Baking Bender and Crumb Cake

Recently, I've been on a baking bender. I've made peach shortbread, apple shortbread, biscuits, banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, pound cake, loaves of bread and crumb cake. My husband and I have been countering the onslaught of calories with extra trips to the gym, and I've been adding additional miles and hills to my runs. I'm experiencing an odd combination of muscle soreness, dehydration, burgeoning love handles and rapid mood swings. I'll feel great for about an hour after I've consumed a cup of coffee, a slice of pound cake and a cookie for breakfast. It's hard to get back to that original morning high as I spend the rest of the day looking for cheap scores of Hershey miniatures and chocolate kisses. I plan on rehabbing for a bit and working on recipes for soups and stews.

The highlight of the baked goods bender was my crumb cake. If you ever had a thing for Entenmann's crumb cake, you are going to love this recipe. The best crumb cakes are equal parts crumb to cake. The ratio on this cake actually favors the crumb. It's not quite a one-to-three (cake to crumb) ratio, but it's tipping the scales in that direction.

I adapted this recipe from Cook's Illustrated. It's straightforward. If you need to buy an 8" x 8" baking pan, do it. You'll definitely make this cake again. Also it's a good pan to have. Lots of recipes call for this size specifically, including cornbread, brownies, blondies and granola bars.

Crumb Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line an 8" x 8" pan with tinfoil. You'll need two sheets of foil, cut to fit the bottom and sides allowing about 2 inches to hang off the edges.

Crumb Topping
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and warm
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cups dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup cake flour

Stir sugars, butter, salt and cinnamon until it forms a paste, then add flour until it forms a cohesive ball. Set aside

Cake
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
Powdered sugar for dusting

Whisk the dry ingredients together. With hand mixer on medium add butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Then add buttermilk and eggs, keeping mixer on until fully incorporated.

Spray baking dish with non-stick spray and spread batter out evenly. The batter is very thick and it won't want to spread, but be patient and work it to the corners gently. It'll happen.

Start taking pieces of the crumb ball and form little boulders of deliciousness. They don't need to be perfectly smooth but they should be about the size of marbles. As you make them start laying them on top of the batter. You'll want to cover the entire surface. At the end you'll be adding these little boulders on top of each other, not in a full second layer, but pretty close.

Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Remove and let rest for 30 minutes. Use tinfoil sling to remove from pan, and let sit for another hour on a wire rack. Then dust heavily with powdered sugar.