These delicious little squares are filled with nutritious ingredients, such as fresh raspberries, walnuts, soft wheat and rolled oats and the result is absolutely delicious! I started out by creating these as a dessert, as an alternative to Crumb cakes which are typically filled with sugar, butter and white flour and have no nutritional value, whatsoever! But as I fine-tuned this little recipe, ingredient by ingredient, cutting down the sugar, adding more of the good stuff, they ended up so wholesome, I decided that they actually make a lovely addition to an elegant Sunday brunch or even a quick little breakfast with a tall glass of milk! They are so simple to make–All you need is a wooden spoon to stir the batter, no need to take out the electric mixer!
Raspberry Crumb Cakes
Ingredients
- CAKE:
- 1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg
- ½ cup skim milk
- 2 Tbsp canola oil
- zest of 1 orange
- 1 ½ cups fresh raspberries
- TOPPING:
- ½ cup ground walnuts
- ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp regular smart balance spread
- 1 Tbsp plain low fat kefir*
- *you can also use fat free buttermilk but I prefer kefir because it contains considerably less sodium.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Spread 1 tsp regular smart balance in an 8X8X2 inch baking pan.
- In a large bowl, mix together pastry flour, sugar and baking powder.
- Make a well in center of flour mixture and add egg, milk, oil and orange zest. Stir with a wooden spoon until evenly moistened.
- Pour into prepared pan and top with the raspberries.
- In a separate bowl, combine ground walnuts, pastry flour, oats and brown sugar.
- Add smart balance and kefir and work with your fingers to make into a crumbly mixture.
- Sprinkle evenly over the raspberries.
- Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until wooden stick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool and cut into 16 squares.
These are probably my favorite breakfast item of yours! And they are so delicious, they make a perfect desert as well! This is definitely a recipe I will be making this summer 🙂
I made the raspberry cake last night for lunchbox treats this week. It’s healthy and delicious….really a special change of pace from muffins and quick breads. My husband and I both love it. Thank you!
I love it Jill!
I just found your website and so many of the recipes look wonderful. You use many of the ingredients I like to use and I appreciate that while your recipes are both healthy and delicious looking you do not avoid meat or dairy. I have a question about the flour you say to use. I have been greatly cutting down on using white flour and now use white whole wheat as my main flour. I find the flavor milder than traditional whole wheat flour. Is this much different than the pastry whole wheat that you recommend and would it make much difference to use the while whole wheat instead of the whole wheat pastry? Thank you!
Thank you so much R.A for your wonderful comment! I appreciate it very much!
I too use white whole wheat flour for some of my recipes–see my pancakes and my savory galettes– but because I only discovered it relatively recently (some of my older recipes date 20 years already!) I haven’t systematically gone back to see if it would work just as well as my whole wheat pastry flour. The thing is whole wheat pastry flour has the same amount of fiber as regular whole wheat or white whole wheat and it too tastes mild and not overly heavy as typical whole wheat flour does (which is why I love it for my pastries), so I think you would like it just as much as the white whole wheat one you now use. I would love to know if it translates exactly, so if you try one of my recipes that calls for whole wheat pastry flour and replace it with yours, please let me know how it went! I always love to know!! Thank you so much!
My best friend is very difficult to please when it comes to breakfast items. I made this raspberry crumb today and she loved it !!! So did I . It is so nice to find a healthy version of crumb cake that is this delicious. The only change I made was to substitute 1/4 tsp. each of almond and vanilla extract for the Orange zest as my friend is not a citrus lover. Outrageously good! Thanks so much. Looking forward to trying more of your stealth recipes.
WOW! That’s wonderful Karen! Lovely idea with the vanilla and almond extract, I bet it was delicious too! Thanks for your sweet comment! It always makes me so happy to hear when someone loves my recipes!
Haha Sbo, I hope you meant appetizing (unappetizing is the opposite!!). It sounds like that’s what you meant!! In any case, I am delighted to hear that! Thank you!
Wow !! Your food unappetizing. I think that would be a way to make time for some food. Thank you for sharing great information to read, I like it.
no, you know we’re an ol fashioned farm – use my hands! 🙂
Of course!!! I should have known better!!
By the way, I tried this and it worked perfect with frozen fruit – I used frozen cherries from my two trees and peaches that I froze – very good!
Great to know Greg! Yum cherries! Do you have an easy way to pit a lot of them at a time? I would love to learn!
Could I use frozen fruit? I froze some summer raspberries…
I have never tried but I don’t see why not! Let me know how it goes, I always love to know these things!