Sourdough Cinnamon Crumb Cake

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Once I successfully kept my sourdough starter alive, I began looking for a new recipe each week to use the discard. It hadn’t occurred to me to make a sweet dish with the sourdough starter, so this was a bit of an experiment. The results were great. It has everything I love in a crumb cake, without any sourness from the starter.

I tweaked the original recipe from King Arthur to accommodate the ingredients I had in my house and was really happy with the results. If you want to compare them, you can find the original recipe on the link below. The only tweak I would make next time is less topping. My son may be upset, but I think it could use less of that thick crumb topping. Some notes suggested reducing it by 25%. I’ll let you know.

Sourdough Cinnamon Crumb Cake

Originally from www.kingarthurflour.com

Makes 1 9" cake

PREP 30 minutes

COOK 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Topping

2 cups (241g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 cup (198g) granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup (12 tablespoons, 170g) unsalted butter, melted

Batter

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons, 113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, at least 65°F

1 cup (198g) granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup (227g) sourdough starter, unfed/discard

2 cups (241g) cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (57g) milk, at room temperature

confectioners' sugar, optional

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9" square pan.

2. To make the topping: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the vanilla and almond extracts to the melted butter and pour the butter into the flour mixture, stirring until you have a uniformly moist mixture. Set aside while you make the batter.

3. To make the batter: In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until well combined. Add the eggs, vanilla, and starter, mixing until smooth and scraping the bowl's sides and bottom as you go.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter/starter mixture, stirring until evenly combined. Add the milk and mix until smooth.

5. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the top.

6. Bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a paring knife inserted in the center comes out clean, and the edge of the cake just barely pulls away from the pan. Remove it from the oven and cool on a rack; dust the top with confectioners' sugar if desired.

7. Store the cake, in the pan covered with plastic, at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.