I have just discovered New York Crumb/Coffee Cake in the last few months. I have always strayed away from coffee cake because what I thought was coffee cake was a very dry pastry with cherries and nuts and icing – I was not impressed.
When I was in New York in March and went to Carlo’s Bakery I was introduced to what Coffee cake really is, pure deliciousness! There was no dry pastry, there were no cherries and more importantly there were no nuts! It was a lovely cake (which you really don’t even need to mention, because the star of the show is the topping) topped with a very thick layer of crumb topping. I was sold! Then and there I knew I needed to start my search to find a crumb cake recipe. I found several, they were more or less the same with a few slight differences. For my first attempt I went with…
New York-Style Crumb Cake
from Smells Like Home
For the Crumb Topping:
1/3 cup granulated sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
1/3 cup dark brown sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and still warm
1 3/4 cups cake flour (7 ounces)
For the Cake:
1 1/4 cups cake flour (5 ounces)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
To make the topping:
1. Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl to combine.
2. Add flour and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough;
3. Set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
To make the cake:
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cut 16-inch length parchment paper or aluminum foil and fold lengthwise to 7-inch width. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and fit parchment into dish, pushing it into corners and up sides; allow excess to overhang edges of dish.
3. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt on low speed to combine.
4. With mixer running at low speed, add butter one piece at a time; continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Add egg, yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping once if necessary.
6. Transfer batter to baking pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer.
8. Break apart crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces between your thumb, pointer, and middle fingers and spread in even layer over batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center.
Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan by lifting parchment overhang. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.
For a first attempt it was pretty good. I will continue looking for another recipe. It was not quite what I was looking for, a little bland.
Stay tooned for another attempt!
Posted by ericasedibles 
