Crumb Cake

If you have ever seen ‘Cake Boss’, and like to bake cakes, you will understand why I am a huge fan of Buddy Valastro… Every single one of his cakes seen on Cake Boss is a masterpiece, and I draw so much of my inspiration from him. I have actually also learnt few things from his show about fondant modelling, modelling chocolate, general basic baking, fixing cakes, putting them together, filling cakes, frostings …phew! I love ‘The Next Great Baker’ too, an awesome watch. It was actually while watching Cake Boss that I saw Buddy make this Crumb Cake for one of his customers. That was the first time I had ever heard of this cake, and the way Buddy made it and then the lovely yummy tasting of the cake! I HAD to make it, and make I did. And am I glad I did!! Its just so tasty, crunchy and crumbly… loved it… The link I followed for the recipe is here.

I have adapted this recipe around few ingredients because of their unavailability, and added my notes in. So here is my version of the recipe:

I used a 10 inch pan, but you can use one 9 inch pan or two 8 inch pans.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

Cake Flour – 3 cups (*see notes for substitute)

Sugar – 2 cups

Salt – 1/2 teaspoon

Baking powder – 2 1/4 teaspoons

Vanilla extract – 2 teaspoons

Vegetable oil – 3/4 cup

Whole milk – 1 cup

Eggs, large – 5

For the crumbs:

Brown Sugar (dark or light) – 1 cup

Sugar – 1/4 cup

Ground cinnamon – 2 teaspoons

Salt – 1 teaspoon

Vegetable shortening/ lard – 1 1/4 cups

Plain Flour – 3/4 cups

Pastry Flour – 3 cups (*see notes for substitute)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and prepare the cake pan you decide to use.
2. Make the cake first. Put the cake flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl and mix well.
3. Put the vanilla essence, vegetable oil and milk in a bowl with a beater and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time and continue mixing well, scraping down the sides.
4. Mix the dry ingredients to this and continue mixing. The batter should be smooth with no lumps.
5. For the crumbs, put the brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and mix well. Add the vegetable shortening and mix till smooth.
6. Add both the flours to this mixture and keep mixing, scraping down the sides of the bowl. You can do this by hand or use a beater, food processor etc. Keep beating/mixing till you get a crumbly texture.
7. Put the cake batter into the prepared pan, then add the crumbs to the top.
8. Bake at 180 degrees C for about 20-25 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Another check is that the crumbs should be golden, and the cake spongy to the touch.
9. Take it out of the oven and leave to cool.

Notes:

1. Substitute for Cake Flour. 3 cups Cake Flour = 2 1/2 cups Plain Flour + 5 Tablespoons cornflour. Sift these 2 together 4-5 times and its ready to use.
2. Substitute for Pastry Flour. We need 3 cups pastry flour. 1 cup Pastry Flour = Take a cup, put 2 tablespoons cornflour in it. Fill the rest of the cup with plain flour. Repeat this 3 times to get 3 cups Pastry Flour.