Tonight I made the first recipe as part of the challenge I set for myself. You can read about it
here. Basically, I am going to make (at least) one recipe from my Pinterest boards every week.
I am a total night owl so deciding to bake something at 9pm is not out of the ordinary for me. Mr. Lucky is not the biggest fan of this because he likes to go to bed early but he also likes to stay up to taste test. He definitely wanted to stay awake tonight because I made one of his favorites, crumb cake.
This recipe comes from
Living Eventfully. It was quite easy, had a substantial crumb layer and was very tasty.
Here is the recipe:
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
(10 1/2 ounces)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2
teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup
unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
(I omitted this and used extra vanilla. I don't really care for Almond extract)
Cake
1/2
cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1
teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups
unbleached all-purpose flour (8 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking
soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Adjust oven rack to center position and
preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan, set
aside.
Make the Crumb
Topping:
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour,
sugar, salt and cinnamon. Make a well in the center of the mixture
and set aside.
Melt the butter in the microwave on 50% power
until just melted. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Pour the
melted butter mixture into the well in the center of the flour mixture.
With a fork, gradually pull the flour mixture in to the butter.
Continue to toss/combine until all the butter is absorbed and you have a
uniformly moistened crumb mixture. If texture of crumb is too small,
gently squeeze small clumps together to make large crumbs ranging in
size from that of a pea to that of a grape, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in
size. If the crumb mixture forms a solid dough, simply use your
fingers tor a fork to break-up the solid crumb mixture into big crumbs,
about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in size. Crumbs don't have to be uniform, just
try to get most about this size. Set aside while you make the cake
batter.
Make the Batter:
In
a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and
baking powder. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and
sugar together with an electric mixer on high speed until light and
fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat
in the vanilla and sour cream, scraping down the sides of the bowl with
a spatula as needed. Add flour mixture to the sour cream mixture and
beat on low until just combined, do not over mix.
Pour the batter
into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
Sprinkle the crumb mixture
over the batter with your fingers, covering the batter evenly and
completely.
Bake or 30-35 minutes. Cake is done when a wooden pick or
cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean, and the sides of
the cake are light golden brown and slightly pulling away from the edge
of the pan. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool in its pan set
on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired.
(I skipped the confectioner's sugar, this was definitely sweet enough without it.)
This cake turned out so delicious. I loved the flavor and the amount of crumb topping was perfect. Mr. Lucky and Mehgan were both glad that they stayed up to try it, they had 2 pieces each. I am definitely looking forward to having another piece for breakfast in the morning.
This recipe is a keeper, I'll probably make it again when we have company and definitely for Christmas morning. Give it a try, you'll like it too.
Talk with you soon!