A customized print-friendly version of this recipe is available by clicking the "Print Recipe" button on this page.
Self-Rising Crumb Coffeecake
This tender, moist cake is the perfect base for its cinnamon-scented crumb topping.
Ingredients
Topping
- 8 tablespoons softened butter
- 1 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached Self-Rising Flour or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 1 cup chopped pecans, optional
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt*
- *omit the salt if using self-rising flour
Cake
- 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon lemon oil or 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel (lemon zest); or 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg; or 1 teaspoon cinnamon; or 1/2 teaspoon Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor, optional but tasty
- 3 large eggs
- 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Self-Rising Flour
- 1 cup buttermilk or plain or vanilla yogurt
- *No buttermilk? Substitute 3/4 cup milk + 1/4 cup plain (not Greek-style) yogurt
Garnish
- 1 to 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar or non-melting white sugar, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan. For additional pan options see "tips," below.
- To make the topping: Combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon, salt (if needed), and pecans until evenly incorporated. Mix the butter into the dry ingredients just until medium crumbs form. Set aside.
- To make the cake: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and flavorings until blended.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating just until blended after each. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl between additions.
- Add the buttermilk (or yogurt) alternately with the flour, mixing gently to combine and scraping the bowl after each addition. Spread the batter in the prepared pan.
- Quickly and gently sprinkle the crumbs on top, beginning with the edges then filling in the middle.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, and cool it on a rack.
- When the cake is completely cool, dust it with confectioners' or non-melting sugar.
Tips from our bakers
- Watch out when you cut this cake; in typical crumb cake fashion, the crumbly topping will scatter a bit.
- For an extra-tasty treat, fold 1 cup blueberries into the batter before baking. Be sure to add the optional lemon oil or peel if you use blueberries; the two flavors play very nicely together.
- Don't have self-rising flour? Try our recipe for Cinnamon-Streusel Coffeecake using all-purpose flour.
- For a neater-looking cake that can be served out of the pan, try turning the whole process upside down: bake the cake with the "topping" on the bottom. Put the topping into the pan, followed by the cake batter. Once baked, turn the cake out onto a serving plate so that the topping is right-side up again. This method works fine in two 8" round cake pans, as well as the 9" x 13" pan called for. We also tried this when baking this recipe in our mini tube pan, as follows: Scoop 1/4 cup of topping into the bottom of each well, then scoop a heaping 1/3 cup cake batter on top. Bake the cakes for 22 to 26 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the cakes' edges are golden brown. Remove the cakes from the oven, allow them to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn them out onto a rack to cool completely. This yields 12 cute individual cakes.
