Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Even though it has been super hot lately, I still love to bake.  If I get up early enough and turn the oven on before it becomes scorchingly hot, then it’s not so bad in the kitchen, but if I bake too late in the day, when the temperature is soaring, it becomes unbearable.  So, I got up early and baked a chocolate raspberry cake.  The combination of chocolate and raspberries is one of my favorites, and I had a whole bunch of fresh raspberries from my bushes that needed to be used.  It was either use them all at once or let the birds get to them, and of course, I would rather eat them.  There are still plenty on the bushes that the birds can have.  I’ll share those with them.

I have raspberry bushes in both my backyard and in my side yard.  There are still quite a few berries left on the bushes.  Sometimes I get a ton of berries and other times, there are only a few.  This year is kind of an in between year.

This was my current yield, all of which went inside the cake.

The berries from my bushes are very small compared to the ones I bought, however they are super sweet and full of flavor.  Either way, I just love raspberries.  Golden raspberries are delicious too.

I put half the batter in my bundt pan (you can use any size baking dish you like.  Cake pans or a 9×13 baking dish are both just fine too.  Change things up a bit, and add some variety.)  then I added a layer of raspberries and topped with the remaining batter.

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

1 tsp cinnamon

3 3/4 cups flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs

16 ounces of either sour cream or yogurt (I used yogurt this time)

2 tsp vanilla

1- 1 1/2 cups raspberries

chocolate ganache (optional)

powdered sugar (optional)

 

Preheat the oven to 350*F.

Prepare your cake pan with cooking spray.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside.  Mix the butter and sugar together until it is all well incorporated.  Then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between.  Add the vanilla, and mix again.  Alternate adding the flour mixture and the sour cream, mixing until just mixed after each addition.  Repeat until all the flour and sour cream are mixed into the batter.    Add half the batter into your baking pan, making sure it is evenly spread out.  Add the berries, again, making sure they are evenly spread over the batter, then top with the remaining batter.  Bake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a toothpick that is inserted comes out clean.  Let cool completely  before removing from the pan and decorating.  I had some leftover chocolate ganache that I drizzled over the cake.  I added some more raspberries for decoration and color then I dusted the cake with powdered sugar.  I used the smaller raspberries from my garden to put inside the cake, and the larger, prettier ones from the store on top of the cake as decoration.