German Streusel Cake
In Germany this is Sunday coffee cake, and it lives or dies on proportion. The streusel is not a sprinkle but a full top layer, as deep as the cake underneath, or you have simply baked a sweet bun. The crumb formula is easy to remember: twice as much flour as sugar and as butter, rubbed with the fingertips only to large lumps — rub it to sand and it bakes into one solid crust.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Rest
- 1 h 30 min
- Total
- 2 h 30 min
- Servings
- 16
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 330 kcal
Ingredients
For the dough
For the streusel
Makes: One 28 × 32 cm tray, 16 pieces
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
-
Step 1: Make the dough
Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Pour in the warm milk, add the egg, bring it together, then work in the soft butter and knead 8–10 minutes to a smooth dough that barely sticks to your hands.
-
Step 2: Prove it
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave somewhere warm for 60 minutes, until doubled. If the kitchen is cold, stand the bowl in the oven with only the light on.
-
Step 3: Rub the crumb
Mix the flour, sugar and vanilla, add the cold diced butter and rub with your fingertips until you have lumps from pea-sized to larger. Do not go as far as sand. Chill the crumb until needed.
-
Step 4: Line the tray
Line a 28 × 32 cm tray with baking paper. Knock the dough back and press it out with your fingers to an even layer over the whole base — no rolling pin needed, the dough gives easily.
-
Step 5: Top and rest
Scatter all the crumb thickly and evenly over the dough without pressing it down. Leave 30 minutes at room temperature: the dough rises and lifts the crumb a little with it.
-
Step 6: Bake
Heat the oven to 180 °C and bake for 25–30 minutes, until the crumb is golden and the edges pull away from the paper. A skewer in the dough should come out clean.
-
Step 7: Cool and cut
Let the cake cool in the tray until just warm, dust with icing sugar and cut into squares. Cutting it hot drags the dough along the knife.
Tips & variations
-
Tip
The usual mistake is too little crumb. The streusel layer should be as deep as the dough layer, or the cake tastes empty.
-
Variation
Lay 400 g of sliced plums or apricots on the dough before the crumb for the classic summer version.
-
Tip
The butter for the streusel must come straight from the fridge. Soft butter binds the crumb into pastry before it reaches the oven.
-
Storage
Under a tea towel it stays soft for two days. On the third, warm a piece for 5 minutes at 150 °C and the crumb crisps up again.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 16 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 330 kcal | 5,280 kcal |
| Protein | 5 g | 80 g |
| Fat | 14 g | 224 g |
| Carbohydrates | 46 g | 736 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
Cooked it? Rate the recipe
No ratings yet — yours will be the first.
