Popcosmo

EXTRAS

Raspberry Coffee Cake recipe

All, EXTRAS, RECIPESKim & Chloe-2 Comments

coffee cake recipes From our teen chef, Kayla of The Nerdy Chef:  Making this Raspberry Coffee Cake is one of my favorite things to do for my mom on Mother's Day is to cook her breakfast. She loves raspberries, she loves almonds, and she definitely loves chocolate, so this is one of her favorite treats. You can make it for breakfast or brunch then have some later in the day as a snack or dessert because coffee cake is great at any time of day. Plus, this raspberry coffee cake recipe is perfect for just about any occasion; it is colorful, sweet, rich, and just plain delicious.

The base is a light, fluffy vanilla cake, which is studded with melty chocolate and raspberries. You can use either fresh or frozen raspberries, but, since it's not quite raspberry season yet, I used frozen. They can get pretty liquidy, so I toss them in some cornstarch so that they don't turn the whole cake pink. That would be pretty, but I love the contrast between the cream-colored cake, the dark chocolate, and the bright red raspberries. Anyway, I top the whole thing with buttery almond streusel. It's the same streusel that I use in my Peach Crumb Cake, but, instead of cinnamon, I use almond extract and mix in some almonds. They add even more crunchiness and balance out the sweetness of the cake, the bitterness of the chocolate, and the tartness of the raspberries. This cake is a must-have for brunch, dessert, or just a snack because there are so many different textures and delicious layers of flavors.

 

coffee cake recipes

 

Makes 1 9" Square, Recipe Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

3/4 + 1/3 Cup Sugar 1/3 Cup Dark Brown Sugar 1/2 + 1/8 tsp Salt 1 Stick Butter, Melted 1/2 Stick Butter, Softened 1/8 tsp Almond Extract 1 3/4 Cups Cake Flour 2 Cups Flour 1/2 Cup + 2 T Slivered Almonds 1 Cup Milk 1 tsp Vanilla 2 tsp Baking Powder 1 Egg 3/4 Cup Chocolate Chips 1 Cup Raspberries (Fresh or Frozen & Thawed) 2 T Cornstarch

Whisk together 1/3 cup sugar, brown sugar, 1/8 tsp salt, melted butter, and almond extract. Stir in cake flour and almonds. Chill until cold.

Line a 9" square baking pan with parchment. Heat oven to 350F.

Beat the softened butter and remaining sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla.

Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Fold the flour mixture into the batter in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions.

Combine the raspberries and cornstarch.

Pour 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half the raspberries and chocolate, then top with the remaining batter. Sprinkle the remaining raspberries and chocolate on top, and top with the streusel.

Bake the coffee cake for 45 minutes or until cooked through.

For more delicious recipes by our Teen Chef, Kayla, check out her blog, The Nerdy Chef!

 

Raspberry Coffee Cake
Recipe Type: coffee cake
Cuisine: American
Author: popcosmo.com
Coffee cake perfect for any occasion. The base is a light, fluffy vanilla cake, and is studded with melty chocolate and raspberries.
Ingredients
  • 3/4 + 1/3 Cup Sugar
  • 1/3 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 + 1/8 tsp Salt
  • 1 Stick Butter, Melted
  • 1/2 Stick Butter, Softened
  • 1/8 tsp Almond Extract
  • 1 3/4 Cups Cake Flour
  • 2 Cups Flour
  • 1/2 Cup + 2 T Slivered Almonds
  • 1 Cup Milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • 2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 Egg
  • 3/4 Cup Chocolate Chips
  • 1 Cup Raspberries (Fresh or Frozen & Thawed)
  • 2 T Cornstarch
Instructions
  1. Whisk together 1/3 cup sugar, brown sugar, 1/8 tsp salt, melted butter, and almond extract. Stir in cake flour and almonds. Chill until cold.
  2. Line a 9" square baking pan with parchment. Heat oven to 350F.
  3. Beat the softened butter and remaining sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla.
  4. Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Fold the flour mixture into the batter in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions.
  5. Combine the raspberries and cornstarch.
  6. Pour 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half the raspberries and chocolate, then top with the remaining batter. Sprinkle the remaining raspberries and chocolate on top, and top with the streusel.
  7. Bake the coffee cake for 45 minutes or until cooked through.

Happy early Mother's Day!!

Thank you, thank you!!

