Coffee Cake

The many forms of coffee cake always are at least a little bit sweet, frequently spiced with cinnamon and dotted with nuts, sometimes sugar-glazed or frosted. In some Northeast cities, crumb cake is a familiar offering near diner and coffee-shop cash registers, pre-wrapped by the piece in cellophane and sold to-go. (Do not attempt to eat crumb cake while driving.) Coffee cake is made as a single-layer cake or in a bundt pan. Streusel crumb topping is common, and in the New York / New Jersey area, what’s known as crumb cake is in a class by itself. It isn’t just coffee cake with crumbs on top, It is a pastry that is significantly more crumb than cake. The benchmark version, as made at B&H Bakery of Hackensack, has so little cake that one might think of the cake as merely a conveyance mechanism to hoist its streusel crown from plate to mouth. In fact, the cake provides creamy balance for the crumbs; the two elements together are morning coffee’s best friend.