Raspberry Morning Cake

Easy Bundt cake recipe, buttery and moist, studded with berries. Inexpensive to make too since it uses frozen fruit. Very pretty on a plate. Barely sweet, so perfect as brunch cake or my favorite, as dessert, served with coffee.

Before Mother’s Day, the big downtown farmers market is awash with fresh flowers of all colors, just as the folk shopping there week after week for price and freshness includes Moms of all stripes.

There’s the suburban Mom sporting a trim wicker basket, hair just blown, feet just pedicured in chic sandals. There’s the soccer Mom with a mini-vanful of kids, some even her own, hair pulled back, feet in Keds. There’s the mother-in-law Mom recently arrived from Russia to join her son and his American family, hair off-red, feet in heel-worn laced oxfords. There’s the new Mom with an infant Bjorned on her chest, hair barely combed, feet in flip flops. There’s the Muslim Mom, hair veiled in an elegant hijab, feet in Adidas. There’s the love-generation Mom carrying cloth bags, hair temple gray, feet in Birkenstocks. There’s the Asian Mom bargaining for a live chicken, hair inky, feet in hose and heels. There’s the grandmom-Mom with grandbabies in tow, hair cropped close, feet in sensible shoes.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who’re Moms, in all their stripes of hair and footwear.

ALANNA's TIPS For lighter cakes, warm eggs in hot water for 5 minutes before beating in. ‘Fluff’ flour to lighten before measuring. Otherwise, you’ll use more flour than called for and baked goods will turn out heavy. Frozen berries come in 12-ounce and 16-ounce packages. To my taste, this cake works much better with fewer berries, even if it's a pain to have berries leftover. Make a smoothie! Frozen blueberries are a good substitute. The frozen berries will thicken the cake batter so use two tablespoons to transfer dollop by dollop into the Bundt pan. I’ve started buttering and sugaring Bundt pans to make it easier to remove cakes from the ribs.

RASPBERRY MORNING CAKE

A fruity coffeecake

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time-to-table: 2-1/2 hours
Serves 16

• 3/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1-1/4 cups (300g) sugar (or as little as 1 cup or 250g)
• Zest from 1 orange or 2 limes
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 large eggs (see ALANNA’s TIPS)
• 3 cups flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring or 325g
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt (skip this if using salted butter)
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, shaken well

• 12 ounces frozen raspberries
• 1 tablespoon flour

GLAZE

• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 tablespoon cream
• Powdered sugar to thicken, about 8 tablespoons

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer. Add zest and vanilla. One at a time, beat in eggs.

Separately, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Gently combining after each addition, add 1/3 the buttermilk, 1/2 the flour mixture, 1/3 the buttermilk, 1/2 the flour mixture, 1/3 the buttermilk.

Separately, stir together berries and 1 tablespoon flour. By hand, stir berries into batter.

Transfer batter to well-greased Bundt pan (see TIPS). Bake for 60 – 75 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 30 minutes, gently turn onto serving plate. Let cool another 30 minutes.

Mix glaze ingredients, drizzle onto cake.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving: 272 Cal; 10g Tot Fat; 6g Sat Fat; 40g Carb; 1g Fiber; 268mg Sodium; 70mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 6 points This recipe has been 'Alanna-sized' with reductions in sugar and portion size and increases in no-calorie flavorings.

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LATER NOTES
I've dropped the sugar to as low as 1 cup with still-good results.
These days, even though it's lighter than icing, I'd just as soon skip even a sugary glaze. Still, to 'finish' the cake's appearance, I might lightly dust the top with powdered sugar just before putting onto the table.
Once the cake cracked in two places where there were clumps of berries. Be careful to break all the raspberries apart into individual berries while tossing them with flour.
Once, I tried a mixed-berry blend from Trader Joe's, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. But the blackberries are just too large, better to use all raspberries or all blueberries.

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. Follow Kitchen Parade on Facebook!

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