Wake and Bake
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[Photograph: Carrie Vasios]

This moist blackberry cake is topped with a layer of big buttery crumbs.

crumb adapted from The New York Times

About the author: Carrie Vasios is the editor of Serious Eats: Sweets. She likes to peruse her large collection of cookbooks while eating jam from the jar. You can follow her on Twitter @carrievasios

Every recipe we publish is tested, tasted, and Serious Eats-approved by our staff. Never miss a recipe again by following @SeriousRecipes on Twitter!

About This Recipe

Yield: serves 8-12
Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Special equipment: stand mixer, 9-inch springform pan

Ingredients

  • For the Crumb
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) all purpose flour
  •  
  • For the Cake
  • 2 cups (10 ounces) all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup blackberries

Procedures

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease cake pan with butter.

  2. For Crumb: Combine melted butter, brown sugar, and sugar in a bowl. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, salt, and flour until mixture is the texture of wet sand. Let chill in the refrigerator while making cake.

  3. For Cake: In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat to combine. Beat in 1/2 dry ingredients, followed by the sour cream, and then the remaining dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in berries.

  4. Pour cake batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Break crumb into 1/2-inch pieces and sprinkle evenly over top of cake. Bake until crumbs are golden and a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before releasing from pan.