Butter crumb cake boasts right balance

The essence of crumb cake is the balance between the buttery cake and the thick, lightly spiced topping.

Starting with our favourite yellowcake recipe, we realized we needed to reduce the amount of butter or the richness would be overwhelming.

We also wanted our crumb topping to be soft and cookie-like, not a crunchy streusel.

Don’t be tempted to substitute all-purpose flour for the cake flour, as doing so will make a dry, tough cake.

If you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute an equal amount of plain low-fat yogurt.

Take care to not push the crumbs into the batter. This recipe can be doubled and baked in a 13-by-9inch (33-by-22-cm) pan.

If doubling, increase the baking time to about 45 minutes.

We did not like the result when we froze this cake.