I am a huge fan of crumb cakes. Crumb cakes are a type of a coffee cake which are created by first making a dry crumb mixture. Some of that is removed and reserved for a topping and the remainder is mixed with wet ingredients to create the cake base, with the reserved crumbs being sprinkled on top prior to baking.
I just love them. They are always moist and delicious. The perfect weekend cake to enjoy with a hot drink and to share with family or/and friends.
This weekend is the Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, a time when we will all be getting together with our families to celebrate all the things we are thankful for, and boy do we have a lot to be thankful for this year!!
With the slowing down of Covid, and with precautions in place, we are now able to get together fairly safely with our loved ones and celebrate all of the things which we are grateful for!
It's been almost two years now since I made my way back to Canada in the middle of the Pandemic, and I am finally, this weekend, getting to see my oldest son and his family. I am so looking forward to it.
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What better way to celebrate than with an easy crumb cake recipe. One that will be deliciously enjoyed with hot coffee (for them). The perfect thing to wake up to on a weekend morning!
These are the best kinds of cakes for weekend entertaining. Well, for breakfast entertaining any day of the week, I guess!
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Simple to make and oh so tasty when done. Lovely and moist from the use of yogurt/sour milk, this cake is nicely spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. You could also add some cardamom if you are keen. (I love the slightly citrus flavor of cardamom.)
This goes together very quickly with the use of a food processor. You could of course cut the butter into the dry mixture by using a pastry blender, but a food processor does it in seconds! If you have one, I highly recommend using it!
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WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE PIE PLATE CRUMB CAKE
Ordinary store cupboard baking ingredients. There is nothing complicated here!
- 1 1/2 cups (210g) plain all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (150g) white sugar
- 1/3 cup (65g) firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup plain yogurt or sour milk
- raspberry jam (optional)
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You can use unsalted butter if you wish, but I only ever really keep salted butter in my kitchen. I prefer to cut back on the salt in recipes rather than have to keep two separate kinds. I just don't bake enough to get them both used.
Plain all-purpose flour. Simple.
I like to grate my own nutmeg. It tastes so much nicer when you grate it fresh. And as I said, you could add 1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom if you wished for an extra touch of spice.
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I use pure vanilla extract for all of my baking and free-range eggs. I refuse to support an inhumane industry. I buy my eggs just around the corner from where I live. I can see the chickens out in their run when I pick up my eggs.
Having worked in a battery hen house grading eggs for my first father-in-law many years ago, and now having the choice to buy free range, I would never buy caged eggs. Never. With me it's a matter of principle.
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HOW TO MAKE PIE PLATE CRUMB CAKE
Nothing could be easier. This makes a lovely, moist and delicious, flavor filled, 9-inch cake.
Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch-deep pie dish very well. Place the dish onto a baking sheet and set aside.
Place the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz to combine.
Drop in the butter and pulse a few times to make fine crumbs. Remove 1/2 cup (90g) and set aside.
Add the eggs, vanilla and yogurt to the remaining crumbs in the food processor and pulse to combine into a smooth thick batter.
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Scrap the batter into the prepared pie dish. If using jam, make 4 or 5 teaspoon sized dollops on top and swirl in with a toothpick decoratively. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture evenly over top.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Leave to cool completely in the pie plate and serve from the plate, cut into wedges.
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You just want a slight swirl of jam. I think lemon curd would also be lovely as would some orange marmalade. Yummo!
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This is a fabulously tender cake, with a beautiful moist crumb. It is wonderfully spiced. I love the crumb topping with gives a nice crunch to the finish. Oh, and I do recommend adding the jam if you are a jam person.
Even without a hot drink, this is fabulous! I really hope that you will be inspired to bake and enjoy this cake! It's just the right size as well!
Moist, delicious, nicely spiced, not to large. What are you waiting for! Get baking! Happy Thanksgiving!
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Some other delicious breakfast cakes we have enjoyed on here are:
GLAZED CHERRY COFFEE CAKE -This is a fabulous breakfast cake. It goes together quickly and tastes delicious! With a lovely cherry filling and sweet glaze, it always goes down a real treat!
HAZELNUT AND CHOCOLATE CRUMB CAKE - This delicious moist cake with it's moreish nutty chocolate crumb topping is most delightful served up when still slightly warm from the oven . . . so you get just a tiny bit of ooze from the chocolate in the crumble . . . fabulous with a hot bevvie . . . or an ice cold glass of milk.
