Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake

I love coffee cake.  In my opinion, there's nothing better than waking up in the morning to a hot cup of coffee and some sweet coffee cake on the side.  This coffee cake is super moist, light, and has just the right amount of sweetness.  I love the combination of raspberries, vanilla, and almonds.  If you're a big almond fan, I recommend using half almond extract, half vanilla extract.  The almond extract really compliments the sliced almonds on top of the cake.  Another thing I love about this coffee cake is how pretty it looks!  There is a beautiful, pink, raspberry swirl running all through the cake, and the top is garnished with sliced almonds and sweet drizzle of icing.  There is so much delicious flavor going on in this cake.  You can serve it warm with vanilla ice cream and/or whipped cream, and/or you can serve it at room temperature.  In my opinion, I liked it best at room temperature the next day - or even the second or third day - because it gets moister over time.  I'm not sure how it tastes after the third day because it never lasted that long in my house.


Yield: an 8-inch round cake (about 8-10 servings)
***recipe doubles well in a 9-inch pan

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or half vanilla, half almond extract...your choice)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
•  
• 1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray an 8 inch round cake pan with cooking spray.
2. Combine raspberries and brown sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Combine sour cream, butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon vanilla (or half a teaspoon almond, half vanilla...if using), and egg, and add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist. Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Drain raspberry mixture, and spread it evenly over the batter. Spoon remaining batter over raspberry mixture (It's okay if the filling doesn't completely cover the top). Top with almonds.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.
5. Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla. Stir well. Drizzle glaze over cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lemon Raspberry Muffins

I love raspberry and lemon together and I thought it would make the perfect breakfast muffin. And I was right.  It totally did.  These were unbelievably good.  (I know I say that about every recipe on this site, but I truly only add the best recipes, so you can trust me.)  These muffins have a perfect combination of sweet and tart.  I had some warm (with whipped cream!), and some cool, and they are amazing either way.  However, they tasted best - surprisingly...since most muffins taste best fresh from the oven - at room temperature the next day.  Once you make these muffins, you'll have one warm of course, since you can't resist...but with the remaining muffins, put them in a plastic bag when just the tiniest bit warm, seal it, and have them the next day.  The flavors mellow together and taste absolutely delicious.  The muffins are also incredibly moist, especially the next day after putting it in a sealed bag....more like a cupcake than a muffin.  Make sure to keep the muffins in the muffin tin while cooling; do not take them out of the tin and put them directly onto a cooling rack or else the outside will cool too quickly and get slightly crunchy/less moist.  Oh yeah!  I forgot to say the best part!  These are LOW FAT!   I can't even tell you how un-low fat these taste.  They only have 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (healthy fat, as opposed to butter) among the whole dozen muffins.  I also made them with yogurt and egg whites, and the yogurt is key to what makes them so moist. This is going to be my go-to muffin recipe for now on!

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1.5 cups fresh raspberries
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• Garnish: whipped cream (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin, or line with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, oil, lemon juice, and egg whites. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until just blended. Gently stir in the raspberries. Spoon batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle remaining sugar over the tops.
3. Bake for 13 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top springs back when lightly touched, and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean (if raspberry sticks to it, that's okay...as long as no lemon batter does). Cool muffins in the tin on a wire rack.  I recommend having warm muffins with a dollop of whipped cream.  Store left over muffins in a sealed container/bag.