Messin with Perfection Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Struggling again, to keep up with The Gunker (husband) and his lunch stuff. So this week, I knew the freezer was almost on empty for lunch baked goods, and was going to make the old apple coffee cake standby. But I got a wild hair or two and changed up a few things and, ohyouhavetotrythisstuff!!!!
I went to the supermarket for my usual grocery trek, and they had fresh red raspberries, by the half pint, 2 for $1. Couldn’t pass that up, could I? Of course not! Buy now, decide what to do with them later….sounds like a good plan to me!
So, I brought them home and decided to try a new coffee cake recipe. I had seen a few, but decided to wing it. I used the basic coffee cake recipe from the Blueberry Buckle. Then I added a cheesecake factor. Still topping it with the same type struesel, I added the raspberry kicker, and sort of swirled it all together.
Yuuuuummmmm!! The streusel was still crunchy the next day. It froze very well and was excellent after thawing out. I cut it into serving size pieces, wrap each one in plastic wrap, then freeze. Pop one in his lunch and they are like fresh-baked after thawing.
- Batter:
- ½ cup butter, softened to room temperature
- 1½ cups sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- ¾ cup sour cream (I use plain greek yogurt or light sour cream)
- Zest of ½ medium lemon (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3½ cups flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup light cream or milk (I use fat free milk so I add 3 tablespoons of cream and add milk to total 1 cup)
- Cheesecake:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Raspberry filling:
- 1½ cups fresh or frozen raspberries
- ⅓ - ½ cup sugar
- about ¼ cup corn starch or modified food starch, mixed with about ⅓ - ½ cup cold water to make a thin slurry
- Topping:
- ½ cup (1 stick) softened butter
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup chopped nuts, optional
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Fruit filling:
- In a medium sauce pan, heat raspberries with sugar, and about ¼ cup water. Bring to a boil for a minute or so, then SLOWLY drizzle/whisk in cornstarch slurry, Whisking or stirring quickly and constantly, until thickened almost like a pie filling. Set aside to cool.
- NOTE: You may want to sieve part of the raspberries, just to cut down on the seeds.
- Cheesecake batter:
- Mix softened cream cheese with sugar and vanilla. Add egg and beat until smooth. Set aside.
- Topping:
- Mix topping ingredients together until crumbly. Set aside.
- Cake batter:
- Whip softened butter with sugar until fluffy. Add eggs an beat until smooth. Add cream and sour cream and mix until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix JUST until fully incorporated. Spread into a greased or sprayed 9 X 13 cake pan.
- Pour cheesecake filling all over the top of the cake batter. Pour raspberry mixture evenly over cheesecake filling. Using a spatula, push/pull it smoothly through the cake batter and around until the cheesecake filling and raspberry mixture are marbled throughout the cake.
- Bake at 350 degreese for 45-60 minutes until cake springs back when touched, or the toothpick test..