Raspberry Ribbon Coffee Cake, Home Sweet Home, and a Bloggy Gift

                                   Moist and Delicious!

Years ago I made this coffee cake that I had  found in my sisters cookbook and while the flavor was good I wasn't entirely satisfied with the way it looked. The original recipe asks for the cream cheese layer on top of the batter with raspberry jam on top of that. The raspberry jam looks pretty when you put it on but discolors as it bakes and ends up being a murky color so I decided to leave it off and put the cream cheese with fresh or frozen raspberries layer in between the batter for a layered effect. I liked this much better! It gives it a very good raspberry flavor and the goodies go all the way through. I also set it on a baking sheet to bake because the first one I made was too brown on the sides and bottom. This causes it to take more time to bake but is worth the effort for a soft tender coffee cake that isn't dry.. It's a little bit hard to get it baked properly in the center with all the gooey goodies in the middle but give it plenty of time. You will be glad you did!

For the crumbs:
2¼ cups flour
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup butter, softened
Mix together till fine crumbs form. Reserve 1 cup.

For the cake:
To the remaining crumbs add-
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1½ teaspoons almond extract

Mix well and spread half of batter into a greased 9 inch Springform pan.

For the filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
1 egg

Mix well, scraping sides and mixing again until smooth. Pour over batter in pan. Top with a layer of red raspberries (fresh or frozen, I used frozen ones) about 1½ cups, enough to cover batter. Then spoon on the rest of the batter starting at outer edge and sealing to the pan, and working your way to the middle. This takes extra time because the batter is thick and it's kind of hard to do but if you use a gentle hand and patience you can make it happen.☺

Topping:
Reserved crumbs
1/8 cup sugar
½ cup thin sliced almonds

Mix together and spread over top.Set Springform pan onto a baking sheet and bake @ 350° for 1½ hours or until the center is fully baked. I thought it seemed like a long time for a coffee cake but it needed it all. For the last 30-45 minutes or so I like to lay a piece of foil over the top to keep it from getting too brown.
Sorry I don't have pictures to go with the process but this was sort of a race against the clock this morning. I had to leave to take the children to their schools so I knew I couldn't spend too much time snapping pics or we would be late.

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Home Sweet Home

We spent Easter weekend in Ohio with my family and while the weather was rainy the whole time it was still great to see everyone! and I met 3 new friends who we had invited to be with us for our Easter Dinner(unknown to me), 2 of which are from North Carolina that I met because of food blogging. They were visiting the area and staying at my sisters B&B. What a huge surprise to walk in to my sisters house and have them come around the corner!! ☺ and 1 friend that has been a family friend  for a while but I had never met. It was great to finally meet them all! Again no pics to prove this, we were too busy eating and talking, but we had a great time! ☺ The home place has changed looks quite a bit in the last ten years or so since my brother bought it and did some renovating but the front of the house is like it was when I lived there. I love to go there and soak in all the peaceful beauty that the pond provides and the children love to fish. Also my Mother's flower gardens are gorgeous, they are not blooming now but when they do theres no doubt in your mind that someone lives there who appreciates nature. So going there is a real treat for lots of reasons and we always enjoy our times there.

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Several weeks ago I linked up to a party @ Lark's Country Heart and was lucky enough to have her feature one of my recipes on her blog and it just happened that that was the week she selected to send a gift to the three featured people. When I came home from Ohio there was a package in the mail for me from her.

These are the contents of the package. The spoon and fork are very funky and fun.☺ They are retractable and can be made into a far reaching utensil. The boys keep saying it's perfect for taste testing something being made over the fire. ☺ Might have to try it out sometime. In any case we enjoyed going through everything and were blessed by the thoughtful gesture of sharing. Thank You Lark!

Linking to:
Made It Monday
Anything Related
Pinch of This
Wicked Awesome Wednesday
Top 5 Yums
Women Who Do It All
Brambleberry Cottage
Delightfully Inspiring
Home Sweet Home
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Sweets for a Saturday
The Tattered Tag
This Weeks Cravings
Be Blessed!