Recipe of the Day — Raspberry Chocolate Coffee Cake (** Updated with photo)

Christmas is a great time for decadent foods, right? That’s why we all put on 10 lbs in December and on January 1 all the stores are having huge sales on exercise/fitness stuff (as well as tote boxes to stash your new loot) so you can start making progress on those resolutions to lose those 10 lbs (and become more organized). This coffee cake fits right in the December menu, especially Christmas morning (have something on hand to feed the crowds so they can make it through the present opening marathon without fainting), but it’s not on the Spartan January menu 😉

I made this for a bridal shower about a year ago and it was a fabulous hit and has been requested several times since. It ends up a rather thick cake — it might well spill over the top of your pan if it’s too shallow, so you may want a pan underneath to catch drips.

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Raspberry Chocolate Coffee Cake

Cake: 2 c. all-purpose flour 3/4 c. sugar 1/4 c. margarine or butter, softened 1 c. milk 2 t. baking powder 1 t. vanilla ½ t. salt 1 egg

1 – 6 oz. pkg (1 cup) chocolate chips 1 c. fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) raspberries

Streusel: 1/4 c. firm margarine or butter 1/3 c. flour 1/4 c. sugar 1/3 c. slivered almonds

Heat oven to 350 F.

Prepare streusel by cutting margarine into flour and sugar until crumbly. Stir in nuts; set aside. Grease square pan, 9 x 9 x 2 inches.

Beat all ingredients except chocolate chips, raspberries and streusel in medium bowl on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

Spread half of the batter in pan. Sprinkle with half each of the chocolate chips, raspberries and streusel. Repeat layers.

Bake about 50 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Notes: I use mini chocolate chips (produces a lovely layer of chocolate!) I also use a little icing made of powdered sugar, vanilla and water to drizzle over the top to make it a little fancier. I have used both pecans and hazelnuts and both are great. I doubled the recipe for a 9 x 13 pan.