Love a good crumb cake 😌—soft cake, big buttery crumbs on top. Here’s a classic bakery-style crumb cake with extra streusel.
Classic Crumb Cake (9×9 inch pan)
Ingredients
Crumb topping
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cup melted butter
Cake
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup milk or sour cream
Method
- Preheat oven to 175°C / 350°F. Line or grease pan.
- Make crumbs: mix dry ingredients, stir in melted butter until chunky. Set aside.
- Cream butter + sugar until light.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla.
- Mix flour, baking powder, salt. Add to batter alternating with milk.
- Spread batter evenly in pan (it’ll be thick).
- Pile crumbs generously on top—don’t press down.
- Bake 35–40 minutes until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool slightly, dust with powdered sugar if you want.
Pro tips
- Bigger crumbs = don’t overmix topping
- Sour cream makes it extra moist
- Let it cool before cutting so crumbs stay put
Variations
- Coffee cake: add cinnamon swirl inside
- Apple crumb cake: layer thin apple slices on batter
- Lemon crumb: lemon zest in batter + glaze 🍋
If you want, I can adjust this for:
- Extra-thick New York–style crumbs
- A smaller pan
- Egg-free or dairy-free versions
