The essence of crumb cake is the balance between the buttery cake and the thick, lightly spiced topping.
Starting with our favorite yellow cake recipe, we realized we needed to reduce the amount of butter or the richness would be overwhelming. We also wanted our crumb topping to be soft and cookie-like, not a crunchy streusel.
Don’t be tempted to substitute all-purpose flour for the cake flour, as doing so will make a dry, tough cake. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute an equal amount of plain low-fat yogurt.
Take care to not push the crumbs into the batter. This recipe can be doubled and baked in a 13-by-9-inch pan. If doubling, increase the baking time to about 45 minutes. We did not like the result when we froze this cake.
NEW YORK-STYLE CRUMB CAKE
Servings: 8-10
Start to finish: 1 hour, 15 minutes (Active time: 30 minutes)
Crumb Topping:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup (2 1/3 ounces) granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed (2 1/3 ounces) dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups (7 ounces) cake flour
Cake:
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) cake flour
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces and softened
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar
Nutrition information per serving: 410 calories; 150 calories from fat; 17 g fat ( 10 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 82 mg cholesterol; 138 mg sodium; 60 g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 28 g sugar; 5 g protein.
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