New Jersey Crumb Cake
As a cake decorator, one question I am often asked is “oh, I bet you love that show Cake Boss, don’t you?”. Seriously, people ask me that ALL. THE. TIME. And the truth is, I watch the show occasionally, but I really don’t follow it and enjoy it to the extent that people obviously assume. It’s a good show, and Buddy is a really cool guy, but his cakes are so over the top that it really just makes me feel like a big fat crappy cake making loser.
After watching an episode of Cake Boss, I really can’t even look at any pictures of my past cakes for at least like, two days. If he does one of those cakes that lights up or shoots fireworks out of it, three days, minimum. It’s that bad.
The other day though, my stepdaughter had Cake Boss reruns on while I was in the kitchen decorating cookies, doing my best to studiously ignore any and all of Buddy’s fabulous creations. But then I heard something that piqued my interest–crumb cake. Not only crumb cake, but handed down, secret recipe crumb cake. Which we all know is the best kind.
I put down my piping bag and watched as Buddy made his secret recipe crumb cake, using (are you ready?) real cake crumbs as part of the topping. He mixed the cake crumbs with some sugar, cinnamon and whatever else (butter?), clumped it into balls and literally pushed it into the cake batter, instead of just letting the crumbs rest on the top of the cake. And I immediately decided that the Cake Boss just may be my new best friend.
I pride myself on being able to find just about anything on the internet, so I quickly went to work searching Google for a crumb cake recipe similar to the one I had just seen. And I found…..nothing. Not one recipe for a crumb cake using leftover cake crumbs for the topping. NOT ONE.
There was one recipe that kept popping up though, and that was a recipe from recipezaar.com for New Jersey Crumb Cake. The cake has excellent reviews, and being that Buddy’s shop is in New Jersey, I decided it just might be the next best thing.
The cake was very simple to make and was absolutely delicious. I actually liked it a lot better than the crumb cake I featured a couple of months back. I am hoping that now that I have found a good jumping off point, I can adapt it to create something similar to Buddy’s. Any ideas/tips/hints/tricks? Ever had a piece of Buddy’s crumb cake yourself? I’d love any help or feedback you can give me!!
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups biscuit mix
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350.
Cream butter and sugar. Whisk together eggs and milk, add to butter and mix well. In another bowl, mix flour and baking powder, then add to butter mixture and mix until blended. Stir in vanilla.
Pour batter into a greased 9×13 pan.
For crumb topping: Cut butter into sugar, biscuit mix, and cinnamon. Sprinkle over batter in pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until done. Top with powdered sugar when cool.
I’d appreciate any help you can give me on my quest to duplicate Buddy’s crumb cake!!
Happy Tuesday!!
Thanks for visiting my blog! I realize you could be doing more important things with your time. Like watching the news or washing socks. I hope you stay awhile. Much more fun than socks, I promise. 
I like Cake Boss but I can see what you mean about the cakes he makes. I mean fondant cakes are pretty amazing, but not really that appetizing. It's like they're playing let's-see-who-can-make-their-cake-look-the-least-like-an-actual-cake. It's always these extreme designs that look nothing like cake and I'd feel like a jerk eating it.
Your cake looks way tastier than any of those. For serious. :)
Never knew there was a New Jersey crumb cake! I love Jersey.
I live in NJ and don't watch Cake Boss…which I think is some sort of misdemeanor. I will have to dvr that show with the crumb cake. though because that sounds awesome!
your cake looks great too!
Wonderful crumb cake, Beautifully done. Cheers!
I totally saw that episode! Good job on the cake.
I made this cake yesterday, after seeing it on your page. It was soooo good!! Thanks for posting an awesome recipe! I plan on making it again on Sunday to bring to Sunday Night Dinner at my mom's, it's that good!
I never saw that episode, for I do not care for cakes that have been "touched" so much. Yuck-o.
But I have made that recipe for quite a few years now (I am a paid, loving member of Recipezaar) and I will just add that the cake is a dependable, fantastic crumb cake, even if it does look rather boring, it is really good. And I skip the powdered sugar on top because it's overkill. Every brunch, it is my go-to recipe.
