I have always loved coffee cakes and crumb cakes. It started as a child, when my grandmother would bring us New York-style crumb cake from the Entenmann’s outlet store near her house. This recipe is very similar to Entenmann’s or Hostess-style crumb cakes with equal parts of crumb topping and cake and lots of confectioners’ sugar on top.
This recipe is not only delicious, it is also super simple, because it is made with a muffin-style batter, where everything for the batter is just dumped in the bowl and mixed together.
I usually use Cup4Cup gluten-free flour for this recipe, but it also works well with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1, King Arthur Measure for Measure and Better Batter original blend.
Ingredients
Cake
- 112 grams sugar
- 154 grams 1:1 gluten-free flour blend
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 120 grams milk
- 30 grams oil*
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Topping
- 224 grams brown sugar, packed
- 260 grams 1:1 gluten-free flour blend
- 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
- 224 grams unsalted butter, cold
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 brownie/ baking pan.
Cake
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Mix together the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt, and make a well in the center.
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Add the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla. Break up the eggs, and mix until completely combined.
Topping
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Mix the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together in a large bowl, whisking to combine everything evenly.
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Using a cheese grater, grate the cold butter into the dry ingredients, tossing occasionally as you go to keep the butter from clumping.
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Once all of the butter is grated, use your hands to rub it into the dry ingredients until you have a crumb topping with pieces the size of peas.
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Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and spread evenly. Top with all of the crumb topping. Start at the edges, and work your way towards the center. This will help prevent the crumbs from sinking into the cake. It will seem like there is not enough batter and that there is too much topping -- don't worry once it's baked, it will be even.
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Bake 35-40 minutes until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.
Recipe Notes
*Use any light neutral oil you like. Nut oils, canola oil and avocado oil all work well.
For an extra buttery flavor you can substitute ghee (clarified butter) for the oil.