Simple and unassuming, this raspberry almond crumb cake is tender and buttery, a balanced contrast to the crunchy cinnamon crumbles on top. Paired with toasted almonds, juicy raspberries, and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar—I can say with confidence that it was love at first bite.
If you want to eat cake for breakfast, a perfectly moist yet crumbly coffee cake is your solution. And today’s raspberry almond crumb cake should absolutely be on your cake-for-breakfast radar. Each bite is soft and juicy and crunchy and sweet and buttery, with a little cinnamon, almonds, and raspberries. All of these textures and flavors together are a home run. Serve it as part of your Mother’s Day recipes or any day where a special homemade breakfast is craved. Like my New York-style crumb cake, there’s only 2 parts: cake and toppings. This is a must make recipe so let’s get started!
This Raspberry Almond Crumb Cake Is
- Soft, buttery, and moist
- Relatively easy to make
- Loaded with a cinnamon crumb topping
- Topped with raspberries and almonds
- A totally special homemade breakfast
- Loved by bakers around the world
Overview: How to Make Raspberry Almond Crumb Cake
Using my sour cream crumb cake as the base, we’ll add vanilla extract for flavor and to make the cake extra special, a little almond extract too. For the full recipe, scroll to the bottom of the page.
- Make the cake batter. Whisk the dry ingredients together. Cream the butter and sugar, then add the remaining ingredients. The mixture may look curdled—that’s ok. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. The batter will be thick and very pale. This batter is very similar to the batter for cranberry cake. Another must-try!
- Spread the batter into a prepared pan.
- Make the crumb topping.
- Dot raspberries all over the top of the cake batter.
- Sprinkle the crumbs and sliced almonds on top.
- Bake.
- Enjoy! I like to add a little dusting of confectioners’ sugar prior to serving.
Raspberry Almond Crumb Cake Toppings
We’ll top our crumb cake with fresh raspberries, sliced almonds, and a buttery crumb topping—each adds something special!
Raspberries: I love raspberries and crumb cake together. The berries require zero prep, which I know you’ll appreciate first thing in the morning. Just dot them right on top of the cake batter. No sugar added, no pre-cooking, no extra steps. They pair wonderfully with the toasted almonds. Not into raspberries? A strawberry and rhubarb combination would be fantastic. Or even blueberries! Peeled and chopped apples or peaches would be equally delicious. And, you can leave off the raspberries and almonds for a plain crumb cake.
Sliced Almonds: These add a welcome crunch to each bite. Try toasting them for even more flavor.
Crumb Topping: The crumb topping comes together with flour, brown sugar, a little cinnamon, and butter. We’ll use melted butter, so there’s no cutting the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter. It’s so easy!
Best Pan to Use
This cake rises pretty tall, so I suggest using a springform pan. A 9×9-inch square baking pan works too. If you have a 9-inch cake pan that’s 2-3 inches deep, that could work as well. Though my first recommendation is a 9-inch springform pan. The removable sides make slicing the crumb cake easier, too!
If cake for breakfast is your thing, you’ll love trying my crumb coffee cake next. Or if you can’t get enough of raspberries, my raspberry sweet rolls are calling your name!
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Raspberry Almond Crumb Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: serves 8
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Simple and unassuming, this raspberry almond crumb cake is tender and buttery, a balanced contrast to the crunchy cinnamon crumbles on top. Paired with toasted almonds, juicy raspberries, and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar– I can say with confidence that it was love at first bite.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/3 cups (166g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120ml) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
Topping
- 1/4 cup (31g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 heaping cup (170g) fresh or frozen raspberries (do not thaw)
- 3/4 cup (65g) sliced almonds
- optional: confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch springform pan.
- Make the cake: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the eggs, sour cream, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. The mixture may look curdled; that’s ok. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients until smooth. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick. Spread into prepared pan. Set aside.
- Make the crumb topping: With a fork, mix the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon together. Stir in the melted butter until crumbs form.
- Dot raspberries all over the top of the cake batter. Sprinkle the crumbs and sliced almonds on top.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the top of the cake is browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
- Remove the cake from the oven and set on a wire rack. Allow to slightly cool for a few minutes before slicing. I suggest serving with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar!
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Because of the fresh fruit, this cake is best within the first couple days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Freeze baked and cooled cake for up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature and dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired, before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Springform Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack | Fine Mesh Sieve
- Sour Cream: Sour cream is a key ingredient in this cake. I don’t suggest subbing the sour cream with a liquid—plain full-fat yogurt would work though. But don’t remove the fat from this cake by using a lower fat yogurt or sour cream alternative. Fat = flavor! We don’t want to skimp there!
