Raspberry Coffee Cake

This raspberry coffee cake recipe came about because of desperation. While defrosting our freezer (yikes!) a couple weeks ago, I was happy to discover several bags of frozen raspberries that I had totally forgotten about. Yes, my freezer was so crammed full of food and ice that I couldn’t even see what was in there. A little embarrassing to admit, but totally true.
I immediately started looking for recipes that called for raspberries. My boys even joined in and started scouring my cookbooks. When we found this coffee cake recipe with a layer of raspberries in the middle, we knew we had discovered a winner. And oh my was it ever!

The cake is moist and has great flavor from the sour cream. We used the almond extract and I highly recommend that! The raspberry layer adds some sweetness, but isn’t overly sweet. And then you have the yummy crumb topping. Put them all together, and well, you have some amazing coffee cake!

Raspberry Coffee Cake

Filling:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
3 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1 cup water
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Batter:
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup cold butter
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream (I used fat free)
1 tsp almond extract or vanilla

For filling: Combine sugar and cornstarch in a large pan. Stir in water and lemon juice, then raspberries. Cook and stir over medium heat. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside.
For topping: Combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter till crumbly; stir in nuts.
For batter. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or use a food processor). Combine eggs, sour cream, and almond extract. Stir into dry ingredients. Batter will be very thick.
Spread half of batter in the bottom of a greased 9×13″ pan. I actually had to pat mine into the pan with wet hands. Pour topping over the batter. Take remaining batter and drop by spoonfuls over the filling. (It’s alright if there are gaps.) Sprinkle crumb topping over the top of the coffee cake. Bake in a preheated 325° oven for about 50-55 minutes.