Hey guys! We’re into the small-batch bakes again today with a little Crumb Coffee Cake to cure any quarantine blues you may have. It’s baked in a loaf pan, and you probably already have everything you need to make it!
Coffee cake is on my list of favs for sure, and you’ve probably noticed that the amount of crumb cake recipes on Dough-Eyed is a little bit out of control. I’m just really here for recipes like this- they are super simple, but the result is a complex, layered, flavorful cake that you can really eat at any time of the day. Let’s get to it!
How to Make Small-Batch Coffee Cake
There’s two parts to this recipe, as you might have guessed- the cake, and the crumb topping. Let’s start with the cake here. This is a super simple cake batter, and it actually relies on you mixing everything together at once, which I know feels weird. I promise it’s okay though.
The batter will be very thick, and that’s okay! Just mix everything together until you’ve got a thick, well-combined batter. Spread it evenly into your prepared pan. I recommend lining your pan with parchment paper on this one because it makes removing the cake much easier. Since there’s a crumb on top, you are not going to want to just flip the pan over.
Let’s move onto the crumb topping. There’s a lot of ways to make a crumb topping, but I prefer the option that lets you make it with a fork by hand. Basically, you’re mixing together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, melted butter, and vanilla extract with a fork until crumbs form. They should be able to form large crumbs with very little effort.
Sprinkle the crumb generously on top of the cake batter. It’s going to look like a heck of a lot of crumb topping, and it is so, moving on. You shouldn’t see any cake batter peaking through at all. Then it’s off to the oven!
Cool the cake completely in the pan before removing, and slicing. It makes about 6 small-ish pieces or, 4 large pieces, whatever you prefer! Enjoy!
Small-Batch Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1/4 cup softened butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tbs. sour cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup flour
- 3/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt
For the crumb topping:
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 5 tbs. melted butter
Instructions
For the cake:
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a loaf pan, and line it with parchment paper that overhangs in the edges.
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In a medium bowl, add all of the cake ingredients. That seems weird, but I promise it works well here. Beat everything together until you have a thick batter that is well-combined, about 2 minutes.
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Spread the batter evenly into your prepared cake pan. Set aside while you make the crumb.
For the crumb topping:
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In a medium bowl, mix together all of the crumb ingredients with a fork until crumbs form. It will take a few minutes to completely combine, but it should have a texture where crumbs form easily. If it's too wet, add a touch more flour, and if it's too dry and crumbs won't form, add a touch more melted butter.
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Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the cake batter in your pan. It's going to seem like a lot of crumb- that's because it is! Use it all! You shouldn't see any cake batter coming through.
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Bake the cake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is lightly golden brown. Cool completely until removing from the pan and slicing. Enjoy!
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
First, many many thanks you site is invaluable. I made the coffee cake here in Cuenca, Ecuador and we are mighty high in the Andes. it was perfect just perfect. Moist tender cake with great flavor and the crumb topping was scrumptious (although it was the first time there was almost more topping than needed instead of not enough yeah). I so recommend this as THIS IS PLACE FOR HIGH ALTITUDE COOKING! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much for all the kind words, and I'm so glad to hear this worked well for you!!
I am obsessed with this recipe! I hate having tons of leftovers when I bake because I overeat and feel guilty but this was the perfect amount and SO delicious!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe, I know I’ll be making this again.
I'm so glad to hear it, and I am so with you!! It's hard when I can't give it all away to my coworkers, so small-batch is perfect!
So I made this today and the toothpick came out clean (I thought) but when I cut into it it was raw in the middle. I cooked it for 26 minutes, but it clearly wasn't enough. Thoughts?
Hi there! Hmm.. I'm thinking it could have been that the crumb kind of scraped off any raw batter, making it look done. Do you know if your oven heats pretty accurate to the temp? It shouldn't take much longer, so I'm thinking maybe the oven is a little low. All ovens heat a little off, so it's a good idea to grab an oven thermometer to check things out. So sorry this didn't work though! You can also kind of jiggle the pan to see if the cake looks pretty set!
I am new to high altitude baking and I appreciate your site. I am at 5900 feet, btw. This coffee cake is delicious- I followed your instructions exactly and it took 25 minutes in the oven. It’s moist, tender, tasty. One question: What size loaf pan did you use? I used an 8” by 4” because the amount of dough seemed too little for a standard 9” by 5”.
So glad you liked it! My loaf pans are 8 inch typically, yes so good call!
Love crumb cake. This was delicious.
Glad to hear you liked it! One of my favs!
This was soooo good! If I wanted to make this pumpkin – do you know how I would alter the recipe?
We made this for breakfast this morning. While it was delicious I had to bake it for 40 minutes to get the middle done. When I pulled it from the pan there was a lot of excess butter in the bottom. Next time I make it I think I'll reduce the amount of butter in the topping to 4 tablespoons and will be skipping greasing the pan before lining with parchment.