cake o’clock

there has never been a better time for baking + cake making, has there? our stay-home days are punctuated with the moment we gather to listen to the Downing Street daily news update + gratefully eat cake.

we wanted to share with you our crumb cake recipe that’s brought pure, simple JOY. it’s a recipe from the classic American Pilsbury Book of Baking 1980s from Olivia’s Mama. be warned it’s pretty irresistible.

CRUMB CAKE //
2 cups plain flour
1¼ cups caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ cup milk
½ cup margarine or butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
228g cream cheese

THE TOPPING //
½ cup plain flour
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup margarine or butter, softened

heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 13 x 9 inch pan with butter and line with baking parchment. whiz together all the cake ingredients, on a slow speed until it’s a smooth batter, which takes about 3 minutes. pour the cake mix into the tin.

in a small bowl combine the topping ingredients until lovely crumbs form - the bigger the better! spinkle over the top of the batter.

put in the hot over + check after 30 mins, continue cooking until a toothpick comes out clean.

the baking wish-list keeps growing by the day, right now it includes carrot, marble, almond cake… imperfect pikeklets, pumpkin cup cakes + american pancakes. gosh, let’s hope our waist lines don’t grow as fast as the list ;)

here’s to the little joys + staying safe at home X