New Jersey Crumb Cake (aka New York Crumb Cake)

If you’re from northern NJ then you’ve probably heard of B&W Bakery. They’re famous for their crumbcake which is about 2/3 crumb, 1/3 cake. My parents were nice enough to get us a crumbcake for Christmas which we froze. Once we started to run low I went on the hunt for a recipe I could make for when we had a hankering.

I came across one recipe that called for 6 sticks of butter. 6 sticks! Even I couldn’t justify that. So I continued searching and found this recipe which has the perfect ratio of crumb to cake. Dennis gave the cake a thumbs up but said the crumbs were a bit dry. I’m thinking next time to throw some more butter in there because when is more butter not the answer?

New Jersey Crumb Cake (adapted from Food.com)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter, plus extra for brushing pan

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Place rack in center of oven, and preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly brush a 9-by-12 1/2-inch baking pan with butter, dust with flour, and tap to remove excess. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, the granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a second bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, butter, and vanilla.

Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine remaining 2 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Pour melted butter over flour mixture, and toss with a rubber spatula until large crumbs form.

Sprinkle crumbs over batter and bake, rotating pan after 10 minutes.

Continue baking until a cake tester comes out clean, about 10 minutes more.

Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.