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Coffee cake is one of the most comforting brunch foods. I mean, who doesn’t want an excuse to eat cake for breakfast? And this raspberry blood orange coffee cake filled with a cream cheese layer is everything I want at brunch.
Personally, a coffee cake needs to contain three specific components for me to be on board. In no particular order, they are:
The crumb
First of all, I need a soft crumb. We throw the word “crumb” around a lot in the baking world. The crumb is simply the texture of the cake: how much air is whipped into the batter determines how dense the final cake turns out.
I want the crumb to be light and airy and just at the point where a fork almost seems to fall right through. No excess pressure when it comes to my cake, please!
The streusel topping
The next essential component to any excellent coffee cake is a streusel topping. You have to agree. I want a craggy, almost crunchy, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth streusel. Usually, this result would require mixing dry ingredients and cutting cold butter into them. But I have now graduated to the melted butter method.
Melted butter mixes in much more evenly and creates a wet, sand-like texture. Why would you want wet sand, you say? When you play with wet sand, you can build structures by pushing the sand together. That is precisely what I want my streusel to do: hold together and create pieces.
Once baked, the irregular pieces are perfect for picking off and popping in your mouth.
The filling
Okay, I’ll admit that you can make a coffee cake without a filling and still enjoy it. For a coffee cake to be the ultimate treat, a cream cheese filling takes it over the top. And I’ve created a bit more oomph with the addition of ripe raspberries to this layer. The combination of the soft crumb of the cake, the craggy streusel topping, and the smooth cream cheese may just send you over the edge into brunch heaven.
BONUS: The pan
Growing up, a coffee cake was almost always baked in a 9×9 or 9×13 baking pan. That’s all fine and dandy and tastes great. But a shallow baking dish like this doesn’t create that perfect ribbon of filling. Something taller and more dramatic is required.
First, I tried a springform pan, thinking it would be just right. Guess what! It was a flop. The cake was too dense with the filling and the middle never baked. The result looked fine when taken out of the oven, but slumped in the middle as it cooled, completely underbaked.
A tube pan, a.k.a. angel food cake pan, is the answer. The middle has a hole, which brings the heat where it’s needed and the removable bottom (yes this does make a difference) helps simplify the cake removal process.
When taken together, these four components create the perfect coffee cake. Whether for brunch, breakfast, snack, dessert, or who cares, you will love this!
Watch how to make this blood orange coffee cake
Raspberry Blood Orange Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the filling
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp blood orange zest
- 2 tbsp blood orange juice
- 2 cups fresh raspberries
For the streusel
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter melted
For the cake
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 12 tbsp (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees°F.
For the filling
- In a medium bowl, mash the cream cheese with a spatula to soften and mix. Add the sugar and stir to incorporate. Beat in the egg, orange zest, and orange juice. Stir until mostly smooth and set aside.8 oz cream cheese, ½ cup granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 1 tbsp blood orange zest, 2 tbsp blood orange juice
For the streusel
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and almonds. Stir to mix evenly.¾ cup all-purpose flour, ½ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar, 1 tbsp ground cinnamon, 1 cup sliced almonds
- Pour in the melted butter and mix until the mixture resembles wet sand. Set aside.5 tbsp unsalted butter
For the cake
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix to evenly incorporate.2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¾ cup granulated sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, 1 tsp kosher salt
- With the mixer running on low speed, add the butter one tablespoon at a time, allowing each to mix in for 30 seconds before adding the next.12 tbsp (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
- While mixing, combine the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Whisk to break up eggs and incorporate into the sour cream.3 large eggs, 1 cup sour cream, 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated, 2 minutes.
To assemble the cake
- Spray the tube pan with nonstick baking spray.
- Spread ⅔ of the cake batter in the bottom of the pan. Dollop the cream cheese filling on top and spread evenly. Sprinkle the raspberries over the filling, pressing slightly into the filling. Continue by spreading the final ⅓ of the cake over the raspberries. The batter will be difficult to spread evenly, so do not fret if some raspberries are noticeable.2 cups fresh raspberries
- Bake in a preheated oven 60-75 minutes until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out mostly clean. The cake will have risen and the streusel will be dry.
- Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 1 hour.
- Loosen sides of the cake with a knife and remove from tube pan. Cool an additional 2 hours before slicing.
