Monday, June 20, 2011

Raspberry Crumb Coffee Cake

I know.
It's been a while.
It's almost like I went off and had a baby or something and have been choosing sleep above blogging.
Yes.  That's just what it's like.
When I did catch a moment to blog, I blogged about Baby Davy.
Because, frankly, he's the just about the most important thing in the universe right now.

But today is Father's Day.
And last week was Aaron's birthday.
Remember, I made these biscuits?
I never got a chance to finish that post because, as I suspected, that was the day I went to the hospital and had Baby Davy.  
Yep, he was born just 2.5 hours after Aaron's birthday.
Not only did I not get to write about the biscuits, (they were amazing, light, delicious and super easy--now on my go to list for biscuits) I also did not get to make him a cake.
It has been bothering William an awful lot that his Daddy did not get a cake.
Daddy should have gotten a cake.
So today, Daddy did.

This one.



Raspberry Crumb Coffee Cake.
It is quite good.
Quite.




I found the recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen.
Do you read her?
I am becoming addicted to her site. 
Just like Molly, I now go to SK's site when looking for a recipe.  
It kind of feels like calling up a friend to ask for a recipe.  
I like that.
I got the amazing yellow birthday cake recipe from her, too.


For this cake, the recipe calls for rhubarb.
I wanted to do rhubarb, I really did.
Aaron loves rhubarb.
But I was on the way home from the dr. with a newborn in my car and didn't much feel like visiting any extra stores to find fresh rhubarb.
So I went with what they had at Trader Joe's: raspberries.  Frozen ones at that.
And it still turned out to be delicious.


The cake is moist and that's nice because sometimes coffee cake can be rather dry.
(make sure you take it out of the oven when the center is still a tad wet--just some crumbs still sticking to the knife or whatever you insert into the middle of the cake) 
There are lots of raspberries (use the whole bag) which also helps keep the cake from being dry.
The raspberries are a tart foil to the sweetness of the cake and the crumb topping.
And that crumb topping, well, everyone knows coffee cake is really about the crumb topping.
This recipe makes a lot of crumb.
And it is goooood.


We had it for brunch with my mother in law's home made quiche.
Coffee, bacon and cantaloupe, too.  (people who come for a meal and actually bring the whole meal are top notch in my book)
It was a pretty wonderful Father's Day brunch.



Don't be put off by the 3 separate parts to the recipe.  
I made it yesterday morning with the help of a 5 and 3 year old on a lot less sleep than most people usually get.  
Like the amount of sleep where they tell you it's not safe to operate heavy machinery.
Does a Kitchenaid qualify as heavy machinery?
I promise, you can do this.

Go here for the original recipe.
My only changes to the fruit were:
Instead of rhubarb, I used 1, 12 oz bag of frozen raspberries.
I did not use the corn starch because I did not have any.
I used the same amount of sugar (they were tart).
For the crumb topping:
I omitted the ginger and used only cinnamon.

Also, the original recipe suggests you let the coffee cake cool completely, but we ate it warm.
It tastes so much better that way. 
In fact, if you have left overs, warm them up a bit before eating.  
It might be even better the next day.
We had it for breakfast today, with sweet ripe plums and coffee.
Pretty much the perfect breakfast.
(Yes, in case you were wondering, I started this post last night but then I opted for sleep again rather than finishing the post. right now, sleep is a powerful draw)

So, if you're in need of a fresh baked, summer brunch treat, try this coffee cake.  
You will not be disappointed.
And once again, Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, and Happy Father's Day, too.
We appreciate you.  We adore you.  
Love from,
Your Crew: Greta, James, William, Lilly and Baby Davy.

PS.  Living room tour is still on.  pictures taken and being loaded today.  Big kids are at my parents and baby is napping. That means mommy gets to nap AND blog.  Life is good.
PSS.  Also, linking up to Life Made Lovely right here.  Happy Monday!

4 comments:

Katie @ minivan diva said...

Yum! You amaze me. Baking, blogging, newborn lovin', kid taking care of....super mom!

Get Campie! said...

This looks sooo good!!! I love crumb top everything!!

grey rose (they/them) said...

yes, ma'am. moist coffee cake is my fave. this looks like my new fave-and i love your adaptation!

thanks for inspiring this weekend's treat!!
love to you and your sweet family, sweet sister in HIM.
(have i mentioned how much you bless me?
you bless me. a lot.)

Nancy said...

oh my that looks delish. raspberries are just so happy. :)