Pennsylvania Dutch Crumb Cake
Kitchen Tested 
- Yield 12 servings
- Prep 10 mins
- Cook 40 mins
The "crumbs" in "crumbcake" are a sweet buttery streusel and the cake features buttermilk and spices.
Mark Boughton Photography / styling by Teresa Blackburn
This is a classic crumb cake, or streuselkuchen, with a lot of streusel.
Ingredients
- Crumb base:
- -- Cooking spray
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- Topping and Cake:
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 -- egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- -- Powdered sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 12 x 8-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- To prepare crumb base, stir together flour and salt. Add butter and cut into flour with a pastry blender or two knives until the consistency of medium-fine meal. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon; stir well.
- To prepare topping, transfer 4 cups crumb base to a medium bowl. Add melted butter; stir only until blended. Fluff mixture with fingers to make coarse, buttery crumbs.
- Add ginger, nutmeg, cloves and baking soda to remaining crumb base; stir well. Add buttermilk, egg and vanilla; beat to make a smooth, thick batter.
- Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until topping is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
- Dust top of cake with powdered sugar, if using. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe adapted with permission from A Baker's Odyssey by Greg Patent (John Wiley & Sons., Inc, 2007)
