Crumb Cake
Yes, it turns out that you can have your cake and eat it, too (without guilt). This buttery crumb cake recipe is also from “Naturally Sweet.” While drastically reducing the sugar per serving from 29 to 13 grams, it retains its trademark cinnamon crumb topping. This versatile recipe also features a reduced-granulated sugar version, as well as one using Sucanat instead of coconut sugar.
Makes 6 servings Topping:
1⁄3 cup plus 1⁄4 cup coconut sugar, finely ground (see note)
1⁄2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1⁄8 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1⁄8 teaspoon salt 1 1 ⁄4 cups flour Cake:
6 tablespoons coconut sugar, finely ground (see note) 1 1⁄4 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1⁄8 teaspoon salt 1⁄8 teaspoon ground nutmeg 6 tablespoons buttermilk
1⁄4 cup (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Make topping: Grind coconut sugar if needed. Whisk coconut sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Stir in flour until mixture resembles a thick dough.
Make cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch (or 11-by-7-inch) baking pan.
Grind coconut sugar if needed. In a large bowl, whisk coconut sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Stir in buttermilk, melted butter, egg, egg yolk and vanilla until just combined. Pour cake batter into pan and smooth the top. Break topping into small pieces and sprinkle over batter.
Bake in preheated oven until golden, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.
Note: America’s Test Kitchen makes a big deal about making sure the coconut sugar is finely ground, which is not typically how it comes out of the package. Not many home bakers have a separate spice grinder to do this step. For this recipe, I measured the coconut sugar and rolled it with a rolling pin. I thought the results were fine.
Variations:
Sucanat: Replace the coconut sugar with cup Sucanat in the topping and cup in the cake. It is recommended that you finely grind the Sucanat if it is coarse.
Granulated sugar: Replace the coconut sugar with 6 tablespoons sugar in the topping, cup sugar in the cake.