Raspberry Crumb Cake

This past weekend was busy. Busy in a 'what fun thing do we get to do next' kind of way, not busy in a 'what do we have to do now' kind of way. Always prefer the former.

After making a rather large quantity of raspberry jam for my doughnut hole experiment I realized I was going to be eating raspberry jam for breakfast every day for a month (or two) unless I could find a creative way to use up a large quantity of raspberry jam. One of our weekend activities was entertaining family after a rousing game of t-ball and I wanted an easy fuss-free treat to serve on the patio. The raspberry jam was staring at me from the fridge all week so Thursday night I pulled it out, set it on the counter and determined to bake it into something delicious. Solution: Raspberry Crumb Cake. Found on a lovely little blog called The Corner Kitchen:

Raspberry Big Crumb Coffee Cake

(Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, March 2011)

For the crumb topping:

1 3/4 cups flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

For the cake:

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 buttermilk

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

3/4 cup raspberry jam (or any other flavor you fancy)

Crumb topping

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugars, cinnamon & salt.  Pour melted butter over the mixture, and mix using your hands, until large clumps form.  (Mixing with your hands, versus using a wooden spoon or spatula makes for bigger crumbs).

Cake

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line an 8x8 baking pan with tin foil (or you can butter the pan).  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl (or mixer), beat butter and sugar on medium speed until pale yellow and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Beat in egg and egg yolk, one at a time.  Beat in vanilla.  Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of buttermilk (beginning & ending with flour).  Continue to beat until well combined.

Spoon batter into pan, and spread evenly.  Evenly spread the jam across the top of the batter.  Sprinkle crumb topping over the jam layer.

Bake 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Dust with confectioners' sugar.

This cake really delivers - large crumbly topping, fresh raspberry jam, moist cake...it was great with lemonade and iced tea on the patio and it was great with a latte the next morning. You could likely substitute any jam you like for the raspberry. Blueberry strikes me as something I'd like to try. Next time....