Easy Blackberry Coffee Cake is one of those recipes to consider when you need something comforting yet effortless. The twist? Instead of fresh berries or jam, you use a can of Lucky Leaf blackberry pie filling.
Back o' the Lucky Leaf Can
The recipe is originally from the back of a can of Lucky Leaf Premium Blackberry Pie Filling. My first thought upon trying this "premium" pie filling was that there wasn't enough fruit. However, I loved (and still love) that it is not too sweet. It is less thick than some, smooth, and more like homemade fruit filling. An option would be to use the canned pie filling, but add a cup or a small container of fresh fruit. In this case, blackberries.
An Indestructible Cake
So back to the cake. I've typed the recipe below similar to how it appeared on the can, but my changes when I first made it were to halve the recipe and bake it in an 8 inch square pan. I used half whole wheat pastry flour, Egg Beaters instead of eggs, artificial sweetener instead of sugar, oil instead of butter and added vanilla. The new Frankenstein cake was tender, denser and not very tall, but it still looked and tasted good.
Recipe
Easy Blackberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (260 grams)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt increase to ¾ if using unsalted butter
- 1 stick butter, softened (114 grams)
- 2 cups granulated sugar (400 grams)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 can pie filling, good quality blackberry or other flavor
- Glaze: 1 cup confectioners' sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons of water and 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13x9 inch pan.
- Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. By hand or using lowest speed of the mixer, stir in the flour mixture.
- Spread the batter in the pan reserving about 1 cup. Spread the pie filling over the batter. Drop gobs of reserved batter over the pie filling.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs rather than batter. Let cool. Mix together the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the cake before serving.
vanillasugarblog says
oh this would be great with cream cheese/blackberry filling. no?
Anna says
Gloria, that's right. I halved the recipe, so I used 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry and 1/2 cup AP. Since there was no butter, there was nothing to cream and it was really easy to put together. The texture was very dense, though -- like a thick, soft bar cookie or bread.
Kathie, apple flavored would probably work. You could even throw in some cinnamon.
Kathie says
I have a can of Lucky Leaf Apple Pie Filling in the pantry...would that work?
Gloria says
Your changes look good to me and are just in time for New Year's resolutions to eat healthier! I'm a bit apprehensive to use the pastry flour because it seems to make desserts less willing to hold together, but your cake looks like it had no problems..so you used 1 cup flour total..1/2 WWPastry and 1/2 AP? And then next time you would use 1/2 WW Pastry, 1/4 AP and 1/4 WW? Thanks!
Katrina says
Looks good. Love your changes. You could probably freeze the leftover filling and just thaw it when you want to make the cake again.