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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.
- 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.
- Yield: One 9" x 13" cake.
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. This yields 12 cute individual cakes.
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Reviews
I just baked this today to use up some self rising flour my roommate bought and only used a minimal amount of. It's ok. Not terrible, just not really up to par with what I think of as coffee cake. The cake itself has a nice crumb but it's slightly dry and quite bland. The topping is rather flat and bland as well; what's pictured with this recipe I suspect used melted butter rather than the stated softened butter. I had thought about melting the butter, knowing how the results would differ and that's what would result in a topping like what's pictured, but I really try to follow recipes as written the first time I make them. Overall it's not bad; if I make it again I'll definitely make some changes though. Regardless it has served it's purpose for me in helping me use up some of the sr flour in the pantry.
After reading reviews,I decided to try some modifications. I added 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. allspice, 1/2 tsp. cloves to topping to improve the flavor. Next time I will lessen the amount of powdered sugar and added a bit of brown sugar. I used 1 cup plain drained yogurt ( in place of the buttermilk) and 1/2 tsp lavender extract, 1 tsp. grated lemon zest and 2 tsp vanilla to batter. After spreading batter into the pan, I sprinkle dark chocolate morsels over the cake then covered with the topping. Baking time was just shy of one hour. This cake turned our perfectly, have great texture and flavor.
Tasty and very quick and easy. I'm afraid that my family has been spoiled since I made the Cinnamon Struesel Coffeecake. Now, nothing else will do. I do love that this uses self rising flour. I never used that type of product until discovering KAF's. Wonderful addition to the pantry. Thanks for the recipe!
This is easy to make.
I made this using some of the tweaks suggested by other reviewers. (Thank you fellow bakers.) adding my own tweaks. Spreaded the crumbs on a baking sheet and browned them stirring once to brown evenly. Baked the cake in the individual panatone cups and spread with my apricot jam on some and raspberry jam on others, while still warm. Sprinkle on the browned crumbs and press down lightly. Let cool. The cake melted in the mouth. This self-rising flour is fabulous.
I baked this today with a few added ideas. I added 3 T. of Brown Sugar to the crumb topping, grated fresh nutmeg and cinnamon. I also added 1 teaspoon Princess flavor to the cake batter. It's absolutely delicious. Happy Holiday's! Allyson
I think I was 1/4 cup short of flour, thanks to my 2-year old "helping," used my own crumb topping that was in the freezer, leftover from last baking, and it still came out yummy! I was out of regular flour and really wanting a coffee cake on Sunday morning. Was so glad to find this recipe!
I expected more from this recipe. The cake is bland, but I did not use the Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor (which is optional) and I used lemon zest. The crumb topping did not turn out like in the picture. Instead it was more of a flat crunchy topping and not "crumbly". I'm wondering if 8 TBS of butter is enough when mixed with 3 1/2 cups of dry ingredients. Anyway, I think I'll stick with other KAF coffeecake recipes.
For a "crumblier' topping, try increasing the flour to 1 1/3 cups. Frank @ KAF.
Recipe sounds solid. I am a believer that having AP flour, is just that All Purpose and get baking powder. Have not tried it yet (I know the rules kaf..) .BUT THIS IS TO "LUCYSMOM1953". Please try KAF Cinnamon- Streusel Coffeecake !! It is an A++. Made it in a 13 x 9 twice and 8x8's (same a 2- 9'rds.) AND did it in muffin tins. As per Amy @ KAF baked at same temp 350 for 15-20 minutes, for the muffins. . She said it freezes well too. But never had any leftover to try that out. I have made the coffeecake from America's Test Kitchen (3x), the 8x8 that they refer to almost like those Drakes coffecakes. YUM ! Done with cake flour (KAF of course) and rolling those little balls for the topping out. Two things, using a melon ball scoop helps speed that step up and it really needs to be baked that morning for the best enjoyment. Sometimes getting that all done on a Sunday morning is just too much! Please try out the Cinn- Streusel CC from KAF. You can get it done the night before and enjoy it yourself too.
I've not made this crumbcake yet, but have a question. Several years ago, a recipe for a true crumbcake appeared in the Baking Sheet. The cake was yeast-risen, and the crumbs were made with cake flour and melted butter. This was a true crumbcake, like I grew up with in the northeast. I found a similar recipe in the America's Test Kitchen cookbook - cake was a bit different, but the topping was the same and used melted butter to make those big crumbs. Both recipes swore that the melted butter was the key to the formation of big crumbs in the topping. In reading this recipe and looking at the picture, this looks very similar to the crumbcake I've been making, but I noticed the topping used softened butter rather than melted. What do you think the effect of using melted butter would be? This recipe looks pretty yummy, I'm anxious to try it. My only problem with these crumbcakes is that my 19-year old can eat one entire cake in an afternoon! And I haven't found a good hiding place yet so that the rest of us can get a piece before it's gone! Thanks for the great recipes!
Using softened butter for the crumb can make a sandy crumble. Using melted butter does yield larger crumbs. Use the method that matches the crumble of your dreams! Happy Baking! Irene @ KAF
