Oh, buttermilk raisin coffee cake, you soft and tender thing, you. This is probably my favorite coffee cake recipe (and that is saying a lot, because I have yet to meet a coffee cake I didn’t like), probably because it is packed with juicy raisins and cinnamon and walnuts, and the buttermilk gives it just a teeny hint of tangy attitude. It also makes a nice generous amount because it cooks up in a 13×9 inch pan (and more on all that later), and is utterly and completely easy to make. You pretty much go from taking out the ingredients to pulling the golden deliciousness out of your oven in just under an hour, and then all there is left to do is wait for it to cool a little (So Hard!!) and then to slice it up and hand it out. You want coffee cake now, am I right? Let’s make some!
My only issue with making lots of coffee cake (or any other kind of cake, or cookies, or pretty much anything else that is intended to feed a crowd) is that it is only the Southern husband, me and one lazy hound dog in my house. My reliable band of kids are now all scattered across the country doing actual work at actual jobs instead of crowding into my kitchen eating everything in sight. Sniffle.
However! Whenever I get a hankering to make a big plate of sweet whatever, I remember that there is another wonderful crowd of folks who will happily eat up anything I make. And give me loads of positive reinforcement.
And leave PSAs for each other when there are only a few pieces left. It’s enough to make a girl smile all day long.
Meanwhile back at the coffee cake, it really is a snap to make, and a great way to use up any leftover buttermilk you may have lounging around from the last time you made ricotta cheese, which is the main reason I tend to have buttermilk lounging around.
So whether you have a crowd of kids in your kitchen or a crowd of friends in your office…or if you just get a yearning for a big pan of soft, tender, sweet-smelling coffee cake, give this one a whirl!
Buttermilk Raisin Coffee Cake
- ¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
- 1½ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups buttermilk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup raisins
- Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 13×9 inch baking pan with cooking spray.
- Mix melted butter, nuts, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and cinnamon together in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
- Beat ½ cup soft butter and sugar together in a mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.
- Mix together flour and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk until everything is just mixed.
- Add vanilla and mix. Add raisins and mix.
- Scrape ½ buttermilk batter into your baking pan and spread to the edges (sometimes this is easiest if you wet your fingers with water and use them!)
- Sprinkle half the nut mixture over the batter. Spread the rest of the batter on top, and then sprinkle the remaining nut mixture over all.
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until the coffee cake is a light golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for about 30 minutes and then cut into squares.