Crumb Cake is one of my favorite cake to make as soon as fresh sweet Summer fruits (or Fall fruits) starts appearing in the market. Why so? Most crumb cake are simple and easy to make, pretty basic ingredients and it never failed to make people fall in love with it, even more crazy over the crunchy nutty crumble toppings. I myself cannot say ‘No’ to crumb cakes, they are simple and yet delicious. Not only that, this is the type of cake that you can actually serve for breakfast and people will not ask why. It is perfect for coffee and even more for tea. 

I am crazy over berries, but among all the berries, Strawberry and Blueberry are among my favorite. From time to time Raspberry but I was never into Blackberry, except when all these 4 berries are mixed into one recipe (like sorbet, or berries pie or tart). I find Blackberry kind off not as flexible as the other 3 berries, so I do not normally buy it. But Blueberry, I’m a self confessed obsessed with it. From cakes, cupcakes, muffin, pie, tart, crumble, crisp, ice cream and smoothie I got you cover, and I’m not stopping there. This Blueberry Crumb Cake is one of my favorite Blueberry Cake.

The Cake

The base of this cake is a combination of all-purpose flour and almond flour. I like the addition of almond flour, It made the cake crumb lighter and the almond never failed to give a nice texture and flavor. I thought instead of using almond extract, why not use actual almond to enhance the flavor and texture. If you do not have almond flour, you can substitute with all-purpose flour. If you have almonds, you can grind it make an almond meal, either option will work but will slightly have a different crumb texture. Don’t worry, both taste great. The almond flour also adds moisture to the cake, so it came out moist with light crumb, it was delicious. Now, let’s not forget the role of yogurt. Yogurt plays important role of keeping the cake moist, soft and creamy. This can be substituted with sour cream, but do not use light as you need all the fat content to make the cake creamy.

The Crumb Toppings

I used my favorite crumb toppings. A combination of cold butter, flour, oats, brown sugar, white sugar, shaved almonds and chopped pecans. If you do not have rolled oats, you can substitute it with all purpose flour, or almond flour. For the nuts, shaved almonds are my first option, but is run out of shaved almonds, I combined chopped walnuts with almonds.

Ingredients To Make This Cake

• All Purpose Flour – The base ingredients for the cake. This type of flour is better because it is tighter (more protein than cake flour) and produces a more stable crumb that can hold the heavy fruits and crumble toppings.
• Almond Flour – Adds moisture to the cake and provides a nice texture and flavor. This can be substitute with all-purpose flour, but texture will be slightly different. It will be more compact as compared to a lighter and loose crumb.
• Baking Soda and Baking Powder – Give the cake a nice rise and volume. Baking soda reacts well with yogurt (something acidic) and this reaction makes the cake fluffier and lighter.
• Salt – Enhances the taste, balances the sweetness of the cake. If using salted butter, you can cut down the salt into half.
• Egg – Provides structure to the cake. Use room temperature for easy mixing. Leave the egg in the counter top at least 30 minutes before using, or submerge in a warm water for 5 minutes if you do not have time to wait for 30 minutes.
• Yogurt – keeps the cake soft and moist. Can be substituted with Sour cream. Full fat is recommended for a creamier cake. I wouldn’t recommend the flavored yogurt as they tend to be runny.
• Vanilla Extract – for flavoring, make sure to use only the pure vanilla extract for better flavor

How to Make Berries Almond Crumb Cake

The cake batter is very simple to make. There’s basically 2 main parts f making this cake. Making the cake batter and the making of the crumb toppings. Crumb toppings can be omitted but I highly recommend you add it as it really completes the taste of the cake. It balances the sweet and tangy taste of the Berries and protects the berries from getting dry.

• Make the Crumb Toppings – mix and crumble all the toppings ingredients and chill in the refrigerator while you make the cake batter. This can be made overnight or even 3-5 days ahead.
• Cream Butter and Sugar – Make sure to use room temperature butter to make the mixing easier.
• Mix Dry Ingredients – Simply mix flour, salt and leavening agent.
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients – Combine wet and dry ingredients, mix until just combined, as always we do not want l over mix the batter.
• Bake – This cake is a huge cake, moist and heavy with crumble toppings so it will take about 55 minutes. If not using crumble toppings, check at 45 minutes.
• Cool – Let cool completely before slicing. This will give the cake to release heat and steam making the cake not too wet.

Substitution:

• For the fruit toppings – You can use mix of different berries or a selection of just one. If using frozen, do NOT thaw and just use as is.
• For the nuts – You can use a mix of different nuts or a selection of just one. No need to toast, just chopped into small pieces.
• Greek Yogurt – Can be substituted with sour cream, use only full fat.
• Almond Flour – Can be substituted with All-purpose flour, but bear in mind that cake texture will be more compact.

