Together the two of us finished the whole cake in three days and couldn’t wait to get our hands of more. Luckily, my friend was willing to share her recipe and the next day I tried my hand at it—and it turned out beautifully! Just like I had hoped.

The cake itself is so moist and perfectly soft (not to mention the batter comes together in a cinch with a hand mixer!) and there is a generous portion of crumb topping on every slice. You definitely need to try this recipe—it’s the perfect indulgent breakfast or dessert.

 

Ingredients:

For the topping

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups packed dark brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Powdered sugar, for dusting the top (optional)

For the cake

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon plus 1 pinch salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

 

Directions:

Prepare the topping. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon and salt. Mix with the brown sugar. Set this to the side.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Once melted, pour on top of the dry mixture. Add the vanilla. Stir with a fork until the mixture comes together to form small crumbs (if you clump it in your hand, it should easily form crumbs). Set the crumb mixture aside in a bowl.

It’s time to make the cake. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9″ by 13″ pan. Place a rack in the middle position of your oven.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set to the side.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar, and continue mixing until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed using a rubber spatula.

Add the eggs, one at a time, pausing to scrape the sides of the bowl with each addition. The mixture may look somewhat curdled. That is OK. Blend in the vanilla.

Reduce the mixing speed to low. Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternately with the sour cream. Start and end with the dry ingredients. Continue scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Blend only until combined and uniform in appearance. This batter will be thick.

Spoon the batter into the well-greased pan and smooth with a flat rubber spatula.

Grab a handful of the crumbs and break on top of the cake batter. Continue, making crumbs of your desired sizes all across the surface of the cake. You need to cover all the surface with crumbs, or the cake may bubble over the crumb mixture. Gently pat the crumbs into the batter with your hand or a wooden spoon, but don’t press too hard.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown on top and begins to shrink from the sides of the pan. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool. If desired, dust the top with confectioners’ sugar. Once cool or just lightly warm, slice into squares (or slabs, depending on your mood and appetite).

 

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Quick tip: Substitute plain yogurt for the sour cream to achieve the same moist results without making a trip to the store.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Craftsy.