In the metropolitan New York area, crumb cake is not just a generic term for coffee cake with crumbs on top. It refers to a pastry that is significantly more crumb than cake. The benchmark versions have so little cake that you might think of one as merely a conveyance mechanism to hoist streusel from plate to mouth, but that would be wrong. The cake provides creamy balance for the crumbs; the two elements together are morning coffee’s best friend. Crumb cake is offered in countless diners, prewrapped by the piece in cellophane and sold to-go. (Do not attempt to eat crumb cake while driving.) Crumb cake is of Polish or German ancestry and is on the same family tree as Pennsylvania Dutch shoofly pie.
Heavy crumb cake from B&W Bakery of Hackensack, New Jersey.