One of our friends brought us a huge bowl of fresh raspberries the other day. I was full of gratitude. I hadn’t baked in a while, the house was running on empty where sweets were concerned, and I had been trying to decide what to make for the last couple of days. The raspberries made my decision simple; a fresh, sour cream based, raspberry coffee cake was in order.
Now I have to tell you a little secret about the friend that delivered the berries to us. He’s a bit of a movie star. When I first met him I had no clue. He didn’t immediately look familiar to me until he told me he was the “hot dog guy” in the movie Sleepers. Suddenly, I was putting two and two together.
For some reason, I never enjoyed the movie Sleepers. It was disturbing, focusing on physical and sexual abuse of young boys sentenced to a Juvenile Home in Upstate New York, by the guards that supervised them. There were only two things I could particularly remember about the movie at the time George told us he starred in it. One, was that Kevin Bacon played one of the most sinister characters of his career in that movie, and the other was the scene involving the boys prank with the hot dog vendor and his cart. It wasn’t the big names ( Brad Pitt, Robert Di Niro, Minnie Driver, Dustin Hoffman) that left me with a lasting impression of this movie – it was George Georgiadis’ appearance that did.
George also appeared in other a few other movies and television shows before leaving his acting career to move to the Finger Lakes Region of New York, where he now runs his own construction business, and grows fresh raspberries (Thank God!). If you want to see the best scene of the movie – starring none other than George, click on the link “hot dog guy” above.
Okay, enough about movie stars. Onto the star of this post. Raspberry Coffee Cake…..
Cake Recipe:
1/2 c. margarine, softened
2 eggs, room temperature
1 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. sour cream
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. prepared cinnamon & sugar
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 3/4 c. fresh raspberries
Topping Recipe:
1/2 c. quick cook oatmeal
1/2 tsp. prepared cinnamon & sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream all ingredients except flour and raspberries in a large bowl. Once creamy, add flour. Fold in berries. In a separate bowl mix oats and cinnamon and sugar mixture – set aside.
Pour batter into a greased 7″x9″ baking pan. Sprinkle topping on batter. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes clean when inserted in center. Cool before cutting. Makes about 12 pieces of cake.
ENJOY!
THE JOY OF CAKING 