Jam Crumb Cake

When my sister-in-law baked this treat for me, I printed out the recipe from epicurious. After reading numerous online comments and baking it myself, I came up with my own tweaked version.

This coffeecake is relatively easy to mix. It's stirred together, muffin-style, rather than using a mixer, creaming the butter, etc.

The picture below shows how I cope with my no-cooked-fruit child: I make a jam-free piece, mark it with toothpicks before adding the topping, then bake. I don't always accommodate everyone's preferences (poor Lauren doesn't care for our most commonly baked banana muffins), but this is an easy fix.On to the recipe...

Jam Crumb Cake 6-8 servings

Crumb Topping
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
generous 1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups flour

Cake
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup raspberry (or other fruit) jam

• Grease and flour a 9" round cake pan.
• Make the crumb topping: whisk together butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until smooth. Stir in flour.
• For the cake:
• Whisk together dry ingredients.
• In a measuring cup, whisk together the milk and egg. Add the melted butter and stir to combine. The butter will form little clumps if the milk is cold; this is a good thing!
• Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients. Stir just to combine. Spread in the prepared pan. There will not be much batter--don't worry!
• Dollop jam over the surface of the batter. Swirl it gently.
• Squeeze the topping ingredients into clumps and scatter over the surface of the batter.
• Bake at 400* until a toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Serve from the pan. Enjoy!

Notes:

• Much of this can be made ready the night before baking: crumb topping, dry ingredients for cake, pan prep, etc.
• I have completely assembled some coffeecakes in the evening, refrigerated, and baked the next day. I haven't tried that with this particular recipe, but it should work. Let me know if you do it.
• Sometimes I make two pans at a time with different jams. I've also doubled the recipe and assembled it in a 9" x 13" pan.