Lemon Sugar Crumb Cake is a mile high coffee cake with a delicate fresh lemon flavor, it’s made with my special lemon infused sugar ~ an easy technique for punching up the citrus flavor in your favorite recipes!
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.
“I made the cake today and it turned out great! Super delicious. Thanks so much. Already looking forward to making it again. I’m so happy to have a ‘go to’ source.”
Jeanette
my easy lemon sugar technique infuses this lemon crumb cake with citrus flavor
You know I adore lemon, and I’m constantly on a crusade to figure out new and better ways to get lemon flavor into my food. This is a favorite technique of mine, you first saw it when I made my buttery Lemon Sugar Shortbread. That stuff is divine, by the way.
I knew the I could make an incredible lemony sugar by processing the zest of lemon with the sugar. The zest becomes a part of the sugar and flavors everything it touches with aromatic citrus. You see those little circles in the zest above? Each little bubble contains that aromatic citrus oil ready to burst into your sugar.
a food processor is the perfect tool for making lemon sugar
All I do is process the clean peel (minus any bitter white pith) with the sugar and it becomes a fragrant citrus sugar in seconds! This is a simple cake because the same dough is used for both the cake and the crumb topping, and everything can be made right in a full sized food processor. Since you’re using it to make your lemon sugar, there’s no need to dirty another bowl or mixer.
more cake for breakfast!
- Easy Rhubarb Breakfast Cake
- Cranberry Breakfast Cake!
- Super Easy Cinnamon Coffee Cake
- Lemon Yogurt Breakfast Cake (Ciambella)
- Orange Cardamom Crumb Cake
Lemon Sugar Crumb Cake
Equipment
- full sized food processor
- 9×9 baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 lemon, organic preferred, well washed and dried
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter cut in small pieces
wet ingredients
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- preheat 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. 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 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out without wet batter clinging to it.
Video
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
Be still my heart! Love this dreamy cake and that crumb topping is perfection! 🙂
Love lemon flavor too! And this lemon sugar crumb cake looks wonderful! Perfect for the Easter dessert table!
I definitely have to try this recipe! That crumb topping looks sooooo good!
I made two of these today. One to keep and one to eat. It came out beautiful, very high and I baked it in the second rack from the bottom and added an extra 10 minutes to the time. It was very tasty but I would like a little more topping in clusters. And as one person said in the reviews she would add a little more butter. I really do not think that is the answer because that would only put more butter in the cake, and I don’t want to do that. Do you have any suggestions on how I could do extra butter on only the topping? Also, do u think it would be too much if I replaced the milk with the juice of one lemon? Please advise……..thank you Dorothy
This cake looks so moist and delicious. Just waiting to be eaten. I’m a big fan of lemon flavors as well.
I adore anything baked with lemon! This sounds so good and I can’t wait to try it, Sue. Winner!
This looks phenomenal! The crumb topping has me droooooling.
Oh my gosh! This lemon sugar crumb cake looks so delicious! So fluffy! I can not wait to make it!
Outstanding recipe! I can’t wait to try next time I have company because I’ll need help eating this cake – not really but I won’t trust myself around it. Thanks for the terrific method of infusing lemon flavor – perfection! Sharing and pinning 🙂
Tender crumb and buttery topping..these sweet tangy lemon bars look very inviting!
I want this now! Looks totally amazing. Just the idea has my head spinning and tummy growling!