crumb topping – Bead Yarn & Spatula

Chocolate Crumb Cake

I think we can all agree that the best part of any crumb cake is the crumb! All crumb is not the same though. Leave it in the oven a tad too long and instead of it being delicious and sweet it’ll be burnt and dry. If you don’t mix the ingredients in just the right order your consistency will be off. I once made a batch of muffins with a crumb topping that ended up melting into the muffins while in the oven. And regardless of what the recipe says, I always refrigerate (or freeze) my crumb topping before using it. I think this helps it stay together better while in the oven. After all this talk about crumbs it should come as no surprise that today’s cake has a crumb topping… It’s a Chocolate Crumb Cake.

I’ve had the idea for this cake for quite some time. Years ago, I would get something similar at a bakery I would go to from time to time. In my mind it was a Chocolate Crumb Pound Cake, but that’s not what it was called on the menu. Truth be told, I have no idea what it was called. Whenever I ordered it, I would just point to it and get it (the best way to order things!). Ultimately the bakery closed but I never forgot about that cake. I have a list of things I want to bake / try to make, and that cake was always on there, but it would always get neglected. I finally decided that it would be a nice addition to this week since I was posting two recipes using a yellow cake mix for two different variations of marble cake to make with it.

For this cake I started with a box chocolate cake mix. To make it taste a bit more homemade and to enhance the chocolate flavor I swapped out the water for coffee and I used vegetable oil and sour cream for the fat. I also added in vanilla extract. After making the batter I poured it into a 9-inch square pan I lined with parchment paper. It’s important to leave an overhang with the parchment paper so you can remove the cake from the pan easily. You really don’t want to flip it out of the pan as you would a regular cake because of the crumb topping. In doing so you could end up cracking the crumb topping or worse the cake itself. After the batter was in the pan, I used my hands to spread the crumb topping over the cake.

Once the cake was baked and completely cooled, I dusted the top of it with confectioners’ sugar – you can’t have crumb topping without it in my opinion.

Overall, the cake was DELISH! It was a hit with everyone I shared it with. Definitely something to make again!

Chocolate Crumb Cake

Servings: 9-12
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For the Crumb Topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) butter, melted

1 1/3 cups flour

For the Cake:

1 15.25 oz package chocolate cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Devil’s Food)

3 large eggs

1 cup coffee, cooled

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Confectioners’ sugar, for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch square pan with baking spray and then line with parchment paper leaving an overhang on all sides. Spray the parchment paper with baking spray and set aside.

Make the crumb topping: In a medium bowl whisk together both sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in the melted butter and finally the flour. Continue mixing until the mixture clumps together. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.

Make the cake batter: In a large bowl combine the cake mix, eggs, coffee, vegetable oil, sour cream and vanilla extract. Beat with a hand mixer on low speed for 30 seconds to combine all of the ingredients and then increase the speed to medium and continue beating until everything is well combined.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and then using your hands sprinkle the chilled crumb topping over it.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then use the parchment paper to carefully lift the cake out of the pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Dust with confectioners’ sugar prior to serving.

Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

Recipe first appeared on Bead Yarn & Spatula.

Baked Peach Crumb Donuts

It’s the first Friday in June which means it’s National Donut Day! It’s been a while since I have shared a donut recipe on here. And to be honest, they are not something I bake all that often. My favorite donut that I have made are the Rainbow Cookie Donuts I posted a little over 4 years ago. I have made those a few times since then. And these Baked Peach Crumb Donuts I am sharing today are a very close second. If you are not a fan of peaches, you can swap out the peaches for blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc. The base of the donut would work well with any of those fruits and crumb topping works well with any of those fruits and is always delish!

A few things to note… Whatever fruit you choose to use you don’t want to add it to the batter of your donuts. After making the batter pipe or spoon it into your donut pan and then sprinkle the fruit on top lightly pressing it into the batter.

Once your fruit is placed then sprinkle the top with the crumb topping and once again lightly press it into the batter to make sure it sticks while your donuts are baking and doesn’t end up falling off.

And finally, once your donuts have cooled dust the top of them with Confectioners’ sugar. The added sweetness of the sugar is just what these donuts need since they aren’t too sweet to begin with. Which is perfect by me.

Baked Peach Crumb Donuts

Servings: 8 Donuts
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For the donuts:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup buttermilk*

1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup diced peaches (can use fresh or frozen)

For the crumb topping:

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

*Make your own by combining 1/2 cup whole milk with 3 teaspoons of white vinegar. Stir together and let sit for 15 minutes.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease 2 6-welled donut pans with butter, or spray with non-stick spray. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and baking powder.

In a large bowl whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, sugar, egg and vanilla extract until well combined.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared donut pans until 2/3 fill. You can also transfer the batter to a large piping bag or Ziploc bag and pipe the batter into the pan.

To make the crumb topping whisk together both sugars, cinnamon and flour. Using a fork, pastry cutter or your hands, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it’s pea sized and looks like coarse sand.

Divide the diced peaches among the donut batter, pressing it lightly into the batter. Sprinkle the crumb topping over each donut, once again pressing it lightly into the batter.

