Cardamom Crumb Cake Recipe

Step by Step Method

Step 1

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400F.

Step 2

Butter an 8-inch square baking pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess; put the pan on a baking sheet.

Step 3

To make the crumbs: Put all the ingredients except the butter in a bowl and toss them together with a spatula just to blend.

Step 4

Add the butter and, using your fingers or the spatula, mix everything together until you’ve got crumbs of different sizes; it’s nice to have a few big pieces, so don’t overdo it.

Step 5

Set the crumbs aside. (The crumbs can be made up to 3 days ahead, covered and refrigerated.)

Step 6

To make the cake: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom, and espresso powder in a large bowl.

Step 7

Turn the dry ingredients out onto a sheet of wax paper, and put the sugar and zest in the bowl. Rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong, then return the dry ingredients to the bowl and whisk to blend.

Step 8

Put the remaining ingredients in another bowl and whisk them to blend.

Step 9

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir – don’t beat – to mix. Stir only until you’ve got an evenly moistened batter.

Step 10

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and top with a thick, even layer of the crumbs. Pat the crumbs ever so gently into the batter.

Step 11

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cake has risen (it will crown), the crumbs are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool in the pan before serving warm or at room temperature.

Step 12

You can unmold the cake if you want to, but you’ll lose some of the crumbs when you turn it over. I prefer to cut the cake in the pan, taking care not to nick the surface of the pan with my knife. (This is a good job for a plastic or silicone pie server.)

Step 13

Serving: Cut the cake into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.

Step 14

Storing: This cake is best served the day it is made. It can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; once it defrosts, it benefits from a quick warm-up in a 350-degree-F oven.

Tips

No special items needed.

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Mikekey

Growing up, my grandmother made crumb cake often, and it was one of my favorites. Sorry, grandma, but I now have a new favorite version. I love cardamom. And the coffee was a nice flavor booster. I cut recipe in half, using a small square casserole dish. Will be making this again.

ForeverMama

This was a treat for my family and I after having dinner. I used part orange and tangerine rind because I only had 1 orange, therefore I added a bit more of what the recipe called for. The cake was subtle on the spice, coffee and orange and the topping came out perfectly. Overall a delicious cake. Thank you, Luvcookn. Made it for Billboard tag.

WhatamIgonnaeatnext?

This was really good. The topping was great. I could faintly taste the orange. I could not taste the coffee (I had to use instant coffee instead of instant espresso, so I used extra coffee.) Thanks for yummy recipe.