- Why Room Temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Here’s a post I wrote all about the importance of room temperature ingredients.
Hi Sally
Loved this cake. Surely a keeper! I made them with fresh strawberries that sunk to the bottom. Maybe should have dusted them with flour. However, it did not take anything away from the flavor. Needed 50+ minutes for baking though.
Hi Jyoti, was your batter particularly thin? This should be a thicker batter which helps the fruit to stay dispersed throughout. For next time, you can certainly lightly toss them in flour, and you can also blot the strawberries to rid of extra moisture that can cause them to sink (and for the cake batter to take on extra moisture and take longer to bake). We’re glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you, Sally!!!
I have never made this, but when I saw it on your Facebook feed I thought it would be great for our neighbourhood Easter party. I made 1 with raspberries and 1 with strawberries.
They were a huge hit!!! Very easy recipe to make, light texture and a really gorgeous presentation with the almonds and a dusting of powdered sugar. I also love all the variations you can make with this…..will definitely be making again soon.
Cheers from London,
Elyssa
Wow, I made this yesterday, it was soooooo delicious! I don’t think I’ve ever used raspberry in any cakes or quickbreads. It was very moist and the topping was just right. I didn’t put almonds on the top because I didn’t have any and I did have to put tin foil on toward the end. My family enjoyed it.
Made today for a luncheon. Delicious! Moist and rich. Great flavors. I only had non-fat sour cream so shorted the amount and added whipping cream to make up the difference. Came out perfect! Did cover with foil last 10 minutes to keep almonds from getting too brown. Add a little extra almond emulsion because love that flavor.
Hi Sally! Wondering if the raspberries will fall to the bottom if you don’t give them a light coating of flour? Thanks!
Hi Lori, You can toss them with a little flour, if desired, to prevent them from sinking. The batter is pretty thick though, so they shouldn’t sink regardless.
Just came out of the oven and it is just delicious. It was an easy recipe to make. Everyone just loved it
Everyone loved this recipe. Just moist enough and the flavors were a huge hit!
Instead of raspberries, I used fresh strawberries for the topping and it turned out perfectly. This cake was excellent! It’s wonderfully soft and juicy, crunchy and sweet, tender and buttery! The flavor combinations are perfect together! This cake not only tasted great, but it was also gorgeous. I’ll definitely be making this again, can’t wait to make with different fresh fruits! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe with us.
This is without a doubt my favorite cake to bake. At least 10 times now. Looks and tastes wonderful and always a hit. I am wondering if you have made this cake with apples and almonds. (no raspberries) Im looking for a simple apple cake.
I started following Sally during Covid. I stopped baking years ago but found it brought me lots of pleasure to bake for close friends and family. I absolutely love this Raspberry Almond Coffee cake and, it is a hit with my neighbors and friends. Since then I’ve been trying many of Sally’s recipes and 99.9% have been fabulous!! My daughter, who has a restaurant, also began following Sally and has used her recipes for some ideas for her guests!
I make this cake a lot especially in the summer when the farms raspberry bushes are bountiful. But wondering if you can do it in cup cake size. Always been to nervous to try due to just loving the original and would hate to ever waste a raspberry. Grateful for your recipes you make baking so much fun and delicious!
Made this today and it was delicious! All your recipes I’ve made so far have been so good!
Hi Sally,
I made this cake and love it! It’s my daughter’s favorite! Now that our family is growing, I need a cake that serves 12. If I increased the ingredients by another half recipe, and used a 10” springform, how long would the baking time be? Thanks for your help!
Hi Sharon! We’re unsure of the exact bake time so keep a close eye on it in the oven and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Once again…Sally shares a delicious recipe that my coffee clutch loved today! Double the raspberries! And I’m a pecan lover and subbed pecans for the almonds. Just fabulous! Will bake again for sure.
My kids and I were wowed. We picked fresh raspberries today and immediately made this cake + raspberry jam. It is hard to describe how good it was.
I subbed KA Alternative Sugar for 1/3 of the sugar in both the cake and crumb topping so the topping was not crumbly but rather like creamed butter/sugar since I used a dash of molasses and maple syrup instead of brown sugar, which I no longer buy. Instead of sprinkling with powdered sugar, we served it with our fresh raspberry jam (with 100% alternative sugar). Since my springform is 10 inches I increased the cake part of the recipe by 50% and cooked for about 50 minutes. Perhaps I will never make another cake again, it is really that good.
