Gingerbread Crumb Cake

Gingerbread Crumb Cake is a warm spiced coffee cake made super moist and tender with molasses and sour cream ~ it’s the perfect way to start a chilly morning, or treat your overnight guests during the holidays!

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Some mornings toast and eggs just don’t cut it, you know what I’m talking about.  This gingerbread crumb cake is perfect for those times.  It’s warm, fluffy, and fragrant with spices like ginger, nutmeg and cloves.  Eat it in your bathrobe and slippers with a cup of coffee, set it out on a brunch table, or wrap up a piece and take it to go.  This is a versatile little cake that’ll have your back all season long.

The technique for this cake is a little bit out of the ordinary, it’s the same one I used for my Cardamom Crumb Cake, and my Pumpkin Crumb Cake ~ I blitz the dry ingredients in my food processor to blend all those spices with the flour, etc.  Then I pulse in the butter to make a crumbly mixture — a little bit of that is set aside for the crumb topping.  The rest is folded into a dreamy blend of apple butter/sour cream/eggs and molasses.  Are you swooning yet?

TIP: This gingerbread crumb cake is fabulous warm from the oven, so if you’d like to do some of the work ahead, I suggest making the recipe up to the stage just before you mix the wet ingredients into the dry.  Do that when you’re ready to bake.

As crumb cakes go, this one is lighter on the crumbs, and moister in the base than most classic New York style cakes.  I highly recommend it warm from the oven.

TIP: A good set of cake pans is essential if you like to bake.  I particularly love the heft and sturdiness of aluminized steel USA bakeware, it bakes evenly for me every time and it’s reasonably priced. 

notes:

• Wrap the cake with foil or plastic after it has cooled so it won’t dry out.   You can reheat it is VERY briefly in a microwave, start with 15 seconds.

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3.4 from 20 votes

Gingerbread Crumb Cake

Ingredients

dry ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp powdered ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

butter

• 2 1/2 sticks 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, cold and cut in pieces

wet ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup apple butter
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Instructions

• Set oven to 350F
• Lightly spray a 9x13 baking pan.
• Put all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitting with the blade attachment. Pulse to combine everything thoroughly.
• Pulse in the butter until it is well distributed and the mixture is crumbly, 30-40 pulses.
• Pour the dry mixture into a large mixing bowl. REMOVE one cup of the mixture and set it aside.
• Whisk together the eggs, apple butter, molasses, and sour cream until smooth.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry, folding just until everything is thoroughly mixed. Don't over mix.
• Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the reserved crumbs evenly over the top. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out without wet batter clinging to it. The baking time will vary depending on your pan and your oven.
• Let cool slightly before cutting.

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