Funfetti Crumb Cake
Hey guys!
I can’t believe it as I’m writing this, but Sugar High comes out in just a couple of days! I feel like it’s been forever since I sent in my final recipes and images, and even since I saw the first copy of the book. I’m really proud of what we put together, and I can’t wait for everyone to see it! Here’s a little trailer I put together-
And in other news, today we’ve got funfetti crumb cake because why the heck not? Why shouldn’t we throw sprinkles all over the place I mean, we’re making dessert, right?
This is kind of my riff on the famous Momofuko cake, and I actually use a variation of their crumb recipe, which you can find at the link above. The cake looks amazing, but also like a few too many steps for me on any given day these days.
So today we’re making the crumb, and piling it high on top of my own funfetti cake recipe to make something truly delicious.
This crumb is substantial and has an amazing flavor you guys. Because it’s a bit heavy, we’re baking the cake for a few minutes on it’s own to keep things from getting too dense. What you’re left with is a fluffy funfetti cake topped with this crunchy, beautiful crumb and it’s great. Great with coffee, great as a lunch-dessert, great as a midnight snack.
So, here we are. Let’s get baking you guys, it’s the weekend after all. Enjoy it, I promise it’ll bring a smile to your face (and the faces of anyone who gets to eat it!)
Funfetti Crumb Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbs. clear vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/3 cup rainbow sprinkles
For the crumb:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tbs. brown sugar
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tbs. rainbow sprinkles
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbs. clear vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cake:
-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
-
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and sour cream until smooth. Beat in the eggs and clear vanilla until combined. Add in the flour, baking powder, salt, and sprinkles, and beat until combined and smooth. The batter will be thick.
-
Spread the batter into your prepared baking pan and bake for 12 minutes. While baking, make the crumb.
For the crumb:
-
In a medium bowl, stir together all the ingredients with a fork. If your crumb isn't quite coming together, add a teaspoon of water at a time until you can form large crumbs with your fork.
-
After the cake has baked for 12 minutes, evenly and gently sprinkle the crumbs over the top of the partially baked cake. Return to the oven for another 20-22 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!
Classic Vanilla Scones
Hey everyone!
We’re all having a super pleasant Wednesday today, right? Let’s make it even better.
Today I’m sharing another simple, classic recipe with you guys- this time we’re on scones. This is a really easy base recipe for scones, and I’m throwing in vanilla for flavor.
As per usual, you can do a lot with this recipe. I’ve made it in several variations, and you can find some of those recipes here! You can flavor it with anything you’d like- one version I’ve yet to try is espresso with a maple glaze, I mean can you imagine?
So, we’re starting with your dry ingredients for this one- the process is really similar to biscuit making. You stir up flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl, and then you cut in some very cold butter until the mixture is crumbly. Then, you’re adding in your wet ingredients- in this case it’s sour cream, cream, a dash of vinegar, an egg, and vanilla extract. Here’s about what it will look like:
Then, turn it out onto a floured surface, and knead in a little more flour as needed to make things less sticky, but don’t over-work it! Pat it into a circle that is about 1/2 inch-3/4 inch thick, and slice it up!
I like to brush the tops with a little extra cream and then sprinkle coarse sugar over the top for that perfect little crunch in the end. The sour cream makes these moist and tender, and really the perfect pastry to go with your morning coffee.
The best part? You don’t need any special tools, and you can make the whole batch in just a few minutes. In fact, I suggest you DO make it in just a couple minutes so you can keep things cold before they hit the oven.
Seriously though, basic scones are a delight. Now, I’ve never been to the UK, and I hear that their scones are incredible compared to those here in America, but these are pretty good if you ask me. Hope you enjoy and experiment with these!
Classic Vanilla Scones
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups flour (plus more as needed for shaping)
- 1 tbs. baking powder
- 1/8 tsp. baking soda
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 6 tbs. cold butter
- 3 tbs. sour cream
- 2/3 cup heavy cream (plus more to brush the tops)
- 2 tsp. white vinegar
- 1 egg, cold
- 1 tbs. vanilla extract
- 1 tbs. coarse sugar
Instructions
-
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
-
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry blender or clean hands, cut the cold butter into your flour mixture until it has coarse crumbs of butter running throughout.
-
In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, heavy cream, vinegar, egg, and vanilla extract until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and use a spatula to mix until a dough comes together. Turn your dough out onto a floured surface, and gently knead it until it just comes together, adding more flour if needed until the dough is not sticky, but still holds together. Pat the dough into a disc about 1/2-3/4 inch thick. Use a sharp knife to cut it like a pizza into 8 even scones.
