This Lemon Almond Crumb Cake is so flavorful! Moist, soft lemon-flavored cake with a huge and glorious almond streusel on top.
I am a huge fan of lemon. Lemon water, lemonade, lemon tea, lemon desserts.
But I really, really loathe savory lemon.
I know I’m weird. It’s not exactly ground-breaking information by this point.
Lemon chicken? Blech. Lemon pasta? NOPE. Squeezing lemon over fish & chips? Um, no.
There’s something about savory + lemon that just doesn’t do it for me. My love for lemon comes from lemon bars, lemon cake, lemon cookies, and lemon muffins. When mixed with sugar (or water), it’s so refreshing and zingy and utterly perfect. In fact, give me a lemon cake or cheesecake and I’d take it over a brownie any day.
That’s why I knew I had to make this Lemon Almond Crumb Cake for you guys because if you’re anything like me, you’re dying to bring a little zing to your life during these cold, wintry doldrums.
So this cake is a different spin on my Apple Cinnamon Crumb Cake which I made a few years back. If you haven’t tried that version, it’s a must – but I love it during the breezy fall months personally.
The cake itself is a little more dense than the Apple Cinnamon version, but still every bit as flavorful. It’s studded with ribbons of lemon zest which gives it wonderful flavor and a lovely pop of color. Once the cake batter is in the pan, you’ll pile on your lemon almond streusel topping, which is basically what dreams are made of.
The streusel is filled with butter, brown sugar, a little flour, and slivered almonds which offer a great crunch and nuttiness. If almonds ain’t yo thang, try using pecans, walnuts, or even pistachios!
Once everything is baked and golden, you’ll drizzle it with a little glaze prepared with confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice and a splash of vanilla. Easy, impressive and SO delicious!!
And if you must know, this will be the first thing I bake in my new apartment! (Well, besides the frozen pizza I baked last night, but that totally doesn’t count!)
Lemon Almond Crumb Cake
Author: Hayley Parker, The Domestic Rebel
Recipe type: Cakes/Cupcakes
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8-10
This Lemon Almond Crumb Cake is fantastic! Moist, lemon-zest-studded cake topped with a buttery brown sugar and almond streusel and a lemon glaze.
Ingredients
- FOR THE STREUSEL:
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 & ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- Zest of half a lemon
- 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, melted
- Pinch salt
- FOR THE CAKE:
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 1 cup full-fat sour cream
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 & ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- Pinch salt
- Zest from 2 lemons
- FOR THE GLAZE:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Liberally grease a 9″ round springform pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, prepare your streusel: combine the brown sugar, flour, lemon zest, melted butter and pinch salt together until clumps of streusel form. Set aside.
- To make the cake: Cream together the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla and lemon juice. Beat in the sour cream, flour, baking powder & soda, salt and the lemon zest until a thick batter forms. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Top with all of the streusel. It will seem like a LOT of streusel, but use all of it!
- Bake for approx. 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with moist, not wet, crumbs. Cool completely.
- Just before serving, make the glaze. In a small bowl combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle over the top of the cake before cutting into wedges.
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I know it seems like a lot of ingredients, but I promise you – this crumb cake is beyond worth it!
Have a super sweet day!
xo, Hayley