Just moved from Chile, South America back to Canada after being away 11 years. Visiting my father, he was watching Cake Boss and the famous "crumb cake" episode was on. It looked good. I had no recipe. Googled it and Voila!!!! Came up with this one!
My three very different children absolutely loved this!!!! They enjoy cookies, cakes, pies… anything that isn't too sweet and THIS IS THE PERFECT DESSERT FOR THEM!!!
FYI, we held out on the powdered sugar. One bite of this cake and it couldn't be improved!
Gracias!!!!
I think leave out the biscuit mix in the topping and replace with cake crumbs and top the cake as stated and we should be pretty close to Buddy's crumb cake. I figured I was the only person trying to figure out his recipe. How funny. Thanks for posting your recipe.
Hey, I'm in New Zealand and just watched the above episode of the cake boss and like everyone else have been searching for a recipe that was close enough to the cake boss's. When you say 'biscuit mix' to mean from a box?? And with the cake crumbs, would it be from a dense cake like madeira or sponge?? I really want to get this right and will have to look for alternatives here in NZ.
Buddy says on his show that it is a German Crumb Cake recipe, at that same time he is making a dough (like a bread dough), i have googled this and found the below recipe which shows how to make a dough for crumb cake, then although this recipe seems to make a biscuit mix to put on top you could substitute it with crumbs of vanilla cake like buddy did, mixed with some biscuit mix which im presuming is like the crumble from apple crumble pudding? (i live in the uk).
http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/89634/streuselkuchen-german-crumb-cake/
On the show, it looks like Buddy uses his left over sponge cake pieces http://www.amazon.com/Baking-Cake-Boss-Recipes-Decorating/dp/143918352X and he uses them ground up in combination with LARD instead of butter. At least, that’s what it looks like, and I’m old school, and anything I’ve ever loved tasting as a kid which was super yummy always ended up having lard in it. I would use that with the cinnamon and vanilla instead of the biscuit mix thing…
Great recipe. Aside from B&W in Hackensack, I found that http://www.crumbcakecreations.com is a great place to order crumb cakes. They have a variety including banana, red velvet, chocolate, jam-filled, etc.
Thank you so much for the recipe. I am about to try this recipe with left over cake crumbs just like Buddy did and hope for the best.
I totally understand what you mean by the show , buddy is pretty cool but instead of dealing disheartened with my work as a decorate I try to let it inspire me. I will probably never ever do cakes as grand as his but
At least I will always try to excell. I think Your cake looks wonderful and have no doubt they taste great too.
Cheers,
Buddy Valastro’s Crumb Cake as made on the Rachael Ray Show – http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/buddys-crumb-cake/
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Sponge Cake:
3 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup whole milk
4 extra-large eggs
For the Crumbs:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups pastry flour
Preparation
Prepare a 9×13-inch baking pan and preheat oven to 350°F.
For the cake, put flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and vanilla into a mixing bowl. Mix using the beater attachment on low speed.
Add vegetable oil and milk, and continue mixing on low speed. Mix until smooth.
Add the eggs gradually on low speed and let them mix in. Scrape down the bowl and then let mix. Cake batter should be smooth with no lumps.
For the crumbs, put both sugars, cinnamon, and salt in a mixing bowl using the beater attachment and mix on low speed until ingredients are just combined. Add vegetable shortening and mix until smooth.
Add all the flour at once and scrape the bottom of the bowl with a bowl scraper or spatula. Then continue to mix on low speed. Crumbs should be pliable and crumble, but not be overly dry.
Pour cake batter into a cake mold and add the crumbs to the top. Bake 20-25 mins or until the crumbs are golden and the cake is spongy. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 mins. Dust with powdered sugar.
I found this recipe that does use left over cake pushed into the batter
http://www.dimasharif.com/2011/10/what-to-do-with-leftover-cakes-top-10.html
We’re a gaggle of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with useful info to work on. You have performed a formidable task and our whole neighborhood might be thankful to you.