Shhh!

Don’t tell anyone that when I was young I used to pick the crumbs off of the Entenmann’s Coffee Crumb Cakes, which were a staple in my house. Not just from a slice, but from the whole cake. But, with a capital B, only enough so that I could hopefully go undetected as a crumb thief and leave the rest of the cake for the family.

Those crumbs were so unbelievably good.

As an adult, I also love the delicate cake portion of the crumb cake. However, I still adore a really good crumb topping.

Cue in this recipe. Coffee cake heaven. The most perfectly light yellow cake topped with the most delectable buttery, cinnamon scented dense crumbs.

The recipe doubles easily. Use a 13 x 9 inch pan. Believe me, you’ll want to have twice as much to eat.

New York-Style Crumb Cake

Ingredients for the crumb topping:

1/3 cup granulated sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
1/3 cup dark brown sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and still warm
1 3/4 cups cake flour (7 ounces)

Ingredients for the cake:

1 1/4 cups cake flour (5 ounces)–Don’t use regular, it doesn’t make for as tender a cake
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Directions for the topping:

1. Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl or pan to combine. Add flour and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough; set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

Directions for the cake:

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325℉.

2. Cut 16-inch length parchment paper or aluminum foil and fold lengthwise to 7-inch width. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and fit parchment into dish, pushing it into corners and up sides; allow excess to overhang edges of dish.

3. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt on low speed to combine. With mixer running at low speed, add butter one piece at a time; continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes. Add egg, yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping once if necessary.

4. Transfer batter to baking pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer.

5. Break apart crumb topping and roll into large pea-sized pieces. Spread in even layer over batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center. Don’t push too far down into the cake.

6. Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes.

7. Remove cake from pan by lifting parchment overhang. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

Makes about 10 servings

Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

Use cupcake liners to serve slices of the cake for potlucks or bake sales.

New York Style Crumb Cake deserves to be eaten with some New York Indie goodness.

Brooklyn based Widowspeak fill the bill.

This relentlessly swirling mess of pseudo-psychedelic sound really rocks.

Check out Widowspeak on Facebook and Bandcamp. You can buy the band’s music here.

Cheers!