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“This. Is. DELICIOUS. Go ahead and make it, share it with your friends and family and coworkers. It will go down in history as one of the best things you’ve made.” ~Jess
the love of cardamom crumb cake is in my dna
I grew up in a suburb just outside New York City, and I have a pretty good dose of German heritage on my dad’s side. If you put those two things together in a hat and shake them up real good, you’ll come up with, among other things…crumb cake. Crumb cake is as New York as New York pizza, and it seemed like it was always sitting on the counter in our kitchen, sometimes homemade, mostly store bought, and always accompanied by a glass of orange juice that was puckeringly sour when it followed a bite of that sweet cake. Now that I’m grown up I’ve replaced the orange juice with lots of hot coffee, and it’s pure heaven.
what you’ll need for cardamom crumb cake
It’s rare to find a New Yorker who doesn’t love crumb cake, but it’s possible that if you live on the West coast, you might never have heard of it. It’s a very simple, unassuming but very buttery and moist cake topped with lots and lots of crumbs. And it makes the perfect cozy breakfast treat.
- all purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- unsalted butter
- milk
- large eggs
- sour cream
- baking powder
- salt
- vanilla extract
- cardamom
why cardamom?
Cardamom is an aromatic spice in the ginger family. It grows in green or black pods filled with tiny seeds. When you grind the seeds you’ll get an incredibly fragrant spice. You can also use the pods whole in savory dishes, just crush them lightly to release the seeds.
This lovely cake stands out from others because it’s spiced with warm, fragrant cardamom, which is not traditional, but really wonderful. Cardamom is more subtle than cinnamon, and if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend you do. Switching out cinnamon for cardamom is a tiny little change that can freshen up a lot of your favorite recipes. I happen to love the spice, and use it in everything from meatballs and roast chicken, to Christmas cookies!
There are lots of ways to make a crumb topping — sometimes the crumbs are like little boulders all over the top, and other times it’s more like a streusel topping. This one is the latter. The crumbs are made from a bit of reserved cake mixture, so it’s super easy. The cake will take you about 15 minutes to get in the oven. Easy peasy.
more cake for breakfast!
- The Best Pumpkin Crumb Cake
- Lemon Sugar Crumb Cake
- Easy Rhubarb Breakfast Cake
- Lemon Yogurt Breakfast Cake (Ciambella)
- Cranberry Breakfast Cake
Cardamom Crumb Cake
Video
Equipment
- 9×9 square baking dish
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp ground cardamom
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F
- Spray a 9×9 square baking pan and line with parchment paper if you want to be able to lift it out for cutting. That part is optional.
- Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cardamom in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine, You can also do this by hand in a large mixing bowl.
- Cut the butter in small pieces and add it to the bowl. Pulse to combine, maybe about 20 pulses. The mixture should be crumbly with the butter well distributed and in very small pieces. You can also do this by hand with a pastry cutter.
- Measure out 1 cup of the mixture and set aside.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients and mix with the dry, just until combined. Spread the batter into the pan, and top with the reserved crumbs.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
- I hope you try this with cardamom, but if you’d like to substitute another spice, you can use cinnamon, or allspice.
- This is a very tall cake, so do not use a smaller pan or you will have too much batter.
This cardamom crumb cake was delicious, simple straightforward took 10 minutes to get it together. This is now in my repertoire.. thanks
Made it for Christmas brunch & it was delicious. Next time will make more crumb.
1tbsp of cardamom was far too much. Bake was great but unfortunately the flavor was of soap. Would try again with 1 tsp. Also added extra butter for the crumb per other reviews, definitely needed.
Some people perceive cardamom as soapy ~ it’s similar to how some find cilantro tastes like soap, it’s a genetic thing.
Outstanding!
I just discovered cardamom a few years ago. I had no idea how unique and special it is. I got my mom into it by baking banana bread and pumpkin bread with it as my “secret ingredient”. I’ll be trying this recipe this week.
I’ve got lots of cardamom recipes for you to explore!
The best cake I’ve ever made. AND it’s easy. Thank you
I have made this recipe at least 4 times in the last 2 weeks! I eyed it off and on for quite a while. I love your blog and keep coming back to it. It’s a lovely place to visit and spend time. But back to this cake; My son and I are both in love with this cake and will definitely try the variations like pumpkin and such.
I was wondering if it would be easy enough to turn this into muffins? I would love to share with friends and family and I feel it would be easier to do in muffin form.
You are definitely a trusted source and I’m a huge fan 🙂
Absolutely delicious!! I love cardamom so thanks for all these great recipes
Delicious!
As a cardamom lover I added 1/2 TBS extra cardamom.
This recipe is a keeper!
Made this last night, the crumb topping is way too dry, does not really make “crumbs” more like a powdery topping.
Will use a basic crumb cake recipe next time and just add the cardamom to the cake and topping. cake was also a little on the dry side, made sure to overbake.