Recipe: Grandma Angie's Crumb Cake

My Grandma Angie

I've been emailing back and forth lately with one of my aunts about family genealogy and such. She's found a number of old photographs that's she's scanned and emailed me, my great grandparent's in New Jersey and my great-great grandparent's back in Italy. 

We also have been talking food. That's one thing I connect most with my paternal grandmother. Food. Being the first generation born here in America she just embodied the "Italian Grandmother" stereotypes. Pleasant, smiling, loving on her grand babies, and always cooking. 

So my aunt has started to share and send me some of her recipes. I love to cook (as if a food blog wasn't evidence enough you now have a confession) and am glad to keep cooking the food that my grandmothers have cooked (both sides - Italian and German/English - are crazy-ass good cooks). 

So, of course, I wanted to share some with you. I haven't made this crumb cake myself (yet) but I do have vague memories of growing up and eating it with my Grandma Angie.

Grandma Angie's Crumb Cake*


*Note to any reader who tries this recipe. My grandmother didn't use recipes. She did everything from memory and knew what to add by heart. My family has tried years to recreate many of her recipes and after multiple tries have figured out the best measurement equivalents (i.e. How much does a "handful" of flour really measure out to?)


Mix the following ingredients
2 C flour
1 C sugar
1/2 C oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 C sour cream (my aunt said once she replaced this with strawberry yogurt and it was equally as good)
2 eggs
Dash of salt
sliced apples

Grease a baking pan - batter will be thick so you may need to spread to edges with a spatula.

Ingredients for topping:
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 C sugar
dash of salt
lots of cinnamon (I warned you about the measurements not being exact)
1 stick of butter, softened to room temperature

Grab a fist full and squeeze.
Break off large chunks and place all over top of cake.

Bake at 350* for 30-35 minutes or until golden.
Once cooled sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.



I hope it works for you and I hope you love it.
Thanks Grandma Angie.