-
Place your scones onto your prepared baking sheet spaced evenly. Brush the tops generously with cream, and sprinkle with the coarse sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the scones are golden on top. Cool and enjoy!
Breakfast Muffin Cake
You read that right, I’m just calling it what it is today guys. We’re having cake for breakfast.
Don’t worry, it’s basically like a giant slice-able muffin baked in a loaf pan. It’s got SOME breakfast-y ingredients, plus it’s topped with coarse sugar for that yummy crunch on top.
Another thing I’m going to be honest with you guys about- I made this recipe super quickly in the roughly 20 minutes that my child was sleeping, and threw in a lot of random things that I happened to have in my pantry. BUT, the results are legit you guys, I love this cake.
I knew I wanted it to feel a bit more hearty than just a plain loaf cake, so I added a few things to achieve it. First, oats. I threw in some old fashioned oats, as well as some ground into a powder in a food processor. Oat flour is a great flavor booster, and it’s super easy. I also threw in some chopped hazelnuts and pecans. Listen, I had small amounts of each of them leftover in my pantry. It is what it is, and what it is is super tasty. Did that make sense at all?
Anyways, also chocolate chips because ya know. Chocolate. A heavy dollop of sour cream keeps this cake moist, and a dash of vanilla extract rounds out the flavor.
In the end, we end up with a loaf that really feels and tastes like a hearty breakfast muffin. But we don’t have to scoop out portions and use muffin liners here- instead we can just scoop it all into one pan, and slice off a piece to enjoy anytime. Easy- just how I like my breakfast cake.
This recipe came out of needing something fast, easy, and using up some random pantry items. But I truly love the results here, and I think you will too! Enjoy!
Breakfast Loaf Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup old fashioned oats, blended to a powder in a blender or food processor
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts of your choice (I used hazelnuts and pecans)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2-3 tbs. coarse sugar
Instructions
-
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9 inch loaf pan. Set aside.
-
In a medium bowl, stir together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, oats, blended oats, nuts, and chocolate chips. Set aside.
-
In another medium bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, vanilla extract, and sour cream and beat until smooth. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until completely incorporated.
-
Pour the batter into your prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the coarse sugar over the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!
Banana Chocolate Mini Muffins
Hey everyone!
It’s time to figure out your Sunday breakfast, or maybe to figure out a quick and easy breakfast to take you through the week. OR, maybe you just have some almost-too-old bananas sitting on your counter and you need something to make with them. Whatever it is, here we are, together again.
I personally was at the last of those options a few weeks ago when I first made these muffins. I’m normally not nearly organized enough to be planning breakfast for an entire week, that’s for sure.
Anyways, onto the muffins. These are super easy to make, as all muffins should be, and the flavor you guys, trust me it’s on point. It’s a solid balance of chocolate and banana, and I like to throw mini chocolate chips in there just for fun too. Banana and chocolate are a pretty classic combo, and I’m 100% down for the party.
I’ve been into almond flour lately, and this is the perfect place to add some in. I’ve got just a half cup in the batch, but it gives it a bit more of a hearty texture, and brings these from cake-like to more muffin-like, which is what we want.
This makes a lot of mini muffins. Like a serious basket-o-muffins, to the tune of about 48 total. Two things to consider when deciding if you need 50ish muffins- one, are you the type of person to eat 6 in one sitting? I most definitely am. Two, are you sharing, because then it’s totally reasonable. Really.
And anyways, if you feel like you don’t need that many, you can cut the recipe in half, or you can make 24ish full-size muffins as well. If you’re making full-size, just keep in mind that you’ll need to bake them for longer!
Alright, here’s the recipe, get on it. I’ll just be over here contemplating whether or not sleep is ever happening for me again in adult life. (Did I mention I have a newborn baby hangin out in my house lately?)
Banana Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
- 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 large bananas, very ripe, mashed
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
-
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and line a mini muffin pan with liners. Set aside.
-
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, almond flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Reserve about 1 tablespoon of this flour mixture. Set aside.
-
In a large bowl, beat together the bitter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs, vanilla extract, and mashed banana, and beat until combined.
-
Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk into the butter mixture in parts, alternating, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until completely combined. Toss the chocolate chips with the reserved flour mixture, and fold into the batter.
-
Scoop the batter into your prepared muffin tins. If you don't have multiple pans, you'll be baking in a few batches here. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!
