Orange Spiced Crumb Cake

  • Level: Easy
  • Yield: 9 servings
  • Total: 2 hr 20 min (includes cooling time)
  • Active: 30 min
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Ingredients

Crumb Topping:

1 1/2 cups pecans

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup light brown muscovado sugar

1/2 cup pure cane granulated sugar

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Cake:

1 stick unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups pure cane granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

Glaze:

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 teaspoons orange juice

1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

  1. For the crumb topping: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the pecans in an even layer onto a baking sheet and toast in the oven, stirring once, until lightly golden brown and just fragrant, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a baking rack and let cool slightly before coarsely chopping.
  2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over high heat until it begins to turn light golden brown. Whisk in both of the sugars and cook until smooth. Take the pot off the heat and add the flour, cardamom, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg and mix until clumps begin to form. Refrigerate the crumb mixture for 15 minutes.
  3. For the cake: Heavily butter a 9- by 13-inch baking pan. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the melted butter, milk, canola oil, orange zest, vanilla and eggs. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan, smoothing out the surface. Scatter the crumbs in large clumps over the cake; the crumb layer should be quite deep.
  4. Bake until the crumbs are golden and firm and a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 55 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.
  5. For the glaze: Whisk together the sugar, butter, juice, zest and vanilla.
  6. Once the cake is cool, drizzle the glaze over it and cut into 9 pieces. Serve on a platter.

Let's Get Cooking!

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diane p.

I made this in 4 mini loaves, and I agree with the previews reviews about there being too much crumble topping, as well as about the ingredients for the toppings being off. The recipe doesn't even mention adding the pecans to the butter, sugar, and flour mix but once you do it will be way too dry if you add all the flour. And the instruction to cook the butter and sugar "until smooth" is misleading; the more you stir melted butter and sugar together the more it separates. So don't overdo it. <div>I added cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the dry ingredients of the cake as well as the crumble, and they flavored it beautifully. As someone who doesn't like things overly sweet, I thought the combination of cake, crumble, and glaze was a bit much. Next time I make this I probably will skip the crumble all together; make the cake sponge with the spices in it, bake it, and top it with toasted pecan bits and the glaze.</div>

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