The fresh black berries are out and I wanted a new recipe to enjoy them in.  So, I tweaked and came up with THIS incredibly dense and charming coffee cake.  It has a generous layer of blackberries to add just the right amount of sweet.  The sour cream in the cake balances this treat, oh so wonderfully.

The almonds toast up in the oven giving it a nice crunch and depth.  I wanted a bit more of a gourmet flavor to this cake, so I whipped up a glaze to have as an option to drizzle over your slice if you’d like; it is fabulous I tell you, fabulous!

Black Berry Coffee Cake

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients –

1  3/4 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2  1/2  – 3 tsp. lemon zest

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1  1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 1/2 – 3 cups fresh black berries

1 Tbl. butter and 1-2 tbl. flour to coat pan

 

Crumb Topping –

1/2 cup flour

1/2 brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

4 Tbl. butter, softened slightly

1/2 cup (2.25 oz. package) sliced almonds

 

Glaze –

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2  1/2 – 3 tbl. sour cream

1/2 – 1 tsp. water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash black berries and place in paper towel lined bowl to dry.

Wash lemon and zest.

Prepare the crumb topping by combining the softened butter, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Then with a pastry cutter or 2 kitchen knives cut until it resembles small peas.

Butter a 9″-10″ spring form pan with the 1 tbl. butter, then dust with the flour.

To make the cake, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl; 

Add in the zest and mix.

In a separate bowl combine the eggs, sour cream and vanilla.

Mix until well blended.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid ingredients.

Gently fold the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until combined, 

Combine, but do not over-mix.

Pour the batter into the buttered and floured pan; give a gentle tap to release air bubbles.

Carefully lay the blackberries over the top of the batter in an even layer.

Sprinkle the crumb topping over the black berries evenly.

Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the crumble.

Bake until the topping is a golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40-50 minutes.  If the top becomes brown and the cake is not done, tent with tinfoil.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool for 20 minutes.

Run a knife between the cake and the pan to loosen the cake; then remove the sides of the spring form pan.

Allow to cool.

Make glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, sour cream and water until smooth.

When serving the cake, drizzle glaze over a slice of cake if desired.

Serve cake warm or cool.  Keep any leftovers in refrigerator due to fruit.  

You can warm leftovers in the microwave before serving if desired.

Recipe adapted from tideandthyme, Copyright Carrie Groneman, A Mother’s Shadow, 2015

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