Red & Blue Coffee Cake Recipe

Heather made an absolutely wonderful coffee cake the other day and I was fortunate enough to still have Linda’s camera so I took a picture of it. I assisted her a little bit so I also had the opportunity to see how the cake was made. The batter itself is very thick so I was expecting to experience a rather dense cake. But this cake bakes up very light and luscious. Even with all the sugar, it is not a very sweet cake; however, the mixture of berries adds a nice tartness that is counterbalanced by the very sweet, crunchy topping. It is a very pretty cake to serve and tastes every bit as good as it looks. This cake would be ideal for breakfast or brunch served along with a good, strong cup of coffee. This coffee cake is a variation of a blueberry coffee cake Heather found on Allrecipes.com.

Cake Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 pint blueberries
2 handfuls raspberries

Topping Ingredients
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened
¾ cup slivered almonds, crushed

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 inch pan. Heather used Bakers Joy (non-stick baking spray with flour) and it worked great. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons flour over berries and toss to lightly coat. This prevents the berries from sinking to the bottom of the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, and egg. Stir in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Batter will be thick. It is important that you do not over mix. Fold in the berries. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Prepare topping. In a bowl, combine 1/3 cup flour, cinnamon, and 1/2 cup sugar. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With your hands, crush slivered almonds over topping mixture and toss to incorporate. Evenly cover batter with topping.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes before removing from pan. Cool another 20 minutes.

This is a heavily fruit-laden recipe and I do not recommend scaling down the amount of berries used. I've eaten it warm and cold and it is delicious either way. I bet if you try this recipe it will fast become your favorite coffee cake recipe.