When I was a very small girl growing up in West Virginia, we used to go blackberry picking because where I lived blackberries seemed to grow wild everywhere! I wish that was the way it was now…although, we had to be extra careful when we filled our bags because of the snakes that also loved blackberry bushes!  I knew when we got home with our bags filled with blackberries, I knew it wasn’t going to be long before there would be the aroma of blackberries coming from the oven…often times it was blackberry cobbler….still my favorite dessert today, especially hot from the oven topped with a scoop (or two) of vanilla ice-cream!  Yummmmmmy!

When I saw these delicious looking blackberries at Sams, and at a good price, they had to come home with me!  Even though I love blackberry cobbler, I wanted to try something new using blackberries, so I had remembered seeing a blackberry coffee cake some time ago on the computer and decided to do a search….and there is was, “Blackberry Coffee Cake by Betty Crocker!”  I was not disappointed in this coffee cake, it’s moist inside, but on the outside it reminds you of a pound cake, that’s why I was surprised it was so moist inside…like a cake. Anyway, in this recipe it does not say to have all ingredients at room temperature, but I always try to have my ingredients at room temperature, but it’s not required.  I also used milk in my glaze instead of water, I just like the taste of the glaze with milk instead of water.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did.

Happy Coffee Cake Baking!

Blackberry Filling:

1 and ¼ cup frozen (thawed and well-drained) blackberries

½ cup finely chopped pecans

3 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1 and ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

Coffee Cake:

2 and ¼ cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 and ¼ cups granulated sugar

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 container (8-ounces) sour cream

Powdered Sugar Glaze:

1 and ½ cups powdered sugar

3 to 4 teaspoons water

Directions:

Heat oven to 350F.  Grease bottom and sides of 10-inch angel food (tube) cake pan with shortening; lightly flour.

In a small bowl, mix all the Blackberry Filling ingredients; set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and baking soda; set aside.  In a large bowl, beat granulated sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs with an electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.  Beat in flour mixture alternately with sour cream on low-speed.

Spread one-third of batter in pan; sprinkle with half of the filling.  Spoon another one-third of the batter by Tablespoons over filling; sprinkle with remaining filling.  Spoon remaining batter over filling; spread evenly

Bake coffee cake 55 to 65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack.  Cool completely, about 1 hour 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small bowl, stir all-Powdered Sugar Glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle.  Drizzle over cooled coffee cake.

Recipe by Betty Crocker:  Blackberry Coffee Cake