Old Fashioned Pie Plate Crumb Cake
Yield: 6 - 8
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 50 MinTotal time: 1 Hour
This tender crumb cake is a deliciously tender cake with a lovely crumb topping. Very easy to make. A food processor helps to speed up the process.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (210g) plain all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (150g) white sugar
- 1/3 cup (65g) firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup plain yogurt or sour milk
- raspberry jam (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch-deep pie dish very well. Place the dish onto a baking sheet and set aside.
- Place the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz to combine.
- Drop in the butter and pulse a few times to make fine crumbs. Remove 1/2 cup (90g) and set aside.
- Add the eggs, vanilla and yogurt to the remaining crumbs in the food processor and pulse to combine into a smooth thick batter.
- Scrap the batter into the prepared pie dish. If using jam, make 4 or 5 teaspoon sized dollops on top and swirl in with a toothpick decoratively. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture evenly over top.
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Leave to cool completely in the pie plate and serve from the plate, cut into wedges.
Notes
To sour your own milk: Add 1 TBS of lemon juice to a cup and fill with whole milk to the one cup measure. Leave to clabber for at least 10 minutes.
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How did we ever cook anything in the old days without the world wide web to inspire us. I had only two cookbooks when I first started out (plus a host of clippings in my Big Blue Binder). The Fanny Farmer Cooking School and Madame Benoit Cooks at home.
These days we have a wealth of recipes and cooking ideas at our fingertips to draw from. I am always being inspired by something that I see. Now there is only me however, I try to cut everything down to feed only one or two people. I know I am not alone in having that need.
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Unless I'm having company, full-sized recipes just don't cut it for me anymore. But that doesn't mean I can't still be inspired by full-sized recipes. The other day I saw a recipe for a Cracked-Out Chicken Tater Tot Casserole on a blog called Plain Chicken.
It looked great and sounded amazing. Of course, I did make a few adaptations to the size of it and how I put it together. In other words, I put my own twist on it. I cut it down to feed only two, or maybe three people, depending on how hungry everyone is.
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Baked until the filling is bubbling and gooey and those tater tots are crisp and golden brown. In short, what you have here is a chicken casserole that goes above and beyond a chicken casserole in a most delicious way!
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The original recipe used twice as many tater tots and had them stirred into the chicken mixture. Soggy tater tots didn't impress me much and so I opted to pop them on top so that they stayed nice and crispy.
I also had a half a can of green beans which needed using and so I stirred them into the mix, along with some French-fried onions from the can. It's like the combination of a chicken casserole with a green bean casserole, all topped with tater tots and cheese. In short, scrummy yummy!
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This is a store cupboard dream of a casserole. Stir, spread, and bake.
- 1 cooked boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup (60g) dairy sour cream
- 1/2 tin of condensed cream of chicken soup (freeze the remainder for another day)
- 1/2 TBS dry ranch dressing mix
- 2 slices of streaky bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
- 1/2 cup (120g) grated cheddar cheese, plus a few TBS to scatter on top
- 2 TBS crushed crispy salad onions (such as the French's)
- 1/2 can cut green beans, drained (freeze the remainder for another day)
- 20 frozen tater tots, unthawed
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If you also have some leftover cooked ham, you could leave out the bacon and add the ham in its place. Then it would be like a chicken cordon blu casserole. Sounds lush eh?
You don't have to use canned green beans, you could use thawed frozen, or even leftover cooked green beans. Don't like green beans? Use a vegetable that you do like and that you have, or any combination of vegetables. I can promise you it will still taste fabulous!!
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HOW TO MAKE CRACKED OUT CHICKEN TATER TOT CASSEROLE
This is truly easy peasy lemon squeasy. Trust me. I'm lazy and if I only have one baking dish to clean, so much the better.
Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a small casserole dish. Mine is about 6 by 8 inches. Set aside.
Mix together in a bowl, the chicken, sour cream, soup, dressing mix, bacon, cheese (except for the few TBS to sprinkle), green beans and crispy salad onions. Spread into the prepared casserole dish.
Lay the tater tots over top of the chicken mixture evenly.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Return to the oven for about 10 minutes. At the end of that time, it should be bubbly and golden brown. Serve hot.
