Before this coffee cake, I thought that I wasn’t really a coffee cake person. It’s not that I dislike it – I mean, who doesn’t like cake for breakfast? There were just so many things I would like to have for breakfast even more. But Frank and I have fallen into a tea routine – we both drink tea like it’s going out of style. It was with all this tea drinking that made me want a cake like this one – with a light, sweet base that hints of cinnamon, tart fruit, and crumbly topping piled high.
It’s called a “coffee” cake, but it’s perfect with tea. With the sweet/sour flavor of the raspberries and the crunch of almond in the topping, I couldn’t get enough of it.
I loved it thinly sliced with fruit on the side for breakfast, but we found ourselves sneaking oddly shaped slivers of this cake for nearly a week. It got better every day.
I’ve been thinking lately about how important it is to surprise ourselves from time to time. I gravitate so much towards routines, but it’s when I break out of them that things get interesting.
Having lived in Bangkok for two and a half years now, there’s hardly as much surprise on a daily basis as there was in the beginning. Anyone who has traveled knows that unique combination of exhaustion and energy that comes from an environment in which every sight, smell and experience is new. For the first months in Bangkok, every day surprised me.
These days, some things about Bangkok feel very familiar. Much of my life has been surrendered to routine. But from time to time I manage to surprise myself. I have a conversation with a taxi driver or order a bowl of noodles in just exactly the way I like it or I gat caught in a rainstorm while the whole city gets painted streaky shades of green.
This is the part of the expat experience that is most thrilling. Because when you’ve live in a place that is so very different from “home”, you are both satisfied when you get to know it well and continually amazed by its foreignness. Most moments are shinier somehow.
It feels a bit like summer camp – the stories you’ll tell for years about snakes in bunkhouses and staying up all night under the stars that only the handful of people who were there can ever really “get”.
Maybe that’s how I should start to think about life in Bangkok. Extended summer camp. With longer work days and fewer snakes.
Simultaneously a break from real life, and real life personified.
Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the Crumb Topping:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted, chopped
- 6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
For the Cake:
- Nonstick vegetable oil spray
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen will work)
Instructions
- To make the crumb topping, whisk flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in nuts. Add butter; using your fingertips, work butter into dry ingredients until large, moist crumbs begin to form. Refrigerate topping until ready to use.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray.
- To make the cake, in a medium bowl, whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat 3/4 cup sugar and butter in a medium bowl until light and fluffy, 3–4 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions and occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, until mixture is pale and fluffy, 3–4 minutes longer.
- With mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients to bowl in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Pour half of batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Whisk remaining 3 Tbsp. sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; sprinkle evenly over batter in pan. Spoon remaining batter over; smooth top.
- Pour raspberries evenly over batter. Sprinkle crumb topping over raspberries.
- Bake cake until top is golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 55–60 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.
- Store in airtight container at room temperature. (This is a great make-ahead cake. I think it tastes even better the day after being baked.)
Notes
Hmmm…. couldn’t have written it better myself. Was just typing up a post very similar to this…pushing a little over 2 years now and it’s funny how much things change… People asking me for help and guidance now, when it was me who needed it then. Your cake looks delicious, however, none for me – it’s training time.
I’m back running and couldn’t be happier!
xoxo from Trinidad
SO glad to hear you’re back to it, Corey!! You’ve been so patient – it must be amazing to be running again. I am so curious to see where you guys head to next.
Wow, this is stunning!
Raspberries have been very good this Spring in NYC…think I’ll give this a shot. Do you feel like a springform pan is a necessity with this cake?
Definitely not, Neuf! You can use an 8×8 inch square pan too. It crept pretty high up the sides of the springform pan, so you might put a cookie sheet under it in the oven if you use the square pan, just in case it decides to bubble over.
Oh this is a lovely coffee cake. Truly one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Jess, your photography is stunning as is your writing. Simply beautiful!!
That’s one giant summer camp! I love the look of this cake. Cake for breakfast? Yes please! Have you done something new with your photos? I didn’t think they could look much better but somehow they do!
This is gorgeous, Jess! I really need to try a coffee cake in my spring form pan…it comes out so beautifully!
um, um, um, excuse me! Can I have a slice PALEASE?
I am in LOVE with this cake! It combines two of the coffee cakes I recently made. Super crumb topping and raspberries + almonds. You truly can’t go wrong. Your photos are so gorgeous too. I’ve never seen a prettier coffee cake Jess!
Streusel is so important. LOVE this cake!!!!
What a beautiful description of life lived abroad 🙂
Jess this cake is just gorgeous! I am loving all that crumb topping. Funny, we’ve been on a tea kick lately too. I can’t get enough of this cinnamon vanilla tea I found and my husband can’t get enough of ginger tea. And now I need to go make another coffee cake to go with it!
This looks fantastic! I want to dip it in my coffee now. (:
Beautiful post, both the writing about Bangkok and the photos of the cake!
I don’t drink coffee as much as I love to put it in cake or ice cream. I visited Bangkok several times, it’s really a fun place and since I love Thai food, I always look forward to visit there 🙂 The cake sounds amazing and I am loving the crumbly top!
A cake that gets better with age. Unfortunately, not many cakes last that long ’round here. I love your analogy about living in Bangkok where everyday feels like summer camp. I want that kind of excitement! 🙂
This cake looks wonderful and I actually remember seeing the blueberry one last fall in Bon Appetit and thought I should try it. Love your rendition and the crumb topping!
This looks lovely! Do you think I should use the non stick spray and then lightly dust it with flour before baking? Thanks!
You definitely could, Mandy! I didn’t see any threat of this particular cake sticking to the pan – it came off quite easily, but it can never hurt to be extra safe. (There’s nothing like having something so delicious stick to the pan.)
Your pictures are gorgeous! Coffee cakes are one of my favorite breakfasts and I love how you added the raspberries. Definitely a must try for me. 🙂
Wow! This looks absolutely incredible! Love all that fresh fruit flavor.
Wow, that look sensational! Will be putting this on my to-bake list. Pinning!
This looks so delicious, your photos are making me so hungry! I would absolutely love this for breakfast!
It’s baking… Used fresh raspberries and followed your recipe to the t. Anticipation is building! Will let you know how much I love it. And thank you!
In Turkey, the stores do not sell buttermilk. What can I use instead of it?
Hi there – thanks for your question. This is a pretty easy fix. I often don’t have buttermilk, so instead I use a combination of half yogurt, half milk with a couple teaspoons of white vinegar. Whisk them all together and let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. That mimics the flavor and texture of buttermilk very well, and has always worked for a substitute for me.
Just baked this cake for the third (or fouth?) time, and all our guests loved it! It’s definitely in my top 10 for recipes. And you are absolutely right– it’s better on the 3rd day than right out of the oven. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for letting me know, Natalie! It’s one of my favorites too!
WOAH!!! BOY OH BOY… this is so delicious.. gonna try this out soon
That crumb topping is a taste bud’s special. I made it the first time and loved it instantly. I love how simple it is and honestly, I have been sharing the recipe with friends and they have also told me how amazing the almond cake is.
Oh yay Jessica! So glad you liked it as much as I do!