Took 50 minutes+ to bake
I found this coffee cake to be disappointing. The almonds on the top seemed to keep it from baking properly, and it took much longer to bake than anticipated. In order to bake the center adequately, the outside was over baked. The taste was somewhat bland as well. I ended up throwing it out, unsure as to whether I made some mammoth mistake, and perhaps didn’t follow the recipe properly. I’ve never had an experience like this, so I don’t know. Since others rated it highly, perhaps I’m at fault.
This is my all time favorite recipe! I switch up toppings whatever is on sale or what I have currently at home.
This looks yummy but any chance you could replace flour with brown rice flour to make it gluten free?
Hi Julie, we haven’t tested that substitution, but please let us know if you do!
Thanks for a fantastic and easy to make show-stopping recipe – this was an instant family favorite! The second time we made it we doubled the topping and raspberries (a standard recipe move in our family), cooked for a few extra minutes and loved it even more.
I have made this recipe a zillion times. It’s a favorite with my whole family (now 15 with cousins and grandparents) can I double the recipe and bake in a larger pan? How would that change cooking time? Do I change any other amounts of ingredients
Hi Cristina, We are thrilled this cake is such a hit with your family! You can 1.5x the recipe for a 9×13 inch pan. We haven’t tested any other sizes but let us know if you do.
This was so easy and tasted great!! The texture and consistency was perfect. Will be making this again soon!
This was beautiful to serve and so easy to make. I love that it looked exactly like the photo on the website. I baked it a bit longer to get the center of the cake done but then the cake bottom cake came out pretty dark. Will work on timing when I make the next one which will be very soon, according to my husband. Thanks Sally!
Very delicious!
I had to bake mine a lot longer than recommended ( I think because of the freezing temperatures where I live at the moment… maybe effected bake time? )
But overall was pretty damn good!
Will try with cherries next time 😉
Hi Sally, I was wondering if it would be okay to use plain whole wheat flour for this recipe? Many thanks
Hi Ffion, whole wheat flour will result in a dry and dense crumb cake. You could try replacing half the flour with whole wheat but expect the texture to be different.
Not only was this crumb cake DELICIOUS it was also GORGEOUS!
Thank you for sharing!!
I did not care for this cake. I found it too dense/heavy in texture. It took almost an hour to bake to be cooked through. I used a 9″ springform. I make a very similar cake called a buckle with more flour (1 3/4 cups) and 1/4 cup milk vs the 1/2 cup sour cream which seems to give a lighter crumb. I thought the flavors were pleasant (the almond extract complements the raspberries nicely) but would not repeat. Thanks for the inspiration, just my feedback.
Hi!
Got a cast iron skillet for Christmas. Do you think I can make this (I love this cake) in the cast iron skillet? If yes, any suggestions on bake time??
Thanks as always!!
Hi Mary Jo, it depends on the size of you cast iron skillet. You could try following the baking directions of this Skillet Cake, but make sure to keep an eye on it in the oven so it doesn’t over-bake.
Hi Sally! Looove this recipe! I’m wondering if there’s a good nut free sub for the almonds in the topping? I’m thinking to make this for Christmas but have a family member that is allergic 🙁 I was thinking coconut flakes/chips but I’m worried they might burn too quickly in the oven.. Thanks!
Hi Kira, You can simply skip the almonds if you wish! But yes, coconut is a good alternative. If you try it and it starts to brown too quickly you can loosely cover the top with aluminum foil while the cake finishes baking. Enjoy!
I made this recipe 4 days ago. The cake its self is very moist and the texture is good.
I was looking for an almond cake that I could get my almond fix. This is not it. Even
with the sliced almonds on top. I really wished the recipe had more almond flavor.
I was not tempted to taste the batter after mixing all the ingredients.
HI, If you want the cake to taste more like almond (like me!) switch the quantity of vanilla for the almond extract. This is what I did and it turned out really good with a stronger taste of almond. Love that cake. It is a keeper!
Hi Sally. I was about to make your glazed cherry crumb cake from one of your cookbooks and realized it’s quite different than your crumb cake recipes on your website. This recipe uses milk and melted butter in the recipe and on the website you use sour cream and softened butter. Was this an improvement on your part? We really liked the raspberry almond cake. Should I just substitute the cherries for the raspberries?
Thanks
Hi Lor! Thank you so much for asking. This is a great question. The cookbook version is extremely buttery and soft, yet a little dense. Most of the crumb cakes on my site are cakey and much fluffier in texture. Give the cookbook version a try if you’d like and are curious to compare, but if you love this version– stick with it. You can replace the raspberries with chopped cherries.
Thx for another excellent recipe! Having a 10 inch springform pan at my disposal I multiplied each ingredient by 1.5 or 20% and kept white sugar at 180 grams,baked it for 55 minutes and it came out so moist and delicious thx again for your excellent contribution in teaching me how to bake like a pro!