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All you need on the side is maybe a salad. Crusty bread if you are really hungry. This is truly delicious and such a simple thing to make.
If you are a fan of chicken casseroles, you may also like the following chicken casseroles:
GRANDMA'S CHINESE CHICKEN CASSEROLE - This is one of my all-time favorite chicken casseroles. I can't begin to tell you why it is called a Chinese casserole because there doesn't seem to be anything remotely Chinese about it. Not unless you count the crispy chow mien noodles and salted cashew nuts on top! Everything else reads like an ordinary chicken casserole!
CHICKEN AND DUMPLING CASSEROLE FOR TWO - This is a "just-like-magic" kind of an entree. Almost like a pudding cake. You know the ones I mean . . . the self-saucing ones, except this is not a sweet pudding, it's a savory delicious casserole, with a rich chicken filling and moreish dumpling topping that forms like magic while the casserole bakes.
Cracked Out Chicken Tater Tot Casserole
Yield: 2 - 3
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 50 Min
This is amazingly delicious. Sized perfectly for the smaller family. This is a lick your plate clean kind of a casserole.
Ingredients
- 1 cooked boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup (60g) dairy sour cream
- 1/2 tin of condensed cream of chicken soup (freeze the remainder for another day)
- 1/2 TBS dry ranch dressing mix
- 2 slices of streaky bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
- 1/2 cup (120g) grated cheddar cheese, plus a few TBS to scatter on top
- 2 TBS crushed crispy salad onions (such as the French's)
- 1/2 can cut green beans, drained (freeze the remainder for another day)
- 20 frozen tater tots, unthawed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a small casserole dish. Mine is about 6 by 8 inches. Set aside.
- Mix together in a bowl, the chicken, sour cream, soup, dressing mix, bacon, cheese (except for the few TBS to sprinkle), green beans and crispy salad onions. Spread into the prepared casserole dish.
- Lay the tater tots over top of the chicken mixture evenly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Return to the oven for about 10 minutes. At the end of that time, it should be bubbly and golden brown.
- Serve hot.
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I can still remember the first time I tasted Sweet Potato Fries. It was in the Rooftop Restaurant on the top of the Joseph Smith Building in Salt Lake City, and I fell in love.
I have always loved sweet potatoes, but I had never heard of Sweet Potato fries before. I really enjoyed French fries so why not Sweet Potato fries. I was keen to try them. (I also tried deep fried pickles, something else I fell in love with!)
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Of course, Sweet Potato fries are very common now. You can find them on most restaurant menus and also in the frozen section of most grocery shops. All are delicious. I particularly like the crinkle cut ones.
This Air Fryer version is a much lighter alternative to the deep fried, or even the frozen versions, containing less calories and less fat. They turn out just as crispy and delicious and in a fraction of the time. No fuss, no muss.
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The ones I enjoyed in Salt Lake City were served with a Ranch type of dressing, but today I created a Sriracha Mayo to serve with mine. Creamy, garlicky and spicy it was the perfect dip to go with them!
But in all truth, I don't really need a dip to enjoy my sweet potato fries. I think they taste plenty delicious all on their own with the perfect mix of seasonings and spices!
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WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE AIR FRYER SWEET POTATO FRIES
It looks like a lot but it is basically just sweet potatoes, a bit of oil and some seasonings.
For the fries:
- 2 medium sized sweet potatoes
- 2 tsp light olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder (not salt)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder (not salt)
- 1/4 tsp sweet paprika
For the Sriracha Mayo:
- 1/4 cup (55g) mayonnaise (full fat or low fat)
- Sriracha chili garlic sauce to taste
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Make sure you use the onion and garlic powders, not the salts. Using salts would make these far too salty. I have recommended 1/2 tsp of salt but in reality, I don't use this much. I hardly use salt at all in my cooking if I can help it.
For the Sriracha mayo you can use either full fat or low-fat mayo. It makes no difference. I tend to use full fat myself. They tend to add more sugar in the lower fat versions of things, and I also try to watch my sugar intake as much as possible.
If I am wanting really spicy ones, I will often add 1/2 tsp of chili powder to these. I quite like the little bit of heat it gives.
