Monday, April 27, 2015

Cinnamon Crumb Cake

Last week, I told you about two of the new babies in our church. A couple weeks ago, we had a shower for the baby due this week. Yes, a THIRD baby in one month!

Let's just say we love babies :)

My friend, Janet, hosted the shower, and we had a wonderful time. And, of course, wonderful food!

She had tried a new recipe that was fabulous. I knew I had to share it with you.

Cinnamon Crumb Cake



ingredients:

topping:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter

cake:
1 package white cake mix
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

Now, before we start, let me emphasize the importance of reading the directions carefully. Because when I made this cake, it didn't look anything like Janet's version - although it tasted perfect. I couldn't figure out what I did wrong until I read the ingredients again. I used a whole stick of melted butter in the cake instead of one-half stick.

Words are important. So is careful reading!

Anyway, let's make the topping first.



Mix the flour, sugars and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Cut in the two sticks of butter until the mixture is crumbly. Set the bowl aside.

Now for the cake:



Beat the cake mix, egg, sour cream, melted butter and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed about 1 minute.

Spread the batter evenly in a greased 9"x13" pan (it will be thick - almost like cookie dough instead of cake batter). Sprinkle evenly with the topping.

Bake at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cool and cut into squares to serve.


But do you see the way the cake kind of oozed through the topping as it baked? The original version was perfectly smooth.

And my version was crumbly. One thing that impressed me about Janet's original was that it was so firm and moist - not a stray crumb anywhere. Perfect for a ladies' brunch.

Yes, it's important to read directions carefully.

Sigh.

But in the end, it didn't really matter because it tasted delicious! And my version disappeared in less than 24 hours. :)

It's your turn now - can you tell us about a time when you read the recipe wrong? Was it a win or a fail?




7 comments:

  1. This is one of Dave's favorite things on the planet! I must make this for him and make him smile!

    I love the different take on the cake base layer, and that they actually put enough streusel on top to make me happy! Usually I have to double the recipe (sugar-a-holic!!!) but this one has a great ratio! Thank you, Jan!

    And BABIES!!!! I love me some babies, happy dancing at the very thought!

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    1. Oh, the babies! When we moved here, the only people from our children's generation at the church were two college-age brothers, and our two boys in the last two years of high school. A couple families with school age children gave us a Sunday School, and the rest of the people were empty-nesters.

      In the last four years the two college age brothers have gotten married, our two older children moved here to be with us, friends have been invited, gotten married, and the church grew and is continuing to grow.

      Now those young-marrieds are having babies, babies, babies! And we have an adoption fund going so families who are called to adopt have some help.

      We're going to need a bigger church before too long.... What a great "problem" to have :)

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  2. Jan, you've got me wiping drool off of the keyboard again. This looks absolutely delicious. I cannot wait to try it.

    And oh, I love babies. The more the merrier. Well, that is unless they're all yours. So will you be signing up for nursery duty so you can get some of that baby love?

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    Replies
    1. This cake is fabulous, Mindy. And SO cinnamony-delicious! I forgot to give the credit in the blog - the recipe is from McCormick.com, so of course it uses cinnamon!

      And the McCormick website has all sorts of great recipes. I'm going to have to try more of them.

      I haven't signed up for nursery duty yet. (I know, I know.) My Sunday school responsibilities keep me busy. But once they reach three years old, I get them! There's nothing that floats my boat like teaching the Bible to little ones. :)

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  3. Nothing is worse than getting something wrong on the liquid ingredient end. and that is probably where I make my most mistakes.

    And cinnamon counteracts any blood sugar rise so this is great.

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    Replies
    1. I was perplexed when my cake came out looking so different from the original! I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong...until I started copying the recipe for the blog.

      Boy howdy. There was the mistake!

      But still, it was delicious! I'm glad everyone was home when I made it so that it disappeared quickly!

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  4. Oooh, I love this!! Can't wait to try it.

    You know, I mess things up all the time. I guess the worst was when I used whole frozen strawberries for icing and didn't chop finely enough. The icing slid right off the cake! LOL

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