Raspberry Cake With Almond Streusel
I have been stuck on the couch the past couple of weeks after injuring my knee doing a yoga routine. (Yes yoga, pretty embarrassing, isn’t it?) This injury has limited my ability to experiment in the kitchen because standing too much causes my knee to swell. I am feeling better this week however, and have been very anxious to get back into this kitchen, so I have been getting back to work slowly, as much as I can tolerate.
I bake some type of sweets every couple of days when we are in Umbria to give to our farmhouse guests, but when we are back in the States, unless I am baking for guests or family visits, or for an upcoming holiday celebration, I rarely bake sweets. My husband does have a biscotti jar that I try and keep filled with crunchy, not too sweet biscotti, but apart from that, we rarely eat sweets ourselves.
If I am going to splurge on calories, I would much rather enjoy something savory than sweet. I did so much baking last Christmas however that I just had an urge to get back into the kitchen recently and bake something. I do prefer rustic cakes, either made with fresh fruit or nuts, so I decided to bake a raspberry almond cake. This cake has a cream cheese layer which along with fresh raspberries, creates a very moist cake, and I added a streusel topping with sliced almonds for texture.
I had a big bag of sliced almonds leftover from the holiday, so I wanted to use them up, but if you prefer, you could use walnuts, pecans, or even hazelnuts. Although I love all berries, raspberries are my favorite, so when I went to the store recently and saw raspberries on sale, I bought three containers of plump, tart raspberries.
In place of the raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries would work well in this recipe as well. A slice of this cake would be great with your morning coffee, or you can dress it up with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream and fresh berries and serve it for dessert after a special meal.
Buon Appetito!
Deborah Mele

Raspberry Cake With Almond Streusel
Ingredients
Cake Base:
- 2 1/3 Cups All-purpose Flour
- 2 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 8 Tablespoons (1 Stick/1/2 Cup) Unsalted Butter, At Room Temperature
- 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
- 4 Large Eggs, At Room Temperature
- 1 1/2 Teaspoon Almond Extract
- 1 Cup Plain or Vanilla Yogurt
- 1 1/2 Cups Fresh or Frozen Raspberries
Cream Cheese Layer:
- 1 (8 Ounce) Package Cream Cheese, At Room Temperature
- 1 Egg
- 1/4 Cup Sugar
Streusel Topping:
- 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- 1 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour
- 1/2 Cup Sugar
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Cup Sliced Almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., and spray a 9-inch springform pan with baking spray.
- In one bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and soda, and salt.
- In another bowl using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar on medium speed until blended.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the almond extract and blend.
- Alternately add half the flour and half the yogurt, then repeat, just beating until combined.
- Stir in the raspberries, then pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese, egg and 1/4 cup sugar until creamy.
- Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the cake batter, spreading to cover.
- In another bowl, use your fingers to rub all of the streusel topping ingredients together except the almonds until it becomes pea sized.
- Stir in the sliced almonds, then sprinkle the topping on top of the batter.
- Bake the cake for about 50 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out cleanly.
So glad to hear that you are back in the kitchen – short time though it may be. I volunteered to bring a dessert to a Hearts Party (cards) around Valentine’s Day and started to despair of finding anything unique and delicious AND having some sort of red accent, either in flavor or look. I check your blog every few days and was so happy to see this lovely cake – thank you, thank you! I’ll be making this next week-end. I can tell it’s going to be good – I’ve never had a recipe fail from you. Thanks again!