New York Crumb Cake with a Cinnamon Crumb Topping

I loves me some crumb cake. Experiments have been ongoing in my kitchen for some time and I had thought I had come up with one that I loved. Don’t get me wrong my Crumb Cake with Apricot Filling and Chocolate Drizzle is delicious. My biggest issue with it is it’s staying power. After the second day it starts getting a little dry. That has just taught me to make it in smaller quantities and eat it quickly. I was looking through one of my (many) cookbooks and I found a recipe for a New York crumb cake and thought I’d give it a try. I am so glad I did. It’s a real winner of a recipe and it has a lot more staying power than my other recipe.

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New York Crumb Cake

Serves 12

For the Crumb Topping

3 1/2 cups cake flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, melted

For the Cake:

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3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup buttermilk

Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325°
Line a 13 x 9″ baking pan with parchment and grease the parchment

Make the Crumb Topping:

In a medium bowl mix together the cake flour, brown sugar, white sugar, salt and cinnamon.

Add the melted butter and stir until combined.
Then mix with your fingers until medium to large sized crumbs form. Set aside.

Make the Cake:

Cream together the butter and granulated sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Add the eggs and yolks, one at a time mixing well after each addition.
Then add the vanilla and mix on medium high for about three minutes.

Turn speed to low and add flour in three increments and buttermilk in two alternating between them. Begin and end with the flour. The batter will be thick.
Add the batter to the prepared pan and spread with an offset spatula to even it out.

Evenly sprinkle the crumbs over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for about an hour until the crumbs are golden brown and a tester comes out clean

Cool on a wire rack in the pan for 15 minutes and then remove the cake from the pan and cool completely.

Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar before cutting and serving

How Was the New York Crumb Cake?

It was seriously good. The cake part was deceptively light given that it had to support all of those big, beautiful crumbs. It was moist and it just had the slightest hint of vanilla flavor. A cake like this is all about the crumbs so you don’t want the base cake fighting with their flavor.

The crumbs were the star as they should be. They were just sweet enough with the perfect hit of cinnamon. As you can see in the photo there is a very nice layer of them on the piece I cut. They were heavier in some places but there was not one piece from the cake where you felt shortchanged by the crumb amounts. All in all a very delicious cake that I will be making again and again.