Cake Monday: Toll House Crumb Cake

I got rave reviews for the last coffee cake I made so instead of trying something with the esoteric name Orange Glow Chiffon Cake, I decided to make another coffee cake. Why be fancy? But I adapted the method from The Cake Bible. Unlike the stubborn frustrating butter cakes, this method works just fine for this cake, resulting in a moist, tender crumb.

Toll House Crumb Cake

Topping:
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed and sifted
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar and butter. Use two knives or a pastry cutter to cut in the butter until it is the size of peas. Mix in the nuts and chocolate chips by hand. Set aside.

Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream of plain lowfat yogurt
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Butter a 9x13 inch rectangular pan. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, lightly combine eggs, vanilla, and sour cream/yogurt. Set aside

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and half the egg mixture. Mix on low speed until dry ingredients are just moistened. Scrape down the sides. Increase speed to medium and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides. Add the remaining egg mixture in 3 batches until just combined. Scrape down the sides. Fold in the chocolate chips by hand.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spatula. Cover the batter with the topping. Be generous. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cake Monday: Sour Cream Coffee Cake...

...with yogurt instead of sour cream!


Cakes in The Cake Bible are unique in that you never cream the butter with sugar. Instead the butter is incorporated into the flour and sugar. Because my pan was 1/2 inch more than the required 9 inches,  I doubled the recipe. The finished height of the cake was 3 inches.

Monster cake!

The butter in the streusel topping had melted into the top of the cake.

Have a slice of cake, anyone?

Make a Smilebox recipe

Cake Monday: Streusel Coffee Cake

If the people have no bread, let them eat cake! ~attributed to Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1774-1793)

Every Monday, for a month, I've brought a cake to school. The first two Mondays, I consulted Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook and tried two recipes: Classic Crumb Cake and Brown Sugar Pound Cake. Though the crumb cake was recommended for beginners, I found it disappointing; the top tasted floury rather than crisp and sweet. However, the pound cake was a success. The week after that, I made a Caramel Apple Cake, and last Monday, a Toll House Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake. The last two are old favorites from our years living in Milwaukee.

This Monday's cake is a Streusel Coffee Cake. The topping has melted into the surface of the cake creating caramelized craters of brown sugar. The cinnamon smell is wonderful. While the cake was still warm, I sliced it into squares and tested a piece. It was moist and the texture light. The topping was crunchy. I realized that Streusel Coffee Cake is almost exactly like the Classic Crumb Cake I made the first Cake Monday. According to the dictionary, streusel means "crumb." I like this Streusel recipe better because that Crumb Cake recipe called for 4 cups of butter. No one needs that much butter! To the Streusel Cake recipe I've added instructions about how to cut and fold the batter and I do recommend rotating the pan halfway through baking. Try this recipe as I'm sure you'll love how easy it is to make.

Streusel Coffee Cake from southernfood.about.com

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cake:
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small mixing bowl, combine topping ingredients. Blend with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

Sift 1 1/2 cups sifted flour with baking powder and salt into a bowl. In a large bowl, beat together beaten egg and 3/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup melted butter. Add milk and vanilla.

Put half of flour mixture in a sifter and sift it over the batter. Cut and fold the batter. Use a spatula to cut the batter in the center of the bowl until you touch the bottom. Move the spatula towards you. At the edge of the bowl, lift and turn over the spatula. Turn the bowl one quarter turn and repeat. When there are tiny streaks of flour in the batter, sift in the other half of the flour mixture. Cut and fold. Stop when there are tiny streaks of flour in the batter and it loses its shiny appearance.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square or 9-inch layer-cake pan. Sprinkle topping crumb mixture evenly over batter. Bake at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Rotate the cake halfway through the cooking time. It should turn a deep golden brown and the edges should begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Partially cool in pan on wire rack. Cut coffee cake into squares while still warm.