Is a crumb cake a kind of coffee cake? Or are they different, though equally decadent on a weekend morning? If you say crumb cake, there is no doubt what you are talking about. But if you say coffee cake, you may be picturing a crumb cake.
My Aunt Camille’s crumb cake is like no other. She was famous for it, and often toyed with the idea of mass marketing the crumbs. She never went to a wedding without one, and even brought one on a flight from New York to San Diego to my cousin’s wedding one summer. Nothing better the morning after the big day than those huge crumbs and, underneath, a thin layer of delicious yellow cake.
But then, I recently stumbled upon an old sour cream coffee cake recipe that my mother-in- law gave me many years ago, and decided to give it a go. It was equally moist and delicious, with that cinnamon essence swirled within the center. Instantly, we had another favorite in the house, and my husband even requests it for his birthday cake.
That got me wondering: What is the difference between a crumb cake and a coffee cake, or are they the same? They are both certainly amazing Sunday morning treats to be savored with a hot cup of coffee, but what distinguishes them from each other?
I took to the all-knowing Google and learned that they
are, in fact, their own special entities. The primary difference is in the crumbs. While coffee cake may have a small streusel on top or layered inside like a ribbon filling, crumb cake has a much thicker layer of streusel topping and is essentially half crumb, half cake.
Unfortunately, my Aunt Camille has sworn me to secrecy regarding her recipe, but Ellen Petty’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake from Lynchburg, Va., is yours! It looks simple and unassuming, but wait ’til it knocks your socks off. It is a no brainer to have on hand whenever you have week- end guests, or are just in the mood to indulge a bit on a lazy Sunday morning.
Ellen Petty’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
1 Duncan Hines Butter Cake mix (there is “butter” and “classic yellow,” make sure you get “butter”)
1 cup sour cream 1⁄2 cup sugar
3⁄4 cup vegetable oil 3 eggs
Filling:
4T. brown sugar
3t. cinnamon
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a Bundt pan.
2. In a small bowl with a fork, stir the brown sugar and cinnamon until combined.
3. In the bowl of a mixer, mix cake mix, sour cream, sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs together according to time listed on back of cake mix box. Pour half in greased Bundt pan. Sprinkle 1⁄2 of filling over that. Pour in the rest of cake mix. Top with remaining filling mixture. Bake for about 40 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
