Chef notes
I’ve been making this crumb cake for more than a decade, and it’s such a simple, easy and stress-free recipe that I love to bring to parties. After a lot of trial and error, I was able to get the consistency and the moisture of the cake just to my liking. It makes me happy when people enjoy my crumb cake!
"It’s a delicious labor of love that I always look forward to when I go home!" says Brian. "Now that my mom has shared this recipe with TODAY, my friends at NBC will be able to bake it at home instead of asking me to bring one every time I’m in Studio 1A (you seriously do not want me operating an oven)."
Ingredients
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, room temp, cut into small chunks
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- powdered sugar, for topping
- 1 box yellow cake mix (and associated box recipe ingredients)
- 1 (3.4-ounce) box French vanilla pudding mix
Preparation
1.Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2.In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the crumb topping. Mix evenly with a spatula until an even, crumbly mix is achieved.
3.In a separate bowl, use a mixer to make cake batter according to yellow cake mix instructions. Add the French vanilla pudding mix to the same bowl.
3.Add cake batter to a greased 13- by 9-inch pan and bake for 25 minutes.
4.Remove cake from the oven and sprinkle on the crumb topping.
5.Bake for an additional 15 minutes.
6.Remove from the oven and when the cake is completely cool, sprinkle it with powdered sugar.
