"Adieu Fresh Raspberries"

 

Fresh Berry Coffee Cake with Walnut Crumb Topping

I am celebrating the last of this season's fresh raspberries (a final thanks and adieu for the season to  Cider Mills Farm!!) with a cake befitting my favorite berry.
Not your "cakey" coffee cake! Not for my berries! The crumb topping sinks into the berries and the berries into the cake. Yum!
This recipe is adapted from "Once Upon a Tart" a cookbook no longer in print, by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau. However, their New York Bakeshop and Café of the same name is still open. I hope to go there one day.

For the Topping

1 Tbs unbleached flour
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped fine
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 Tbs cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup almond paste (find it in the baking/imported foods section of your grocery)

Toss topping ingredients into a food processor fitted with a metal blade
and pulse just until the topping looks moist and crumbly. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the Cake

Preheat oven to 350° Butter a 13 x 9 inch cake pan and dust lightly with flour.
(Makes 12  3-inch squares)

8 Tbs unsalted butter (1 stick), softened; plus more for buttering the pan
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs (room temp)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups unbleached flour; plus more for dusting the pan
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried on paper towel
1 cup fresh blackberries, rinsed and dried on paper towels and cut into pieces the same size as the berries
1 cup fresh raspberries, rinsed and dried on paper towels
(in the fall, you can substitute a combo of apples and pears, just cut into berry-size pieces)

Cream butter and sugar together using the whisk attachment of a standing or hand-held electric mixer on high speed until they become fluffy and light lemon-yellow in color, about 5 minutes.
Reduce mixer speed to low, and beat in eggs, one at a time, then the extracts.
Whisk flour and other dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.
Stir half the buttermilk into the wet ingredients with the paddle attachment of your mixer on low speed. Then stir in half the dry ingredients, Repeat until all ingredients are combined and no flour is visible.

 

Use a rubber spatula to scrape the batter into the pan. Run the spatula over the batter to level it.

Cover the batter with the fresh fruit.

Sprinkle the topping in an even layer over the fruit.

Place the pan in the center rack in the oven, bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The topping will be golden brown, and the cake will have risen through the gaps between the fruit.

Remove the pan from the oven to cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before cutting into squares.

Go now and grab the last of this season's raspberries. This is the perfect coffee cake! Enjoy!