Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Last week, we hosted a dinner for Frog Prince’s boss when he was in town for a meeting. 

If you don’t know, my husband has the privilege of working from home more than 600 miles from his place of employment.  His boss has never seen the room from which he works, nor, where we live.   

So, we enjoyed the opportunity to host a BBQ last week – and topped it off with this cake!

Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake – Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 3/4 C sugar {slightly heaping – cut down from 1 1/4 C in original recipe}
• 2 T butter, softened
• 1/3 C applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 C buttermilk
• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 3 T sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 egg
• 1 C fresh or frozen raspberries
• Powdered sugar for garnish

Directions

Begin by mixing together  the 3/4 C of sugar with 1/3 C applesauce and 2 T softened butter.  Mix until well combined.  Add in 1 egg and 1 tsp. vanilla and beat the ingredients together on low for 1 minute.

Meanwhile, combine 1 1/2 C white whole wheat flour (if you don’t have white whole wheat, use a 50/50 mix of all purpose & whole wheat), 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. baking soda, and 1/8 tsp. salt. 

Next, add the dry ingredients alternating with the 3/4 C of buttermilk. 

Allow the ingredients to become incorporated before you continue with your additions.  Do so until you’ve added all the dry ingredients and the buttermilk.

For the cheesecake layer, in a small bowl whip together the 3 oz. of cream cheese with 3 T sugar until well blended. 

Then, add in the lemon zest, and 1 egg.  Beat until all mixed together.  {Note: if you don’t have lemon zest, feel free to use a splash of lemon extract, or even a splash of lemon juice.  The lemon juice will be less flavorful than the zest or extract, but it will give you a hint of lemon}

Take a 9-inch round cake pan and spray it with cooking spray.  If desired, line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper and then spray a second time. 

Pour about half of the cake batter into the bottom of the cake pan and spread the batter all the way to the edges. 

Then, to make a layer of the cream cheese, pour the cream cheese layer over the cake batter and spread it all the way to the edges. 

To keep that pretty layer, you’ll want to dollop the remaining cake batter over the top of the cream cheese layer.  Be sure when you do this to get the batter all the way to to the edges of the pan.  Don’t worry about it looking pretty … you’ll be adding raspberries before too long!

Place the cake on the bottom rack in your oven and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes until the cake is just puffy, but still soft in the center.  The original recipe called for 20 minutes and my cake was too solid at that point to get the raspberries in {see exhibit A, below}! 

Aim for the 10-12 minute mark – just when the cake is starting to poof, but is still soft.  Then, remove the cake from the oven, and gently press the raspberries into the cake. 

Return the cake to the oven and continue baking for 30-35 minutes (a total baking time of about 45-50 minutes is recommended), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. 

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. 

Then, loosen the edges and carefully invert the pan to remove the cake from the cake pan.  Cool further on a wire cooling rack. 

To serve, transfer cake to a serving plate & garnish with powdered sugar.

Slice and plate.

Enjoy! 

It was the perfect dessert to finish off a BBQ, sitting around on a the deck, enjoying a beautiful evening!

This would be a great 4th of July dessert… and it’s small enough you can likely make it in your toaster oven without turning on your oven in the heat this week!

Linked to: Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday 2