze:

1/2 cup confection sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a 9x9 baking dish by coating with butter or using cooking spray.

To make the filling, wash raspberries. Combine sugar, water, and cornstarch in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in raspberries and keep stirring until the mixture begins to simmer. Continue stirring while the mixture simmers for 4-6 minutes, or until it thickens. Set aside.

To make the cake batter, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and soda. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, milk, and vanilla. Stir into the coarse crumbs until just mixed. 

Pour half of the batter into the baking dish. Spoon the raspberry filling over the batter, then spoon the remaining batter on top of that.

To make the crumbs, combine the flour and sugar. Then cut in the butter until you reach coarse crumbs (these crumbs will be bigger than the batter crumbs). Sprinkle crumbs over the batter.

Bake 40-45 minutes until light golden brown and cooked through.

Here is the link to the printable recipe.