Tips For a Light and Fluffy Cake:

• Room Temperature Ingredients: Please do not ignore the requirements for a room temperature ingredients because it will have a huge effect in the success and failure of the cake. The texture of the cake will depend heavily on how the ingredients are creamed and mix together, and room temperature ingredients mix well easily as compared to cold ingredients. Leave the butter at least 1 hour before using it until it is softened. Sometimes it could be less or more depending on the humidity and temperature on where you are. If the butter becomes slightly glossy (not oily and melting) and sticky and it breaks easily when mixed, then you are in a right track. You might need less time to reach the light and fluffy stage. If your batter remains almost solid and keeps on getting stuck to the paddle attachment then it is still cold. If this happen, you have to give it more time to soften, or continue but it will take longer than 8-10 minutes to reach the light and fluffy stage. As for the eggs, either leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes again depending on humidity and temperature of the kitchen or to short cut the process, submerge the egg in hot water (NOT boiling) for about 5 minutes.
• Creaming the Butter Properly: To keep it simple and straight to the point, the creaming process aims to make the butter light and fluffy thus resulting to a lighter and fluffier cake as compared to heavy and dense. In the first few minutes of creaming, the butter and sugar texture is grainy. Pay close attention and you would noticed that the longer you cream the mixture, the texture becomes lighter and smoother almost like a butter frosting. That’s the stage that you want the butter and sugar to be. NO to grainy texture, YES to light and fluffy. The length of time it takes to cream the butter could vary depending on how soft the butter. In my case, it took me around 8 minutes, sometimes 10 minutes. Be patient and aim for the right texture, even if it means going beyond 8 minutes.
• Do Not Over mix the Batter:Over and over again you see this in a lot of recipes for cakes, cakes, bread and even cookies. Over mixing the batter could result to a tougher cake because of gluten in the flour. Think of a bread, the longer you knead the bread the more chewy and heavy it becomes. It is the same idea with the cake, we creamed the butter and sugar to a light and fluffy stage so that it builds up air, mixing the batter too much will knock down the air so all those mixing and creaming, say goodbye to your efforts. So once the dry ingredients is added, mix it only until combined. It’s fine to have few raw flour on the sides of the bowl, just manually scrape it as well as the bottom of the bowl. Believe me, this simple reminder makes a difference.

Now that we are equipped with this 4 simple tips, let us put them to use and let’s make this cake, shall we?

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup All-purpose Flour (spoon& leveled)
• 1/4 cup  Almond Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 cup Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
• 6 tbsp Granulated Sugar
• 1 large Egg, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup full-fat Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream, at room temperature
• 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• Zest of 1 Orange – optional
• 1 cup Blueberry ( Can be substituted with Strawberry or Raspberry of a combination of all berries)

Crumble Toppings:

• 1/2 cup Almond Flour
• 1/4 cup Rolled Oats Flour
• 2 tbsp Honey (or Maple Syrup)
• 2 tbsp Coconut Oil
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Line a 6-inch or 7-inch round pan with parchment paper. The parchment paper should cover both the bottom of the pan and the side. This will make the removal of the cake easier without tearing the cake. If you have a releasable bottom, then line the bottom of the pan only.
2. Make the Crumb Toppings – in a bowl, add all-purpose flour, almond flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, while sugar, cold butter and cinnamon. Use your fingers to crumble the mixture. Add almonds and pecans. Chill in the refrigerator while you make the cake batter.
3. Dry Ingredients – Combine all-purpose flour, almonds flour, salt, lemon or orange zest (if using), baking powder and baking soda and blueberry.
4. Wet Ingredients – In a mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Mix for about 1 minute then add the egg one at a time. Mix for about 15 seconds before adding the next egg. The mixture will curdle, that’s totally normal. Add yogurt and mix until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed.
5. Wet Ingredients + Dry Ingredients: To finish off the cake batter, simply combine the wet and dry ingredients. As always, do not over mix. I would say 30 seconds to 1 minute should be enough.
6. Bake – Pour the batter in a prepare pan. Level the top to make sure the surface is even.
7. Add the Crumble Toppings – Scatter the fruits on top then cover with the crumble toppings.
8. Bake – Bake at 350F for 55 minutes or until the center is set and no longer jiggle when you push the pan. If the top starts to brown early (usually at 20 minutes mark), cover top with aluminum foil and continue baking.
9. Let cool before cutting. Dust top with confectioners sugar (optional)
10. Storage – Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, but it is best consumed the first couple days for better texture.

Serves 6

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