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This raspberry sour cream coffee cake is tender and moist from sour cream, has a ribbon of jam in the middle, and is topped with crunchy cardamom crumbs.

Holy cow there’s a lot going on in this little cake! My Mom is the queen of crumb cakes. She’s made them all, her layers of streusel topping are always generous, and the soft delicious cake underneath the crumbs begs for a good cup of coffee.

And that’s what coffee cake should be! Something that’s pulled out to eat on dainty plates with a friend over tea. You talk about life together, and then afterwards there’s (hopefully) cake for breakfast.

Coffee cakes rarely take a lot of time to put together since there’s no frosting to be made, so they’re great for beginning bakers or anyone short on time. If I need to make a cake for a baby shower, or a potluck or as dessert for a family in need of a meal, 97% of the time, it’s a cake just like this one.

I love mine because I’ve cut down the sugar in more typical sour cream coffee cake. The added ribbon of jam is a pretty addition, and the raspberries up top add a good contrast to the crumbs.

Raspberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients

There’s 3 stars in this sour cream coffee cake here: the sour cream, the raspberries, and the cardamom.

Sour cream adds such a beautiful texture to cakes. There’s a smooth dense sheen to the batter that’s like nothing else, yet it adds insane tenderness to the resulting cake. A cake made with sour cream is closer to one made with buttermilk. The higher acid in the buttermilk and sour cream reacts with the baking soda in the dry ingredients, so you’ll get a lot of lift in addition to the tenderness.

Raspberries are just plain beautiful. Always venture to make your bakes pretty!

The cardamom adds a little air of mystery to this otherwise simple cake. It’s a spice that is very potent, so don’t go overboard, or you could end up with something that tastes like perfumed soap. I’m all about just a pinch where cardamom is concerned, and when you use just that much, it goes beautifully with the raspberries.

Flour: all-purpose.
Baking powder: for leavening.
Baking soda: for leavening.
Salt: for flavor.
Butter: for richness, texture, and flavor.
Brown sugar: for darker caramel flavors.
Eggs: to provide structure, protein, and some fat.
Vanilla: for flavor. Make your own vanilla paste.
Sour cream: to add richness, moisture, and tenderness.
Raspberry jam: for some fun visual interest inside the cake.
Raspberries: up top to make it look pretty.
Cardamom: just a little bit in the streusel topping for a mysterious flavor that makes the raspberries sing.

Tips for the perfect raspberry sour cream coffee cake

raspberries on top of cake batter in pan

Make your cardamom streusel first.: If the butter in your streusel is too warm, it will sink on your cake. The easiest way to combat this is to make the streusel first and pop it in the fridge. This way, as you finish the cake, the butter will firm up, making for a layer of crunchy streusel that stays up top as it should.
Don’t overmix!: alternating the dry ingredients with the sour cream will help the batter absorb the flour better. Still, just beat in each addition for a couple seconds; you don’t need to get a smooth batter every time. A few turns with a baking spatula at the end will help smooth everything together.
Use a spoon to divvy out dollops of batter to cover the jam.: This recipe has you divide the batter roughly in half. Then you’ll spread a layer of jam over the first layer of batter. If you dump the rest of the jam over the batter, it could turn into a sliding gooey mess. A simple solution is to spoon out little dibs of batter over the jam. A quick go with an offset spatula, and it’ll smooth easily without disturbing your peace or the jam.
Don’t cut the cake hot!: Ack, it’s “I smell fresh bread in the kitchen” level of torture waiting for this cake to cool. Still, it needs to or it will fall apart on you. Let it cool for a few minutes. Then use the parchment sling to pop it out of the pan onto a rack to cool before cutting.
Serve it with Earl Grey or coffee: Good cake deserves a good drink. Go with your conscience here.

Raspberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

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Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Yield: 16 pieces

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Description

A moist afternoon sour cream coffee cake topped with cardamom streusel and raspberries with a ribbon of jam on the inside. Make this for your neighbors, and you’ll never have a fence war again.

Ingredients

Scale

Cardamom Streusel

2/3 cup all-purpose flour (85 g)
1/3 cup light brown sugar (50 g)
3 tablespoons melted butter (36 g)
2 green cardamom pods

Cake batter

2 cups all-purpose flour (260 g)
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 tablespoons butter (113 g), at room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar (132 g)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream (227 g)
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
1/2 cup raspberry jam (160 g)
6 oz fresh raspberries

cooking spray for the pan

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
2. Spray an 8″x8″ 2″ tall cake pan with cooking spray, then make a parchment sling. To do this, cut 2 pieces of parchment the width of your baking pan. Lay them on the bottom of the pan, one covering two sides, and the next one covering the remaining two sides.

Make the streusel

1. - Press on the cardamom pods so that they split. Remove the green outer covering, then crush the seeds in a mortar or pestle or spice grinder to a fine texture.
  - To make the streusel, In a small bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar and cardamom together until the sugar is evenly distributed in the flour.
2. - Pour in the melted butter, then use a fork to toss the ingredients together. Stir everything together until the crumbs start to form.
  - Cover the bowl, and refrigerate the mixture until you’re done prepping the cake.

Make the cake:

1. Mix the dry ingredients: Whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
2. Add the butter to the mixer bowl with the brown sugar. Beat everything for 2-3 minutes until it is light and fluffy.
3. Add in the eggs to the butter mix and beat to combine until everything is smooth.
4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat to combine for a few more seconds.
5. Measure the sour cream into a bowl, then add the vanilla to it.
6. Alternating dry and wet ingredients: Pour about 1/3 of the remaining flour into the butter and mix for about 5 seconds. Next add in about 1/2 of the sour cream mix and mix for about 5 seconds. Continue alternating adding in dry and wet ingredients, finishing up with the flour.
7. Scrape around the edges and bottom of the bowl with a baking spatula, using about 5 turns to finish incorporating the dry and wet ingredients.
8. Scrape the half the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it into one even layer.
9. Warm the jam for a few seconds in the microwave or in a pan on the stove just to loosen it.
10. Stir the jam until it’s smooth, then spread it over the layer of cake batter.
11. Spoon the remaining cake batter in dollops over the top of the jam, then smooth the top.
12. Finish the streusel: Pull the bowl out of the refrigerator, then use your fork to scrape around the bottom of the bowl to create big crumbs. Break up big crumbles into pieces about pea-sized or slightly larger.
13. Scatter the streusel, then raspberries over the top of the cake.
14. Bake the cake for 60-65 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the edges are light golden brown.
15. Cool the cake for 5 minutes, then use the parchment sling to remove the cake from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
16. This cake is best eaten within 2 days. Keep any leftovers at room temperature, loosely covered with foil.

Notes

As I’ve tested this, I’ve used a Pyrex glass 8×8 pan. Being in glass, it should take a little longer to bake than if it were in a metal pan, though I will quadruple check this the next time I make this recipe. If you’re using glass, go by the visual cues to check doneness (toothpick comes out clean, edges light brown, no jiggle in the middle).

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Additional Time: 0 hours
Cook Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Category: Morning breads
Cuisine: American