Crumb Bottom Lemon Cake

I’m a little obsessed with crumb cakes.  I’ve always loved them, but I think the obsession started after I made (what I’m calling) the Perfect Crumb Cake last year.  Ever since baking that NY style crumb cake, I constantly think about which cakes I can turn into a crumb fiesta.  Take Exhibit A Chocolate Crumb Cake and Exhibit B Crumb Carrot Cake.  (That’s the attorney coming out.)  I thought it was high time for a summery crumb cake and what better way to celebrate the flavors of summer but with lemon flavored crumb confection.  Have you noticed something different about this crumb cake?  The big crumbs are on the bottom!  What the what?  It actually happened by mistake and I’ll explain what happened below.

This lemon cake has a thick crumb bottom and is topped with a lemony glaze.

 

My favorite crumb topping recipe of all time is from the Perfect Crumb Cake (of course) so I used it as my inspiration here.  This crumb topping looks more crumby because you’re working with cold instead of melted butter and it doesn’t contain cinnamon.  Quite frankly, I was not up to rolling little balls of crumbs so I needed to come up with another alternative.

Cakes are generally easy to make and this is no exception.  However, you do need to give a little more love and attention to the eggs here.  In order to get this cake’s light and airy texture, you need to beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and some of the sugar until you get stiff peaks.  The photo below is what your egg white mixture will look like after a minute or so of beating.  You have to be patient for these steps and it does take quite a while.  My husband issues his standard warning of “if you get even the tiniest amount of yolk in your whites, start over, they will NEVER whip properly.”

The photo below is what your aiming for.  The egg white mixture should be an opaque white and shiny and form a peak.  You are essentially making a meringue here, but instead of topping a pie with it, you are folding it into the cake.  (Please try to ignore the mess going on in the background.)

Once you’ve combined all of the cake ingredients together, you will have a lovely yellow cake batter.  It’s yellow from all that lemony goodness, of course.  There’s still crap-o-la in the background but it’s all stuff related to the cake, so it’s okay.  I like to place the bundt pan on top of a baking sheet because I find that it’s easier to handle.  In this case I’m not really worried about it spilling over because my bundt pan is plenty deep but for some reason a bundt is awkward to handle for me.

Remember how I mentioned that this crumb cake was a mistake, all be it a happy one?  Hold on to  your butts!  I had this bright idea to take a delicious lemon bundt cake and add some big crumbs on top.  Sounds fab, right?  Well, I also simultaneously got super lazy and didn’t want to devote the time to making hand rolled chunks.  When I popped the cake into the oven the crumb mixture was on top.

I checked on the cake about 15 minutes into the cooking process and noticed that the crumb topping had mysteriously disappeared.  It had sunk into the cake batter leaving only an amusing ring on the top to indicate where it once was.  I figured the crumb mixture had only sunk a little, or perhaps half way.  When I cut into it I discovered where it had actually gone and I almost threw it away as a disaster, unworthy of blogging.

My husband initially said this cake was a failure too, but when we dug into it with our forks and couldn’t stop eating it, I knew that it was NOT a failure but instead was an unplanned success.  I think this turned out more wonderful because I created something that I’d never seen before.  Crumbs belong on the top of a cake… Sometimes!

Can you see the lemon zest in the photos?  It’s certainly prominent in person.  Baking Tip.   When zesting a lemon, zest only the yellow skin of the lemon.  The white part (the pith) is bitter and you don’t want to pass on those bitter flavors to your goodie.

Hello you lovely lemon thing!  Sometimes I talk to my food.  What, that’s not normal?  I’m in love with this lemony crumby creation.

This lemon bundt cake is super moist  and the lemon flavor in this cake is phenomenal.  The cake is so delicious that you could skip the crumbs entirely.  I don’t know why you would, but since the cake is flavorful enough to stand on its own, you certainly can.

This crumb bottom is soft but fortunately holds its shape instead of collapsing under the weight of a freshly cut slice.  Yup, it almost makes a form of “crust.”  The sugary crumb layer tastes amazingly delicious with the lemon flavored cake.

I wanted to add more luscious lemon to the party so I drizzled some lemon glaze on top of the cake.  It also gives it a nice finishing touch.  (You know how I’m all about pretty presentations.)

My family adores this crumb lemon cake (actually they’re big fans of crumb cakes in general).  They got a kick out of the crumb topping being on the bottom.  I couldn’t have planned it better myself.     😉

If you make this crumb bottom lemon cake, please follow the recipe directions.  I suppose you could try to place the crumb mixture directly in the pan instead of on top of the batter.  Be warned though that by sinking on its own, the crumbs are protected from direct contact with the pan on all possible sides.  There is a real potential for it completely gluing the cake into the pan if you don’t do it this way.

Are you obsessed with a certain baked goodie?

 

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If your’re obsessed with crumb cake as much as me (or simply enjoy a nice piece) then you’ll love these.

The Perfect Crumb Cake

Chocolate Crumb Cake

Crumb Carrot Cake