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HOW TO CUT AIR FRYER SWEET POTATO FRIES
You want to begin with two medium sized sweet potatoes, more squat-shaped than long. You can leave the skins on if you wish, but I tend to take them off myself.
Remove both rounded ends from the peeled potato, then cut them in half lengthwise. That way you can place them onto the cutting board, cut sides down and they won't roll around. Much safer.
The thinner you cut them the crispier they will be. I cut the halves into 1/2-inch-thick slices, and then I cut the slices into 1/4-inch-thick strips.
I also like to pat them dry with some paper kitchen toweling. This helps to make them even crispier.
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I have a Kuraidori Air Fryer. This is the brand of air fryer sold by Home Hardware here in Canada. It comes with a nice deep basket and two smaller baskets, as well as a rotisserie. I love it.
I was so impressed with it after I got it that I bought one for my sister as a gift for her to use as well. She loves hers also. I highly recommend this model.
Everything I have cooked in it has come out perfect. I had a larger Cuisineart one which is also a toaster oven and I nicknamed that one the Cremator as it literally burnt everything. Seriously. It now lives in my garage on a shelf.
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HOW TO MAKE AIR FRYER SWEET POTATO FRIES
These are really easy to make. I doubt that I will ever use frozen ones again. These are so quick and easy to make and turned out beautiful.
Peel the sweet potatoes and then cut each sweet potato into 1/4-inch-thick sticks. (see above) Place them into a bowl.
Toss them together with the olive oil, salt, garlic and onion powders, paprika and black pepper, coating them evenly.
Preheat the air fryer to 380°F.
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Cook until crispy in 2 or 3 batches, depending on the size of your basket. Do not overcrowd the basket. I recommend 12 minutes, turning or shaking them halfway through the cook time. This may vary based on your air fryer.
While they are cooking, whisk the mayonnaise together with the Sriracha sauce to taste. Serve the sweet potato fries immediately along with the sriracha mayonnaise for dipping, if desired. Or any other kind of dip that you enjoy. Ranch is nice.
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I was very impressed with how crispy these turned out without being burnt. I have cooked sweet potato fries from scratch in the oven before and they have turned out a bit soggy. Patting them dry before coating and cooking helped a lot. Also not crowding the basket and cooking them in batches.
These were really delicious. I will be making them again and again. I think you are sure to enjoy them as well! I love sweet potatoes anyways and being able to enjoy them this way is a bonus, especially with them being lower in fat and my being able to control the salt and seasonings on them.
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I believe in making my appliances pay for themselves and so use them as much as possible. Some other delicious air fryer recipes I have shared are:
AIR FRYER TUNA MELTS - Grilled sandwiches always come out nice and crisp and never soggy in the air fryer. This is now my favorite Tuna Melt sandwich to make! Crisp and buttery on the outside with a delicious tuna salad and cheese filling.
AIR FRYER CHICKEN WINGS - Beautifully seasoned with a lovely crisp skin, these are my favorite chicken wings. You can of course coat the finished wings with your favorite sauce if you wish, but these are plenty delicious all on their own!
Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
Yield: 2
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 12 MinTotal time: 17 Min
A delicious, lighter alternative to deep fried sweet potato fries. Quick and simple to make you can be enjoying these in about 15 minutes. I have included instructions to make a delicious Sriracha mayo which is great for dipping. You can use low fat mayo if you are watching your fat and calories.
Ingredients
For the fries:
- 2 medium sized sweet potatoes
- 2 tsp light olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder (not salt)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder (not salt)
- 1/4 tsp sweet paprika
For the Sriracha Mayo:
- 1/4 cup (55g) mayonnaise (full fat or low fat)
- Sriracha chili garlic sauce to taste
Instructions
- Peel the sweet potatoes and then cut each sweet potato into 1/4-inch-thick sticks. Place them into a bowl.
- Toss them together with the olive oil, salt, garlic and onion powders, paprika and black pepper, coating them evenly.
- Preheat the air fryer to 380°F.
- Cook until crispy in 2 or 3 batches, depending on the size of your basket. Do not overcrowd the basket. I recommend 12 minutes, turning or shaking them halfway through the cook time. This may vary based on your air fryer.
- While they are cooking, whisk the mayonnaise together with the Sriracha sauce to taste.
- Serve the sweet potato fries immediately along with the sriracha mayonnaise for dipping, if desired.
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