Crumb Coffee Cake

 

I belong to a mom's group and once a month we get together for an event called Breakfast Buddies. Everyone brings a dish to share, the mom's talk and the kids play. It's a really nice even and we rotate houses, so it's not always at the same person's house. They don't know it, but they have become my guinea pigs. We were supposed to get 4-9 inches of snow, so I wasn't sure I was going to make something, but I decided to make something whether we got snow or not. I made Crumb Coffee Cake.

The cake part isn't that sweet, which is good for breakfast or anytime really. I know it's coffee cake, but I'm not a big coffee drinker so it paired nicely with a hot cup of tea. I decided to bake them in muffin tins instead of an 8x8 pan. I figured that would be easier for people to grab as oppose to having to slice it up. I baked them for 25 minutes until they were golden brown. 

The recipe calls for cake flour, but honestly I don't think it would make a difference in the topping. I make a topping very similar for an apple crisp and it turns out quite nicely with all purpose flour. You can make cake flour by adding two tablespoons of cornstarch for every cup of all purpose flour. 

Although I'm sure it would have looked pretty, I didn't dust with confectioner's sugar. It doesn't need to be any sweeter than it already is. 

Recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen

Coffee Crumb Cake

Ingredients

Crumb Topping

1/3 cup (2 2/3 ounces) granulated sugar

1/3 cup (2 2/3 ounces) dark brown sugar

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp table salt

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and still warm

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 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Instructions

For the Topping:

Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl 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.

For the Cake:
Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.  Cut 16-inch length parchment paper 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. Or use muffin cups. 

In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or you can do this with a handheld mixer), 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 as necessary.

Transfer batter to baking pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer.  Break apart crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces (use both hands to break apart the crumb dough, rolling the broken dough between your thumb and forefinger) and spread in even layer over batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center.

Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 – 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes.  Remove cake from pan by lifting parchment overhang.  Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.