Crumb Cake

When it rains, it pours. That line followed me around the entire time I was making blueberry muffins this past Wednesday, but let me start at the beginning. I had borrowed this wonderful book from the library and immediately, my mom pointed out a picture and barked at me to make it. Okay fine, there was no barking but there was definitely some form of unveiled “I’m your mother, do as I say” threat hanging in the air. No problem, I’ll take any opportunity to bake something new. Fast forward a couple of days and I was 5 minutes away from starting on the muffins when I realised that I had no baking powder. A frantic search online led me to a recipe for homemade baking powder (one part baking soda + two parts cream of tartar). Phew. When it was time for me to add the buttermilk, I realised that I forgot to make any. Vinegar+milk+10mins later and I still had a wide-eyed glimmer of hope. After filling in the muffin liners, despite me doubling the recipe so I would get 28 muffins, I only got 18. I’m not gonna sugar-coat it, I was pissed. The whole recipe had used up about 16oz of butter and all I got was 18 muffins and a hell of a lot of streusel leftover! And after all of that drama, I forgot to preheat the oven. OF COURSE! So after feeling like a complete and total ditz (like, oh my god, like), my muffins came out… ugly. As in “a face only a mother could love” kind of ugly. What’s the point of this long, lengthy story again? Oh right, I had plenty of streusel leftover from this bad experience.

And we all know that when life gives you crumbs, you bake a crumb cake of course!

 

Crumb Cake *adapted from here and here*
for cake
¾ cup flour
¼ cup castor sugar
1¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
½ egg (beat one large egg and use half of it)
¼ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
for streusel
6-7 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup AP flour
½ cup castor sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

 

-make the streusel ahead by melting the butter and letting it cool down
-whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl
-pour the butter into the bowl and mix it in with a fork
- squeeze the mixture with your hand to form larger lumps, then break them apart with your fingertips
-let the streusel stand for 10-15mins before using

-preheat oven to 325°F/165°C
-whisk the vegetable oil, egg, milk and vanilla together
-sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into the bowl and mix well
-pour into a greased 8×8″ pan
-top the entire cake with the streusel and bake for 20-25mins, rotating the pan halfway through

 

An important note; This is not a cake with a a little bit of crumb topping. This is a crumb topping with a little bit of cake underneath. So yes, after pouring the batter into the pan, it might look like there isn’t enough and yes, the streusel might seem a lot but trust me, use the entire portion. The first time I baked this, I made the mistake of thinking that, after topping the cake with half the streusel topping, that it was enough. I mean after all, it covered the whole cake already. Do not make the same mistake I did, that one haunted me for weeks and weeks.

 

See the tiny brown gaps there? If you don’t use up all of the streusel, there would be a lot more unsightly brown gaps all over the top of the cake!

 

 

I know I started off this post on a negative note but this cake?

This cake gives off nothing but positive vibes. Soft, sweet, crumbly and all things nice basically. It’s delicious and fancy, without being a show-off. And best of all?

No leftovers!

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