Bakery Style Crumb Cake Muffins

Crumb Cake Muffins have the light, fluffy cake and delicious cinnamon crumb topping of a New Jersey Crumb Cake - but in portable, take-away muffin form. Perfect for breakfast on the go or a snack!

If you live on the East Coast of the United States, mainly New Jersey and New York, you have probably eaten the best crumb cake in the world. I've turned that cake into the crumb cake muffin of your dreams!

Not messing around, I top a light and fluffy sponge cake with an equal portion of cinnamon flavored crumb topping. Half cake, half crumb topping; the way crumb cake was meant to be, but in the portable, take-away form of a muffin.

I've also cracked the code on getting your preferred piece of cake. No more fighting for the corner piece to make sure you get caramelized and crispy edge bits along with your fluffy cake. It's all edge, baby!

Ingredients

I hate when recipe developers tell you that you probably have all the ingredients, then give you a list of some crazy, niche items. With the exception of buttermilk, which I offer substitutions for, I'll bet you have everything you need for these muffins. You're welcome 😉

See recipe card for quantities.

Substitutions

Buttermilk

If you don't regularly keep buttermilk in your fridge, you should probably start! A lot of my most popular recipes use buttermilk, including biscuits, pancakes, waffles, and a pretty epic chocolate cake. If you don't have it and still want to make these crumb cake muffins, I got you:

• Make your own buttermilk - I get it. Not everyone has buttermilk in their refrigerator. If you don't have access to buttermilk you can make your own substitute. For the ½ cup of buttermilk needed in this recipe, pour 1½ teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar into a measuring cup. Add enough whole milk to total up to ½ cup or 120 grams. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes, or until it looks thick and slightly curdled.
• Replace the buttermilk - Alternatively, you can replace the buttermilk with either plain or Greek yogurt or kefir. Because of the thickness of yogurt, you'll need to thin it to properly hydrate the flour. To do this, add ⅓ cup of plain or Greek yogurt to a measuring cup, then add enough plain milk or water to total up to ½ cup, or 120 grams. Kefir has a similar thickness to buttermilk, so the measurement remains the same at ½ cup.
• Not buttermilk (one last thing) - Sometimes my Grandma Olga Mae just used plain milk. Nowadays, some people prefer to use milk alternatives. Both will work. I just happen to think that a liquid with a bit of acidity, like buttermilk or yogurt, adds a distinctive flavor to biscuits that I otherwise miss. Whatever floats your boat!

Flour

Cake flour vs. all-purpose flour - In this recipe (and the recipe for New Jersey Crumb Cake) I have you use cake flour in the crumb topping, and all-purpose flour in the cake. There are good reasons.

• Topping - Using cake flour in the topping allows you to have a sky high crumb, while keeping it soft enough to bite into. It is also light enough to sit atop the cake.
• Cake - The cake is made with all-purpose flour so that it has the strength to hold up that confident layer of crumb. Using buttermilk (see above) helps keep the muffins soft and tender.

Instructions

Making Crumb Cake Muffins requires only a couple more steps than making crumb cake, and it all starts with lining your muffin pan.

You can line each hole in a muffin pan with a 6 inch square of parchment paper. Just place a piece over a hole and use a spice jar, tomato paste can, or anything similarly sized, to press it into place. It may want to pop up, but adding the muffin batter will hold it down.

You can also line the muffin pan with a jumbo tulip parchment liner, named that way because the pre-folded liners resemble a tulip. These liners allow you to make jumbo sized muffins using a standard muffin pan. Handy!

This is the brand of tulip liners I prefer, but similar suitable liners can be found in hobby stores and online. Okay, now that you've lined your muffin pan, let's make some Crumb Cake Muffins.

1. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and cake flour, then add melted butter.

2. Mix thoroughly, until fully combined. Put in the freezer while you make the batter.

3. Whisk the dry ingredients. Whisk the wet ingredients. Pour the wet into the dry.

4. Mix well into a fairly thick batter. Only mix until the last of the flour is incorporated. Over-mixing can lead to dense muffins.

5. Use a medium scoop or ¼ cup measuring cup to portion the batter into the jumbo muffin liners.

6. Top each muffin batter portion with a medium scoopful or ¼ cup of crumb topping.

7. Bake at 325°F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer placed into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

8. Dust each muffin generously with powdered sugar.

9. Enjoy the best Crumb Cake Muffin in the world!

Regular sized muffins

If you don't have a jumbo muffin pan or large parchment muffin liners, you can make these as regular sized muffins.

• Line each hole in your muffin pan with standard muffin liners.
• Use a small scoop, or a tablespoon, to place 2 tablespoons of batter in each liner.
• Top each muffin with 2 tablespoons of crumb topping.
• Bake at 325°F for 20 to 24 minutes.