This is the most incredible, homemade dish you might ever make! Are you hosting friends or family and looking for something tasty to have on hand? This Classic Crumb Cake will easily become a household favorite! With delicious yellow cake piled high with buttery, sweet crumbles, you won’t be able to resist!
My husband’s family introduced me to this incredible recipe. His great aunt would lovingly make it anytime they went to visit her when he was a child. All of these years later, he still gets excited when he sees me pull the “crumb cake pan” out of the cabinet! This delicious crumb cake has come with us to just about every type of gathering you can imagine, and it is always a huge hit. There is also a secret ingredient in this recipe that makes me feel nostalgic and may be something you have never purchased before!
What is the difference between crumb cake and coffee cake?
This is a great question! Coffee cake traditionally is made with more cake and less topping, while crumb cake is best made with a thinner layer of cake and tons of crumbles on top!
What is Dream Whip?
Dream Whip was created by General Mills in the 1950s to help make homemade whipped topping. It comes in a box in powder form and is usually mixed with milk and vanilla. For this recipe, we will just use the powder, unmixed. You can find it in most grocery stores in the baking aisle, either near the jello or boxed cake mixes.
Ingredients for our Classic Crumb Cake:
For the cake:
- 1 box Duncan Heinz yellow cake mix
- 4 eggs
- 1.3oz envelope dream whip
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
For the crumbs:
- 4 sticks butter/margarine -melted
- 3 tsp vanilla
- 4 cups flour
- 1 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
How to make our Classic Crumb Cake:
First, raise your oven shelf one notch above the center and preheat oven to 325 F.
Combine yellow cake mix, Dream Whip, water, vanilla and eggs to a bowl and mix.
Beat with electric mixer on medium for about 3-4 minutes. Break up all the pieces of cake mixture and make sure you mix until you have a nice, creamy consistency.
Pour into greased pan. We use a 12x18x2 pan, but if you do not have a pan this large, split recipe between two 9X13 dishes. You do not want the cake mix to be too thick after it has cooked!
Then, bake for 20-25 minutes and then let stand for 5 minutes. While cake is baking, you can start making the crumble mixture.
Next, in a large bowl combine melted butter, vanilla, flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Slowly stir and mix well. You may need to combine with your hands to be sure it is fully mixed. This will be very thick.
Using your fingers to roll the crumbs into small chunks, add crumbs to entire cake. There should be plenty of crumbs to cover the entire cake. I like to make a base layer of crumbs and then go back and add in where I notice holes or thin spots. Use entire bowl of crumbs.
Finally, after crumbs have covered the entire cake, return pan to oven and bake for additional 20 minutes!
Remove from oven and lightly dust with powdered sugar, if desired. Enjoy!
There is nothing better than the sight of this tasty cake on the kitchen table at breakfast time. Even with the huge serving this cake makes, it never lasts in our house very long! It is such a fun, special treat for the kids (and adults too!) We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we have throughout the years and for many years to come!
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Classic Crumb Cake
Ingredients
- Cake mix:
- 1 box Duncan Heinz yellow cake mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 envelope dream whip
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- Crumb recipe:
- 4 sticks butter/margarine -melted
- 3 tsp vanilla
- 4 cups flour
- 1 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Raise oven shelf 1 notch above center
- Preheat to 325 F.
- Mix all cake ingredients and beat for 4 minutes.
- Pour batter into greased pan (12x18x2 preferably). Cook time will vary if using a different size dish.
- Bake 20-25 minutes and once finished let stand for 5 minutes. (Cake should not be jiggly.)
- While cake is baking, in a large bowl combine melted butter, vanilla, flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Slowly stir and mix well.
- Using your fingers to roll the crumbs into small chunks, add crumbs to entire cake.
- After crumbs have covered the entire cake, return pan to oven and bake for additional 20 minutes!
- Remove from oven and lightly dust with powdered sugar, if desired.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
20Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 439Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 88mgSodium: 367mgCarbohydrates: 56gFiber: 1gSugar: 26gProtein: 5g
(Nutritional information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)