My aunt has always provided great advice in cooking and many other areas of my life. Her cooking style is best described as indulgence. Moderation is not a priority, either in volume of cooking or richness. She loves to make trays of overloaded Thanksgiving stuffing or sweet but balanced desserts. For my 8th birthday, she made a giant tray of cookies and cream cupcakes for me to bring to school. Of course, in third grade, your social status is pretty much determined by the quality of dessert you bring in for your birthday, so I sat anxiously awaiting the verdict, the room unusually quiet. I was afraid my peers were quiet because they didn’t like them, but my teacher reassured me they were so preoccupied with eating that it left no time to talk. To this day, I consider it a legendary feat to make a cupcake so good it leaves a room of third graders speechless.
Her crumb cake recipe is similarly regarded but deceptively simple. Sometimes, the novelty of the dessert is more impactful than the technique. Everyone’s cake recipes are going to be pretty similar, but pairing and presentation can take it to another level. Instead of cookies or frosted cake, a crumb cake stands out on a dessert table. A typical recipe might be paired with coffee and eaten as a breakfast cake, though these ratios might not constitute a breakfast of champions; these proportions create approximately equal layers of crumb and cake. I still like the coffee pairing, so drink a cup of decaf with it or add flavorings to the cake if you can’t get enough mocha flavor.
