This Fresh Strawberry Crumb Cake is an incredibly buttery cake topped with layer of caramelized strawberries and a generous amount of sugary crumb topping. This is the best crumb cake ever!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
Heat a large sauté pan to medium high. Add the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir to melt. Add the strawberries and stir to coat. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. The strawberries should be slightly soft. Set aside.
2 tablespoons salted butter, ¼ cup light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 4 pints of strawberries
In a large bowl, combine the crumb topping ingredients. Stir to combine. Set aside.
¼ cup granulated sugar, ¾ cup light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 3 ½ cups cake flour, 1 cup salted butter
In a small bowl, add vinegar to half and half and set aside.
⅔ cup half and half, 1 tablespoon white vinegar
In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the cake.
2 ½ cups cake flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda
With a stand mixer or handheld mixer on low speed, add the butter chunks, one at a time to the dry ingredients. Mix for about 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture resembles a coarse crumble.
1 ½ cups salted butter
Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the small bowl with the half and half and vinegar and stir to combine.
3 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Slowly add the half and half mixture to the flour butter mixture. Beat on medium speed for about 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth.
Spread cake batter into prepared baking dish. Top with sautéed strawberries, but leave any accumulated juices in the sauté pan.
Break up the crumb topping with a spoon. The pieces should be about the size of marbles. Sprinkle evenly on top of strawberries.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool completely and dust with powdered sugar.
powdered sugar for dusting
Notes
Sauté the strawberries for only a few minutes. You want them to be slightly softened, but still hold their shape.
The crumb is where it is at with this strawberry crumb cake. After combining the crumb ingredients, let the mixture sit while mixing the cake batter. The butter will cool so it will be easy to make the marble sized crumb pieces for the topping.
A stand mixer makes for easy work of mixing the thick cake ingredients.
When adding the caramelized strawberry layer on top of the cake batter, leave any accumulated juices in the pan. You do not want to add them as they will make the cake batter to liquidy.
Be sure to fully cool the cake before topping with a generous sprinkle of powdered sugar.