I make a sour creme coffee cake from a recipe that I got from my mother. Everyone loves it. I have a small problem, though. The way this recipe works is this. You pour half of the batter into a spring pan. Then sprinkle sugar/cinnamon over it as a filling. Add the rest of the batter and sprinkle the sugar/cinnamon over it as a topping. When I bake it, the mixture on top fuses into a crisp layer that flakes off. When my Mom made it I remember it stayed more with the top of the cake. Any ideas for what might be causing this and what could be done to avoid it? Thanks.
Jeff
Make sure you have a good ratio of flour, butter and sugar.
German streusel ratio: 2:1:1 flour:sugar:butter
Example: two parts flour would be 160g flour; 80g sugar; 80g butter.
But you can use two types of flour. Just use equal parts of each flour. 160÷2 = 80
80g flour
80g almond flour
80g sugar
80g butter
Americans tend to do things differently. They may use 2:1:1
Two parts flour: one part each of butter and sugar. 160 x 2 = 320
320g flour
80g sugar
80g butter
Make sure the butter is not too warm when you work it into the flour and cinnamon sugar. The butter should be around 68°F. Use either fork tines or a pastry cutter to work the flour and cinnamon sugar into the butter. You want coarse pieces the size of large peas. Then place in freezer while mixing cake batter.
When topping batter, leave some space between bits of topping.