One of my favorite cakes to make is Crumb Cake. I saw the Cake Boss make it on his show one time, and it looked so good, I thought, "I so wish I knew how to make that." Then for Christmas 2011, Jim gave me the book Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Familia, and guess which recipe was in the book? You guessed it...CRUMB CAKE!
Not only did this cake look great on t.v., but it does taste just as heavenly. Making it is pretty easy too, unless you want to add the secret ingrediant, which isn't necessary, but definitely makes the cake more moist and dense, and gives it more flavor. The secret ingrediant is Italian Custard Cream (the recipe is also included in the book).
Making the custard can be tricky. The key to making it turn out great is patience, and of course, practice. Here is what I have learned.
To start, the recipe calls for extra large egg yolks. If you have only have large eggs on hand, and you need more than 2 or 3, just add an extra one. Mix egg yolks, sugar, and flour together.
In a large sauce pan, mix vanilla and milk together, and bring them to a simmer over medium heat.
Once the milk and vanilla are heated, slowly add 1 cup of the milk mixture to the egg mixture. Throughly mix it, then continue to slowly add the rest of the milk mixture to the egg mixture. It is important to do this part, this slowly! Why? Because if you were to pour all the hot milk in with the eggs, you run the risk of actually cooking the eggs. For this not to happen, you need to tempur them with a little bit of milk at a time.
Next, strain the mixture back into your saucepan. This is just incase there are any lumps that didn't mix well, or some cooked eggs (it can still happen if you tempur the eggs, but not likely).
Now comes the tricky part. While constantly stirring the mixture, place pan back on the stove (the heat) for a few seconds, then remove it. Keep stirring and keep repeating on the heat, off the heat, till desired thickness is reached. If you just keep it on the heat, you will burn it. Once you have reached the thickness you want, add butter, mix throughly, chill, then enjoy.
For the crumb cake, in one bowl, follow the directions for making the vanilla cake (with or without the custard). In another bowl, mix shortening, brown sugar, granulated sugar, sea salt, cinnamon, baking powder and flour till a clumpy, yet crumbly texture forms (it should hold together if squeezed, but easily crumble apart).
Grease your pan and pour the vanilla cake mixture till evenly distributed. Then top the vanilla cake mixture with the crumb topping. I lightly press on the crumb topping as well, to make sure most of it sticks to the cake.
Place cake in the oven and bake it at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the top is a dark golden brown color and the middle of the cake is spongy.
Not only did this cake look great on t.v., but it does taste just as heavenly. Making it is pretty easy too, unless you want to add the secret ingrediant, which isn't necessary, but definitely makes the cake more moist and dense, and gives it more flavor. The secret ingrediant is Italian Custard Cream (the recipe is also included in the book).
Making the custard can be tricky. The key to making it turn out great is patience, and of course, practice. Here is what I have learned.
To start, the recipe calls for extra large egg yolks. If you have only have large eggs on hand, and you need more than 2 or 3, just add an extra one. Mix egg yolks, sugar, and flour together.
In a large sauce pan, mix vanilla and milk together, and bring them to a simmer over medium heat.
Once the milk and vanilla are heated, slowly add 1 cup of the milk mixture to the egg mixture. Throughly mix it, then continue to slowly add the rest of the milk mixture to the egg mixture. It is important to do this part, this slowly! Why? Because if you were to pour all the hot milk in with the eggs, you run the risk of actually cooking the eggs. For this not to happen, you need to tempur them with a little bit of milk at a time.
Next, strain the mixture back into your saucepan. This is just incase there are any lumps that didn't mix well, or some cooked eggs (it can still happen if you tempur the eggs, but not likely).
Now comes the tricky part. While constantly stirring the mixture, place pan back on the stove (the heat) for a few seconds, then remove it. Keep stirring and keep repeating on the heat, off the heat, till desired thickness is reached. If you just keep it on the heat, you will burn it. Once you have reached the thickness you want, add butter, mix throughly, chill, then enjoy.
For the crumb cake, in one bowl, follow the directions for making the vanilla cake (with or without the custard). In another bowl, mix shortening, brown sugar, granulated sugar, sea salt, cinnamon, baking powder and flour till a clumpy, yet crumbly texture forms (it should hold together if squeezed, but easily crumble apart).
Grease your pan and pour the vanilla cake mixture till evenly distributed. Then top the vanilla cake mixture with the crumb topping. I lightly press on the crumb topping as well, to make sure most of it sticks to the cake.
Place cake in the oven and bake it at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the top is a dark golden brown color and the middle of the cake is spongy.
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