cheese coffeecake

Molly Marzalek-Kelly’s selected cheese coffeecake layers a ruby raspberry filling and sweetened cream cheese over a cake base. Irregular crumbs cover the surface, with an optional raspberry-and-icing-sugar dusting for a colourful finish.

Fresh raspberries cook with granulated sugar and lemon juice until they release their juices. Flour thickens this fruit mixture after it leaves the heat; separately, cream cheese and sugar are mixed smooth before another portion of fresh raspberries is stirred in.

The crumbs combine flour, two sugars, table salt, unsalted butter, cream cheese and vanilla. For the cake, dry ingredients and lemon zest are mixed with butter until sandy, then vanilla, an egg and the selected sour cream make a smooth batter.

The batter spreads in a parchment-lined square pan with greased sides. The cooked raspberry layer is spread over it, the cream-cheese layer is added in dollops, and the crumbs are pressed lightly on top before baking until set and lightly browned.

The cake cools in its pan before being lifted onto a rack. The optional topping blends freeze-dried raspberries with icing sugar, adding a fine pink powder above the cream-cheese and fruit layers.