Comments on: big crumb coffee cake

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:04:38 +0000

Can’t wait for this one either. Will frozen rhubarb work ok? I know sometimes its got more liquid. Thanks for any help.

By: Kat

Kat — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:09:56 +0000

Made this today, seemed a little on the bland aside from the bites where you get some rhubarb. I also think it would be really good with some ice cream or whipped cream, but today I don’t have room for that many calories.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:09:16 +0000

I’m a transplanted New Yorker in search of the crumb cake I grew up with. I just made the very similar Cook’s Illustrated N.Y. crumb cake recipe and I had the problem of the crumbs sinking, like others who tried your recipe. I came here looking for answers , which I didn’t find, but maybe I can help. I believe my crumbs may have sunk because I used jumbo eggs instead of large and I may have overbeaten the batter, making it too light to support the crumbs. CI uses 1 1/4 cup of cake flour vs. your 1 cup, so that might play a role. As for the complaints of dry floury crumbs, CI uses the same measurement of flour but twice the butter as your recipe. The crumbs were great, just at the bottom of the pan.

By: Tanya from Online Colleges

Tanya from Online Colleges — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:19:01 +0000

Delicious! I love rhubarb. Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to make these.

By: Delia

Delia — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:15:33 +0000

I made a double recipe to take to work, then got cancelled on the way in for a low census (I’m a nurse). Oh well, more for me! It is delicious. I had never tasted rhubarb before, but I have made about 15 of your recipes (so far) and you’ve never steered me wrong, so I gave it a shot (nurse pun intended). Sooooo good. I’m only sorry I didn’t try it sooner. The great thing about living in Texas is that summer lasts longer and we still have plenty of fresh rhubarb at the stores.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:44:07 +0000

I am an rhubarb apple crumble expert – can make it with my eyes closed. Grow it. Freeze it. Love it. It’s my daughter birthday on Sunday and when I asked her what kind of cake she wanted – she wanted the crumble. I’m making this one instead. Can’t wait to surprise her. This is just a nice twist and sounds way too yummy. Only thing is I don’t have any fresh rhubarb left … just frozen. I’ve read through the comments and there were a few on the frozen rhubarb. Hopefully it’ll work. The frozen rhubarb can produce too moist results….I’ll make it work! And I’ll be using the wheat organic flour too…. thanks Julie (153) for letting me know it works well.

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:26:35 +0000

This is delicious! I had discovered after mixing the batter, and ready-ing the fruit (rhubarb and raspberries!) that I didn’t have enough butter, so I used 1/2 butter and some extra light olive oil ( which tolerates high heat, and can be used in baking!) in the topping and used 4 1/2 T in the batter. It turned out wonderful! Rave reviews from everyone who ate it! I also used spring white wheat organic flour. : )

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:43:46 +0000

I know I am, like, years behind on posting but I just tried this recipe with plums (I have a tree full that causes me desperation every fall to use them) and it was TO DIE FOR. O dear, the crumbs were amazing, the plum was sweet but not overly so, and the cake was a perfect base. I did decrease the sugar (just by taste) but I loved the plum maybe more then rhubarb even – and I really like rhubarb. Thanks for the recipe. I have recently found your blog and enjoy it very much.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:06:46 +0000

I know I’m about a year and a half late, but I just wanted to say that I made this yesterday and it was AMAZING! I used blueberries instead of rhubarb and swapped out the ginger for some lemon zest (there are pics up on my blog). I didn’t have any trouble with the crumbs, although I used cake flour as the original recipe stated. I’ll definitely be making this again. Thanks!

By: deb

deb — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:58:56 +0000

What John (147) said! I made this again this morning and paid careful attention to the crumb step. As previously, I did not have an issue incorporating all of that flour to get hearty, boulder-like crumbs but I realize that I mix the ingredients they way John explains it, without realizing it — first stirring the sugars then spices into the melted butter, then adding the flour to the now-liquid mixture. I will update the recipe to reflect this; hopefully, this will help others.