This Strawberry Crumble Cake combines the dense, but moist texture of the best coffee cakes with the buttery crunch of a lemon crumb topping for a stunning spring-ready crumble cake bursting with juicy bits of sweet strawberry. Paired with a cup of coffee, it’s the most delicious way to kick start your morning!
Why You’ll Love This Strawberry Crumble Cake
- It’s dense, but still tender and soft and moist. This crumble cake is hearty, but not dry. And that is what makes it the perfect coffee cake base for this crumble cake.
- It’s very easy to whip up and uses ingredients you’ll likely have on hand. And although you can use a hand mixer and a food processor, I actually prefer to make this one by hand so I don’t have to go through the extra work of dragging out appliances and cleaning them. It’s still super easy.
- 100% homemade. No box cake mixes here.
- It’s sweet and comforting in every bite. Perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea.
- It’s a great way to use up fresh summer strawberries and take full advantage of strawberry season.
Tips for Making the Best Coffee Cake Base
Okay, okay, a lot of these rules apply to any cake-like baked good, but I wanted to share a few of these tips and tricks that will help you bake the best strawberry crumble cake possible because cake for breakfast is always a treat. But a lackluster cake for breakfast might just ruin the day.
- Use buttermilk for a moist cake.
- Don’t overmix your cake batter. The more you mix your cake batter, the more gluten will form. And gluten creates structure. Great for bread. Not for cake. So, mix until the dry ingredients are gone, maybe even a few swirls after that. We want the cake to hold together, after all. But be careful not to overmix.
- Check your expiration dates. Did you know that using baking soda or baking powder past its prime can cause your cakes or baked goods to be overly dense? If you’re not an avid baker, and you can’t remember the last time you used these ingredients, it’s best to check the expiration date on the box.
- Know when your cake is done. Slightly underbaking your cake will give you an overly dense cake, but overbaking a cake will dry it out. So, it’s important to take this cake out when it’s just right. A couple of things here.
- First, oven temperatures vary. Experts recommend using a stand-alone oven thermometer to gauge your true oven temp. But if you haven’t got one of those on hand, it’s best to start checking cake doneness at least 5 minutes before the listed bake time on the recipe.
- Then, when checking for cake doneness, insert a toothpick or a knife in the center of the cake. If it pulls back clean, it’s done! If it comes out coated in sticky batter, back in the oven it goes for up to 5 minutes.
Ingredients
- Lemon zest: Lemon zest contains natural oils that are full or flavor and not as acidic as the juice. For this reason, lemon zest is used to infuse concentrated amounts of sweet, citrus flavor in baked goods like this fresh strawberry cake.
- Eggs: Bring the eggs to room temperature to help lighten up the texture of the cake. If you forget to take the eggs out in advance you can heat a mug of water and set the eggs in mug for 5 minutes.
- Cultured buttermilk: Although some recipes say you can substitute buttermilk for milk and lemon juice, I don’t recommend it, as it simply won’t give you the same texture.
- Fresh strawberries: Strawberries are already a high moisture fruit. As such, frozen strawberries will add too much liquid to this recipe, so stick with fresh strawberries.
- Granulated sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens this cake.
- All-purpose flour: All purpose flour is sturdy enough to support the thick wet ingredients and crumb layer on top.
- Kosher salt: For flavor.
- Unsalted butter: Butter adds flavor and provides structure in the creaming process.
- Vanilla extract: For flavor.
- Baking powder: Baking powder helps the cake rise.
How to Make This Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and line a 9×9 inch square baking pan or springform pan with parchment paper.
- First make the lemon sugar. Put the sugar and lemon zest into a food processor and process until the zest is completely incorporated into the sugar and it’s pale yellow and fragrant. If you don’t have a processor, use a small bowl to grate the lemon zest into the sugar, using your fingers to help release the oils from the zest into the sugar.
- Then, prepare the crumb topping. In a medium bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients for the crumble topping. Then, using a fork or your fingers combine everything with the cold butter until the mixture is crumbly. Alternatively, you can use a food processor and pulse the dry ingredients to combine and then add the butter, pulsing until you achieve the same crumbly texture. Refrigerate until ready to use. NOTE: It’s important to use cold butter to get the desired consistency of the crumb topping.
- Now make the cake. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until pale and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as necessary. You can do this in a stand mixer or with a fork.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Blend in the vanilla. Add the buttermilk. It will change the texture of the mixture, but don’t worry. This is normal.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Then add the flour mixture to the large bowl with the wet ingredients and blend until almost incorporated. Stir until everything is mixed, but don’t over do it. Gently fold in the strawberries.
- Spoon the (thick) batter into the prepared square pan and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle crumb topping on the cake. Bake for 50-55 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the cake looks too brown, cover it toward the end of baking with aluminum foil. Serve this delicious cake with coffee, tea or macerated strawberries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
How to Store Strawberry Crumble Cake
Cover with plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. If, like my oldest, you like your cake warm, reheat in 10 second increments in the microwave until warm.
More Fruit-Forward Dishes for You To Make
📖 Recipe
Fresh Strawberry Crumble Cake
This Strawberry Crumble Cake combines the dense, but moist texture of the best coffee cakes with the buttery crunch of a lemon crumb topping for a stunning spring- or summer-ready crumble cake bursting with juicy bits of sweet strawberry. It’s the most delicious way to kick start your morning!
Ingredients
For Lemon Sugar
- 1 ⅓ cups sugar
- Zest of 2 small lemons
For Crumb Topping
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup lemon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup cold unsalted butter, diced
For Cake
- 1 cup lemon sugar
- ½ cup butter at room temperature
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- ½ cup cultured buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups fresh strawberries or fresh berries, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and line a 9×9 inch square baking pan or springform pan with parchment paper.
- First make the lemon sugar. Put the sugar and lemon zest into a food processor and process until the zest is completely incorporated into the sugar and it’s pale yellow and fragrant. If you don’t have a processor, use a small bowl to finely grate the lemon zest into the sugar, using your fingers to help release the oils from the zest into the sugar.
- Then, prepare the crumb topping. In a medium bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients for the crumble topping. Then, using a fork or your fingers (I prefer fingers) combine everything with the cold butter until the mixture is crumbly. Alternatively, you can use a food processor and pulse the dry ingredients to combine and then add the butter, pulsing until you achieve the same crumbly texture. Refrigerate until ready to use. NOTE: It’s important to use cold butter to get the desired consistency of the crumb topping.
- Now make the cake. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until pale and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as necessary. You can do this in a stand mixer or with a fork.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Blend in the vanilla. Add the buttermilk. It will change the texture of the mixture, but don’t worry. This is normal.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Then add the flour mixture to the large bowl with the wet ingredients and blend until almost incorporated. Stir until everything is mixed, but don’t over do it. Gently fold in the strawberries.
- Spoon the (thick) batter into the prepared square pan and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle crumb topping on the cake. Bake for 50-55 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the cake looks too brown, cover it toward the end of baking with aluminum foil. Serve this delicious cake with coffee, tea or macerated strawberries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