All, EXTRAS, RANDOM STUFFKim & Chloe-11 Comments

Seriously? Are you kidding me? Is that us being featured in a story in the Huffington Post? THE HUFFINGTON POST? Holy Sh Cow! The article is about Pinterest, which is completely, totally and utterly Chloe's expertise, and there are some fantastic tips. To sum up the article: if we can create viral pins, so can you! Chloe is the master pinner and visual designer of Popcosmo... and, because she creates and curates beautiful Pinterest boards, you should be following us on Pinterest, like now! And if you want to know our most popular and viral pins, check out "What You're Loving" on the right and click on the stories to see what people are pinning. But back to the Huffington Post: thank you Jayson DeMers for your fantastic article! Go read it :) How to use Pinterest

And being in the Huffington Post was the cherry on top of what has already been an enormous chocolate ice cream sundae of a month (and it's only the 3rd day)! We were featured on the cover of Today's Woman Now for our story about Moms and daughters working together. The COVER, y'all! And pages 6 and 32. We didn't know about being cover gals until we saw it... and we were both speechless, which is really and truly rare. And considering it's the shoe issue, I'd say it's the perfect cover for us, haha! Again, thank you Today's Woman and what an honor.

today's woman

Today was Oaks Day, tomorrow the Kentucky Derby, then my hubbie's birthday... whoa, I think my head needs to stop spinning. May is turning out to be quite a month! Hope your May is just as lovely, just as lively, and just as exciting!

XO ~Kim & Chloe

How to create an irresistible blog title

BLOG TIPS, EXTRASKim & Chloe-19 Comments

We all know that a catchy blog title can make you click, not only when you first publish your blog, but also when you promote on social media... it can help generate more clicks on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. But there is even more benefit to a blog title: your post can be read for years after your initial posting because of a catchy  & SEO friendly title. Yep, years. If your content is evergreen (meaning it isn't time sensitive) then year after year, your post can climb in Google rankings and keep getting clicks. how to create an irresistible blog title

So how do you craft a title that people can't resist AND google can't resist? Here are the steps I go through, but keep in mind we are no SEO experts, just bloggers! And although some may scoff, we are pretty happy that we had over 1 million pageviews in our 1st full year of blogging and most of our traffic now comes from Google searches. These are our 5 steps to creating an irresistible blog title:

1. The chicken or the egg? That is... the post or the title? For me it's a little of both: Chloe and I have an idea for a post and we write it first. Whoever writes the post creates a title, but knows it may change. You'll see why in Step 5. So, before you even start writing, think of what you (or your target demographic) would search for if you (or they) were doing a search for the post you are writing. Make that search your title.

Example for this post: how to craft a great blog title, how to write a blog title, blog post titles, writing blog titles, creating blog titles

2. We write our post around our (draft) title. Use your keywords in your post, especially towards the beginning of your first paragraph.

3. Use free resources. My can't-miss step that changed our blog from being visited to being highly trafficked: Google Keywords and the WordPress SEO by Yoast Plugin. Once you are happy with your post, go to Google Keywords and type in your keywords. You'll get some great ideas for your post. Also type in your blog title. You might get more ideas or you might see that nobody is searching for your title, which means we take a 2nd look at our post topic. Sometimes we are ahead of our time with a topic (for instance, we might didn't get serious interest in how to make cake popshow to make american flag jean shorts,  how to wear boyfriend jeanshow to wear a denim vest, or decorating notebook covers for months), but sometimes we are simply using the wrong words.

Example for this post: keyword = blog title; titles = create a blog title, good blog titles, writing blog titles, steps to creating blog titles

4. While in Google Keywords, select keywords with these requirements and jot them down:

  • longtail keywords (3 or more words in a search term)
  • low competition
  • high searches (either local or global depending on your target demographics)

5. Write a catchy title. Now that you have a list of longtail keywords that are searched a lot, but don't have much competition, return to your post and use your favorite one to write a catchy title, using your creativity! Use your keywords in your title, but keep it concise, relevant and actionable. And use these new keywords in your post as well -- re-read your post and make sure it is relevant to your new title, and if not, make edits.

Once I decide on the keywords and title, I don't worry so much about my title being searched. My goal is that I want the keyword to be SEARCHED and my title to be CLICKED. I'm not sure if SEO gurus would agree (titles rank highly in Google algorithms), but as you scroll through search results, what are you going to click on? Yep, a title!

Voilá, the steps you have taken have just helped you craft a title that is both searchable and clickable, and will hopefully keep climbing in Google!

What are your steps to creating a blog title? 

Note: We were kind of nervous about writing this post since we are "just bloggers," not SEO experts!! But we have "friends who know things" who shared their tricks with us and we have read lots & lots & lots.... ok, ok, we're geeks. If you spot any misinformation, correct us. If you have more info, share it below!

 {UPDATE: 2nd in series published - 3 ideas for Blog Post Titles that get Clicks - (it has quick tips for #5: how to write a catchy title)}