Lemon Crumb Cake is a New York style coffee cake with a delicate fresh lemon flavor, made with my special lemon infused sugar.
lemon crumb cake is a classic New York style coffee cake
I patterned this recipe after one of my favorite coffee cakes on the blog, my Cardamom Crumb Cake. I made it for the family and realized it was too good not to share with you guys. It bakes up nice and tall, and it’s fluffy on the inside with a nice thick nubbly crumb crust on the top. But best of all it’s laced with the most delicate lemon flavor ~ that’s because the flavor is infused into the sugar that then bakes into the cake. The kitchen smells incredible, and everybody lunges for the first piece.
Here’s what readers are saying about this simple lemon crumb cake:
- “Another great recipe! This cake rises so high, and is the perfect crumb.”
- “This came out just like the picture! I’m so stoked.”
- “Already looking forward to making it again!”
- “Thanks for the recipe will be my forever go to!!!
You know I adore lemon, and I’m always on a quiet crusade to find better ways to get real lemon flavor into my baking. This is one of my favorite techniques, and you may remember it from my buttery Lemon Sugar Shortbread (still one of my all-time favorites).
A food processor is the perfect tool for making lemon sugar. I simply process the clean lemon peel (removed with a vegetable peeler) with the sugar until it transforms into a fragrant citrus sugar ~ it takes just seconds, and the flavor payoff in this lemon crumb cake is huge.
common questions about lemon crumb cake
You’ll grate the lemon zest with a grater and mix with the sugar. In that case I recommend grating the zest of 2 lemons.
You can use regular whole milk instead.
Yes, sure. let it cool completely first, then wrap in foil, and again in plastic. Plan to use within 3 months.
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Lemon Sugar Crumb Cake
Video
Equipment
- full sized food processor
- 9×9 baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 lemon, organic preferred, well washed and dried
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup cold unsalted butter cut in small pieces
wet ingredients
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- preheat oven to 325. Spray a 9×9 square baking pan and line with parchment paper if you want to be able to lift it out for cutting. This is optional.
- Use a serrated vegetable peeler to carefully peel away the zest from the lemon. You want only the yellow, not any of the bitter white pith.
- Put the sugar into the bowl of a food processor, along with the zest. Process, scraping down the sides if necessary, for about a minute or so, until the zest is completely incorporated into the sugar.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt into the processor and pulse to combine everything.
- Add the butter 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.
- Measure out 1 cup of the mixture and set aside.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients and add to the dry, mixing just until combined. Spread the batter into the pan, and top with the reserved crumbs. Note: I use my fingertips to make some larger, chunkier crumbs to create a nice texture on the top. Just compress the dry mixture a little between your fingers to make any size crumb you like.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out without wet batter clinging to it, moist crumbs are fine.
Notes
- I like to use organic lemons when I know I’ll be using the peel, and I wash them really well.
- If you don’t have a food processor you can do this by hand. Grate the lemon zest and mix with the sugar. I would use the zest of 2 lemons if you are doing it by hand.
Nutrition
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Can I double this recipe and bake in a 9×13 pan? BTW, I love you recipes, you have become my “go to” for just about everything!
Oh I’m so happy to hear that Judi, you’ve made my day 🙂 Yes, you can double and bake in a 9×13 pan, the baking time will be similar, just watch it and check with a toothpick toward the end.
Thank you for such a quick response!
This is a breeze to make in a Cuisinart! Using two lemon peels makes a flavorful cake. After reading the reviews, I was concerned the cake wouldn’t bake in the expected time. I increased the oven temperature slightly. I was fully baked in 45 minutes. It was the perfect amount of batter for a 9 inch square pan. Next time I will bake at the proper temperature.
Another great recipe!
This cake rises so high, and is the perfect crumb. My lemon wasn’t that strong so next time I’m going to zest two lemons. I also added about 2T lemon juice to the crumb topping before it went on the batter only because I knew my lemon wasn’t that full of flavor like an organic lemon would be. It’s really a delicious cake; this will be on repeat just like the rhubarb cake.
I just made this recipe and the cake is in the oven right now. However, I started out in my food processor and had to remove about half of the dry ingredients in order to incorporate the butter, and then had to empty everything into my mixer bowl to be able to add the wet ingredients. I guess some food processor bowls are larger than others. I did taste some of the batter and it’s delicious! I can’t wait to try it once it’s done baking. I love anything lemon, so this looks like a recipe I would bake again.
Part of this recipe instruction is missing. There is no mention of adding sour cream etc
That goes in in step 7, where it says “whisk together the wet ingredients.”
This came out just like the picture! I’m so stoked. Definitely use 9×9 pan, it’s so tall and fluffy I can’t imagine it working well in a smaller pan. I don’t have a food processor so I tried blending the lemon peel and sugar in my bullet blender… didn’t work too well. But the flavor is amazing, very buttery with a nice lemon flavor, and the texture is incredible, so light and fluffy with a great crusty crumb on top. I’m not a very good baker so I was fully expecting this not to go well but now I can say it’s a fool proof recipe!
Just made it! Easy to do! Can’t wait til it’s done!
I love this yummy cake
I love to say that these came out excellent as ??cupcakes wasn’t to heavy for me weighed it out to not over flour!! Soooo soooo yummy my husband is enjoyin 3 now I had bout 4 ? of course some one has to test em first right ?. Thanks for the recipe will be my foeva go to!!! Have a great day ?