Bake in the preheated oven 10-11 minutes. Let the donuts cool in the pan for 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled dust the donuts with confectioners’ sugar.

Recipe from Katie Bird Bakes

Blueberry Crumb Muffins

Do you ever notice that you don’t normally see oddball (maybe that’s not the best word choice) muffin flavors like you do for cupcakes? I guess since muffins are traditionally a breakfast food people don’t want to eat anything to out of the ordinary that early in the day. I don’t know if I would eat a lavender vanilla muffin as quickly as I would a lavender vanilla cupcake! Today, I am bringing you a tried and true muffin flavor… Blueberry. Maybe another day I’ll make something a little more adventurous… Pumpkin Spice season is quickly approaching and I am sure that would make the base for a delicious muffin.

What makes these muffins a real stand-out is the streusel topping. It’s an added layer of yumminess and sweetness.

Blueberry Crumb Muffins

Servings: 8 small or 5 large
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Ingredients:

Muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup milk*

1 cup fresh blueberries

*I used whole milk

Crumb Topping:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line the muffin tin with liners and then spray the top of the muffin pan with baking spray. Doing this will allow you to remove the muffins easily if they happen to rise and bake onto the pan.

Crumb Topping:

Mix together all of the ingredients in a medium bowl with a fork or with your hands until well combines, set aside.

Muffins:

Combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Measure the vegetable oil in a measuring up, add the egg and enough milk to bring the mixture to 1 cup. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and mix well. Fold in the blueberries. Fill the muffin cups to the top and sprinkle with the crumb topping.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack before enjoying.

Recipe from Allrecipes

Blueberry Crumb Muffins

While berries can pretty much be found year-round at most supermarkets, there’s nothing like getting them during the summer when they are at their peak. I have definitely made the most of them this summer incorporating them into quite a few desserts – as the pièce de résistance on a lemon & pastry cream cake, as a topping to 4th of July themed cupcakes and most recently in raspberry cupcakes. And when I saw that I had a pint of blueberries sitting in my refrigerator a little longer than I would have liked, I decided it was time to use them before losing them. I opted on making a recipe that I love using for blueberries – and one that I have blogged about before – a Blueberry Crumb Cake. Although, this time around I made two tweaks to the recipe….

I dredged the blueberries in flour before folding them into the batter so they wouldn’t all sink to the bottom…

And I used the batter to make muffins instead of a cake,

Which I still topped with streusel before baking.

Hence, Blueberry Crumb Muffins.

And if you are wondering if the flour covered blueberries worked, just take a look. You can see hints of blueberries at the top of the muffin near the crumb topping as opposed to seeing all of the blueberries at the bottom.

Blueberry Crumb Muffins – adapted from here

Makes 8 Muffins

Streusel:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Muffins:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (3/4 stick)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2/3 cup sour cream

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup fresh blueberries, dredged in enough flour to coat them

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 8 muffins cups with paper liners.

For the streusel:

Combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then the flour. Mix well and set aside.

For the muffins:

In a medium bowl sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs, one at a time. Then add the vanilla, lemon zest and sour cream.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Fold in the blueberries and stir with a spatula to be sure the batter is completed mixed.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups – I used an ice cream scoop – and crumble the streusel over the batter.

Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the tins and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Bluberry Crumb Cake

I’ve always enjoyed baking, but, it wasn’t until a few years ago that it really became a hobby where I would challenge myself to actually make things from scratch… frostings, pie crusts, pie fillings, cakes and so forth. One of the first things I attempted back then was Barefoot Contessa’s Blueberry Crumb Cake and it instantly became a favorite amongst my friends. It had been a while since I made one but during a recent trip to the supermarket I decided to bake one when I came across some perfectly ripe blueberries in the produce aisle.

To start, I began by making the crumb topping for the cake. First I combined granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together and then added in melted butter and lastly flour. Once it was mixed well I set it aside and began working on the cake.

I gathered all of my ingredients together so they would be within arm’s reach.

As with most cakes I started by creaming the butter and sugar together.

I then added in 2 eggs one at a time.

Following that I added in vanilla extract, lemon zest and sour cream.

I set the wet mixture aside and sifted together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt.

I then added the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mixed it until it was just combined.

And finally I folded in about a cup of fresh blueberries.

I then spread the batter into my prepared – I sprayed it with baking spray – 9-inch round pan.

And then it was time to add the crumb topping.

After baking for 45 minutes the cake was ready to come out of the oven. You definitely don’t want to over bake this cake because then the crumb topping will burn and become dry and a bit crunchy.

Once the cake was completely cooled I sprinkled it with confectioners’ sugar. You may be tempted not to add the sugar, but believe me, that little touch of sweetness makes such a difference.

The cake was delicious, so much so that I ended up making another one a few days later.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Ingredients

For the streusel:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

For the cake:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (3/4 stick)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2/3 cup sour cream

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup fresh blueberries

Confectioners’ sugar for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch round baking pan.

For the streusel:

Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then the flour. Mix well and set aside.

For the cake:

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, lemon zest, and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Fold in the blueberries and stir with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a knife. With your fingers, crumble the topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely and serve sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar.