Welcome to one of my favorite dessert recipes ever; New York Style Crumb Cake.
This particular style of crumb cake has been a staple of New York bakeries for centuries, and is one of the best ways to satisfy a sweet tooth. The 'cake' itself is a dense, buttery yellow cake, which is baked with thick layer of crumbs, and then dusted with powdered sugar. The crumbs are a blissfully simple combination of butter, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and give the cake a lush sweetness that is simply heavenly. The slightly crunchy texture of the crumbs combine perfectly with the soft, moist cake, making this dessert a sure-fire hit.
For those of you who are new to baking, don't worry - crumb cake is super easy to make. Just follow the recipe step-by-step and you'll be enjoying a delicious New York Style Crumb Cake in no time. We've also included some tips and tricks to help you get the perfect crumb cake every time.
If you're looking for the perfect accompaniment to your crumb cake, why not try a cup of freshly brewed coffee? Turkish, Cold Brew, and French Press are all great pairings. The sweetness of the crumb cake perfectly balances the bitterness of the coffee, making it the perfect pairing. Alternatively, you could try a scoop of ice cream or a generous dollop of whipped cream for a more indulgent treat.
So why not give this classic New York Style Crumb Cake a try? It's sure to be a hit with your family and friends! Now, let's get baking!
Ingredient Checklist - The Cake
- Butter: This gives the cake a soft texture and a rich 'buttery' flavor. I don't really suggest using shortening as a substitute in this particular recipe.
- Sugar: Plain granulated sugar is all you need for the cake portion of the recipe.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds a sweet, fragrant flavor to the cake. Yes, vanilla paste and whole beans both work fine, and substitute at a one-to-one ratio by volume.
- Lemon Zest: Adds a subtle citrus flavor to the cake that plays beautifully with the crumb topping.
- Eggs: Used to bind the ingredients together and give structure to the cake. Eggs also serve as a 'secondary' leavening agent, giving the cake 'lift' while baking.
- Flour: All-purpose flour works best for crumb cake, as it makes for a 'denser' cake than baking flour.
- Baking Soda: A two stage leavening agent to help the cake rise while baking.
- Buttermilk: This makes the cake moist and gives it a light, tender texture.
- Salt: We use this to balance the flavors of the cake.
Ingredient Checklist - The Crumb Topping
- Brown Sugar: We're using brown sugar to give the crumb a nice 'molasses' undertone.
- Butter: Here again, butter provides richness and moisture.
- Flour: This forms the base, binds the other ingredients together, while also providing the 'crumbly' texture.
- Ground Cinnamon: This adds subtle warmth and flavor to the topping.
Substitutions
- For the Brown Sugar: Granulated sugar with a drizzle of molasses works as a decent replacement for the brown sugar.
- For the Buttermilk: Greek yogurt or sour cream at a 1-to-1 ratio.
Tips for Making the Best Crumb Cake
- Prepare the crumb topping first. The topping is the key to a successful crumb cake. Prepare the crumb topping first, then prepare the cake batter. This allows the crumb topping time to cool and solidify, making it easier to work with.
- Texture Matters. Make sure your cake batter is thick. If it's too thin, the crumb topping will sink to the bottom. A thin batter is usually the result of undermeasuring the dry ingredients, over-measuring the moist ingredients, or simply a lack of fat.
- Even Distribution. When sprinkling the crumb topping over the cake batter, use your hands. You want an even distribution of crumbs, and you do 'not' want them clumping together. The cake should 'not' be visible at all through the topping.
- Temps and Time. Bake the cake at 350°F for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If you bake it higher, or longer, the crumb topping will burn, becoming hard and dry.
- Let it Cool. Let the cake cool completely before serving. This will help ensure that the crumb topping stays crunchy, and 'sets' onto the cake.
Thanks for reading! If you try this recipe, we'd love to see your results. Tag us on social media with #LTGbaking Happy baking!
New York Style Crumb Cake
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, sour cream, or buttermilk
For the crumbs:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease your bundt pan then line it with strips of parchment paper so you can more easily transfer the bundt to a cake plate. For this recipes, I served the bundt inverted.
- Prepare the crumb mixture first. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and blend until a crumbly mixture forms. Cover and set aside.
- In the bowl of your mix master, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla and lemon zest.
- Add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
- Add the flour and baking soda to the batter until combined.
- Finally, add the yogurt and beat on low speed until well-blended.
- Spread the batter evenly into the prepared bundt pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 the crumb mixture.
- Bake for 30 minutes then, quickly sprinkle the remaining crumbs. Return the cake to the oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean..
- Remove the cake from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once the cake is ready, carefully loosen the sides and center from the pan, then gently lift it out of the pan from the parchment strips.
- Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve!
Notes
**Cake Base adapted from King Arthur
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Dessert
Diana says
I made this cake and would give it one star. I measured everything to the gram. The crumb mix was super thick and gluggy - and never resembled the fine crumb mix in the recipe photos. The cake mix itself never cooked properly. It bubbled up and out of the bundt tin all over the bottom of the oven and stunk out the whole house. The recipe calls only for baking soda which might explain this. Other recipes for this cake seems to use baking soda AND baking powder. Is this an error? My cake was a complete disaster, and a waste of time, money and effort.
Living the Gourmet says
Dear Diana, I am so sorry to hear this! I have made this recipe a couple of times now and have not experienced anything like this. The baking soda would not have caused this to happen, especially the amount that it calls for. It would activate from the lemon zest and buttermilk/sour cream (whichever you used), but it would not have bubbled over. Other causes I can think of for this happening could result from overfilling the pan, incorrect temperature (oven ranges can be different for each person), or even overmixing, which incorporates too much air in the batter itself. Again, I am so sorry you experienced this! When I made it, it turned out very moist, and the crumb topping was perfect. I hope some of these suggestions helped. Thank you for taking the time to write and let me know. I hope I was able to help you determine the issue and resolve it.
Suzanne Sauve says
Made this for our Sunday get together. Every little bit of crumbs was gone. Excellent recipe.
Claudia Lamascolo says
Beautiful cake lovely elegant!
Kira says
Now this looks amazing. Would definitely like to recreate it
Jupiter Hadley says
I love crumb cake! It's perfect for this time of year as they are best with a hot drink. Thank you for sharing.
Lavanda Michelle says
I am a huge fan of Crumb Cake. I will definitely come back to this recipe in the near future and try it out. Thanks for sharing!