Just in time for Mother's Day, we're going to share a special breakfast treat. Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake is a "quick bread" batter filled with sweetened berries, topped with almonds, and drizzled with an almond icing. It's easy to make and tasty.

Each serving contains 12 grams of fat. For this rehab, we:

• Replaced the sour cream with drained, plain non-fat yogurt.

• Reduced the butter/margarine from 4 tablespoons to 2.

• Reduced the almonds from 1/3 cup to 1/4 cup.

• Used skim milk.

Results were excellent. There were fewer almonds on the top of this cake but our tasters still found plenty of crunch and flavor. The raspberries were wonderful and masked any possible difference in the taste or texture of the cake.

Surprise mom with this confection. Reduced to only 5 grams of fat per serving, it's a great way to start her special day.

Tip of the Week: The original recipe called for frozen lightly sweetened berries. We used fresh berries and added a teaspoon of sugar.

Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake

3/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons butter (or margarine), melted

2 tablespoons baby food strained pears

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

1 to 2 teaspoons skim milk

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Two hours ahead: Place 3/4 cup yogurt in strainer lined with coffee filter or paper towels. Suspend over measuring cup. Drain off 1/4 cup liquid; discard.

Put remaining 1/2 cup yogurt in small bowl; refrigerate. Wash raspberries; drain well. Place in medium bowl. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar; toss lightly; refrigerate until ready to use.

To prepare: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray 8-inch round baking pan with vegetable oil spray. In large bowl, stir together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make well in center of dry mixture.

In medium bowl, beat egg. Whisk in drained yogurt, melted butter, and pears. Add egg mixture all at once to dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened (batter will be lumpy).

Spread 2/3 of batter into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with raspberries and brown sugar. Drop remaining batter by spoonfuls on top. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake at 350 degrees 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 30 minutes.

To make icing, in small mixing bowl combine confectioners' sugar, 1 teaspoon milk and almond extract; stir until smooth. Add additional milk to desired consistency. Drizzle cooled cake with icing. Makes 8 servings.

Before and after

Based on 1 serving ( 1/8 of recipe).

Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake		Adapted
Calories	243	192
Fat	12 g	5 g
Carbohydrate	32 g	33 g
Sodium	217 mg	193 mg
Fiber	2 g	2 g
Cholesterol	48 mg	35 mg
Calories from fat
	42%	24%

Nutritionists recommend those on daily 2,000 calorie diet limit their fat consumption to 65 g or less, cholesterol to 300 mg or less and sodium to 2,400 mg or less per day.

Karen Weber, Pat Streicher and Ellen Illig are registered dietitians at Jewish Hospital's Cholesterol Center. To have your recipes rehabbed, send them to: Recipe Rehab, The Jewish Hospital Cholesterol Center, 3200 Burnet Ave., Cincinnati 45229.