Fruit & Nut Coffee Cake

My hubbie LOVES coffee cake. It’s such a delectable combination of fruit crumble and cake, what’s not to love? I adapted this from a great recipe at Once Upon a Chef. We love more flavour, so I kicked things up a notch.

CRUMBLE TOPPING

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (for more texture, you can use 1/4 cup a.p. flour & 1/4 cup buckwheat or whole wheat flour)

6 tbsp packed light brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated is best)

1/4 tsp salt

4 tbsp unsalted butter

NUT FILLING

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted & chopped

4 tbsp light brown sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated is best)

CAKE

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

Zest from one lemon

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups berries (apples would work too, if you like) – if using frozen, do not defrost

Mix dry ingredients for crumble topping. Cut in butter until it is a coarse meal texture. Set aside in the fridge.

Toast nuts for filling, then chop and mix with nutmeg.

Add vanilla to milk in measuring cup. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9 inch square pan.

In a large bowl, measure sugar. Add in lemon zest and mix well to impart the oils from the citrus. Cream butter with sugar until fluffy, then add eggs one at a time, mixing after each one.

Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to creamed mixture, mixing just until blended.

Stir berries into batter by hand, being gentle so as not to break them up.

Assemble cake:

– Spoon 1/2 of cake batter into pan, levelling it out.

– Sprinkle nut filling evenly over batter.

– Spoon remaining cake batter over filling, spreading it over evenly.

– Sprinkle crumble topping evenly over cake batter.

Place in middle of oven and bake for approximately 40-45 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 195F.

Cool on a wire rack.

Serve with whipped cream if you want to be really decadent 😋