Raspberry Coffee Cake

This raspberry coffee cake is incredibly moist with a buttery vanilla flavor, sweet berries and cinnamon streusel on top. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or an afternoon treat.

**This post was updated July 5th, 2021 with new photos and recipe tips**

Perfect Raspberry Coffee Cake

This raspberry coffee cake is the perfect spin on classic coffee cake. The cake is moist, tender and buttery. Then there’s a layer of sweet raspberries that perfectly complement the vanilla cake. On top is a thick layer of cinnamon brown sugar streusel. Just like any coffee cake or crumb cake recipe, the texture is quite dense but incredibly tender.

The cake isn’t overly sweet, but the addition of fresh berries really adds to the flavor and makes it a little extra special.

Baking Tips

• There’s 2 parts to making this cake: the streusel topping and the moist cake batter. The streusel topping uses cold, cubed butter. For the vanilla cake, the butter should be softened to room temperature first. These 2 distinctions are important.
• When making the streusel topping, you’ll incorporate the butter into dry ingredients by cutting it in with a pastry blender. If you don’t have a pastry blender, you can use 2 forks (this will just take a little longer) or a food processor. The streusel mixture should be dry and crumbly with very small pieces of butter throughout. When you’re done, the pieces of butter should be smaller than a pea.
• For the cake batter – it’s very important that the eggs, sour cream and eggs are room temperature before getting started. Otherwise, the ingredients are difficult to mix together – which can lead to overmixing the batter.
• On that note – stop mixing the batter as soon as the dry ingredients are incorporated. Overmixing the batter will lead to a tough cake crumb.
• I don’t recommend using frozen berries for this recipe. They can add too much liquid and cause the streusel to get soggy.
• It will look like there’s a lot of streusel topping before baking the cake, but there really isn’t too much after its baked.

A Note About Cake Pans

This cake is baked in a 9-inch round (23 cm) springform pan. It’s baked in a springform pan because we can’t invert the cake after it’s done baking due to the streusel topping. Often springform pans don’t have a tight seal, which can lead to butter seeping out of the bottom as the cake bakes and cause a burning smell in your oven. . To avoid this, I recommend wrapping the outside of the pan with tin foil. Note: there is too much batter to bake this cake in an 8-inch (20 cm) springform pan. 

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

• A super moist, tender and buttery vanilla cake
• Sweet, fresh raspberries
• Crunchy cinnamon streusel
• And a little vanilla glaze for good measure – this is totally optional, but I love the addition!
• Perfect for breakfast, brunch or whenever you have fresh berries

And if you love this recipe, then be sure to try:

• Classic Coffee Cake
• Blueberry Coffee Cake
• Raspberry Bars

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Raspberry Coffee Cake

This raspberry coffee cake is incredibly moist with a buttery vanilla flavor, sweet berries and cinnamon streusel on top. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or an afternoon treat.

Prep Time35 mins

Cook Time55 mins

Total Time1 hr 30 mins

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Raspberry Coffee Cake

Servings: 10 slices

Calories: 468kcal

Author: Fiona Dowling

Equipment

• 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan

Ingredients

For the Streusel

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (125 grams) spooned & leveled
• ⅓ cup lightly packed brown sugar (66 grams) light or dark
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar (66 grams)
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ cup unsalted butter (112 grams) cold & cut into small cubes

For the Coffee Cake

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (187.5 grams) spooned & leveled
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt to taste
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (85 grams) softened to room temperature
• ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ¼ cup sour cream* (60 ml) room temperature
• ½ cup buttermilk* (120 ml) room temperature
• 2 ½ cups fresh raspberries (312.5 grams) I do not recommend using frozen berries because they'll add too much water to the cake

For the Glaze

• 2-3 tablespoons milk (30-45 ml) or cream
• 1 cup powdered sugar

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees.
• Lightly grease a 9-inch (23 cm) round springform pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray and lightly flour. I recommend wrapping the outside of the pan in tin foil, as some springform pans can leak. Set aside.

Streusel Topping

• Stir together the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
• Use a pastry blender (or 2 forks) to cut the butter into the flour mixture. When you're done, the mixture should look crumbly and there will be very small pieces of butter no bigger than a pea. Place in the fridge as you make the cake batter

Coffee Cake Batter

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
• Beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Beat the mixture until fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Then mix in the vanilla extract and sour cream.
• Sift in about ½ of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Mix in the milk, followed by the rest of the flour mixture. Stop mixing as soon as everything is combined.
• Pour/spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
• Place the raspberries on top of the cake batter to create an even layer. I typically flatten them slightly. Then sprinkle the streusel on top of the raspberries by crumbling it in between your fingers & fists until an even layer of crumble covers the raspberries.
• Bake in your prepared oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven. Gently trace around the edges of the pan with a thin knife, then allow the cake to cool fully in the pan.

Glaze and Serving

• Whisk together 2 tablespoons of milk (or cream) with the powdered sugar. Whisk in a little more milk or powdered sugar as needed - it should be a consistency that you can drizzle.
• Ensure the cake is fully cooled (the pan should feel room temperature), then unclamp the outer ring of the springform pan.
• Drizzle the cake with the glaze.
• Slice with a sharp knife, ensuring that you slice all the way through the cake.

Notes

1. For the vanilla cake layer, the butter, eggs, sour cream and milk should all be room temperature before getting started. 
2. Sour cream can be substituted with plain Greek yogurt if needed.
3. If you don't have buttermilk, 1% or 2% milk can be used if needed. 
4. I don't recommend substituting both sour cream and buttermilk.
5. Store cake covered at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 4 days. Bring to room temperature before serving. Cake can be wrapped tightly and frozen for up to 2 months. Then thaw in the fridge overnight and bring to room temperature (by setting on the counter) before serving.
6. Nutrition information is an estimate only and based on 1 slice, assuming the cake is sliced into 10 equal pieces. 

Nutrition

Calories: 468kcal | Carbohydrates: 70g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 84mg | Sodium: 97mg | Potassium: 219mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 43g | Vitamin A: 619IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 2mg