Morning Buns
Today we’re gonna talk about pastry, a world of baking to which I rarely venture. Pastry can be truly intimidating. I get it.
Specifically today I’m sharing a recipe for morning buns. Morning buns are kind of like a combination of cinnamon rolls and puff pastry. I’d say the filling is less gooey, and they are not typically iced. Or I should say, that’s at least my interpretation of these buns.
There’s a ton of variations online, and some don’t actually use puff pastry at all, but instead more of a brioche. But I’ve found that the puff pastry route, whatever you want to call it, is more what I’m into right now.
However, that also means making puff pastry from scratch. Eek.
Puff pastry, at least whenever I think of it, sounds like far too much. It makes think of spending hours of time trying to roll out dough with a huge block of cold butter folded inside, with many, MANY rounds of chilling in the fridge. BUT, I found a recipe from The Flavor Bender, and it totally changes everything.
This recipe for puff pastry only takes me about 30 minutes to put together, as long as you can work quickly to avoid letting the butter warm too much. After it’s done, you can keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it, and guys, it’s so good. It tastes awesome, it’s got ALL THE FLAKES, and it’s homemade pastry- you’re gonna feel like a flippin rockstar.
So here’s the deal- I’ve adapted the recipe below from the one found on this fantastic blog. I prefer not to weigh ingredients, and I’ve also added a few little items to fit the recipe for morning buns better. I’ve done my best to recreate the instructions below (don’t worry, I promise it’s not that complicated) but I highly recommend you take a peak over at the original recipe for more image-heavy instructions- they were a huge help to me!
So next we’re wrapping this amazing dough around some cinnamon and sugar, baking it up, and dipping it in more sugar. These pretty rolls are everything you guys- impressive, light, flaky, sweet, and perfect with coffee.
To clarify, there’s still a lot of steps involved here, and definitely some chilling when you get to the actual rolls to make sure we keep that butter completely cold throughout. So I’d call this a weekend project, but a super fun and rewarding one at that!
I hope you give ’em a shot- I’m telling you it’s totally doable and totally worth it!
Morning Buns
Ingredients
For the puff pastry dough
- 1 1/4 cups grated butter, frozen, 1/4 cup separated
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tbs. sugar
- 3/4 cup very cold water
For the filling
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tbs. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
For the puff pastry dough
-
Keep your butter frozen until you use it throughout the process.
-
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the 1/4 cup separated frozen grated butter until evenly distributed.
-
Slowly add in the cold water, stirring, until a dough begins to form, and the flour is completely incorporated. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead once or twice to finish incorporating all the ingredients. The dough should be fairly soft and easy to work with.
-
Working quickly, roll the dough into a large rectangle, about 8 inches by 15 inches. Note that the size does not need to be perfect here. Sprinkle half of the remaining frozen butter onto two thirds of the rolled out dough.
-
Fold the dough into thirds, starting by folding in the side without any butter on it. Gently pinch the edges to lightly seal the dough.
-
Roll out the dough again, re-flouring your surface if needed, to the same size, and repeat the butter and folding process with the second half of the frozen butter.
-
Once again, roll out the dough into a large rectangle, and fold into thirds, without any more butter (you should have used it all). Repeat the process two more times, so a total of 5 times.
-
Immediately wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and pop it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using.
For the filling
-
In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar, 1 cup sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside the remaining sugar in a bowl to use later.
To assemble
-
Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin. Set aside.
-
Remove the dough from the fridge, and roll it out on a floured surface to a large rectangle, about 10 by 16 inches.
-
Evenly sprinkle the filling mixture over the rectangle, and press down into the dough with your hands, or with your rolling pin.
-
Starting on the longer side of your rectangle, roll the dough into a tight spiral log. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze for 30 minutes.
-
Remove the dough from the freezer, and trim off the edges of the log. Then, cut the log into 12 equal slices by cutting the log in half, each of those halves in half, and then each remaining piece into thirds. Place each slice into your prepared muffin tin, and place the tray in the fridge for 20 minutes.
-
While your rolls are chilling, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Take the rolls out of the fridge and place directly into the preheated oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on top through to the center.
-
Right after you remove the rolls from the oven, run a knife along the edges of each roll to loosen, and remove from the pan while hot- they will stick to the pan if you do not remove them quickly enough.
-
Cool the rolls for about 5 minutes, and then dip the tops into the remaining sugar that we set aside earlier. Enjoy warm!
