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
Ingredients
- FOR THE STREUSEL:
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- Zest of half a lemon
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter melted
- Pinch salt
- 1½ cups slivered almonds
- FOR THE CAKE:
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1 cup full-fat sour cream
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 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, slivered almonds, 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, almond extract 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.
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
Stephanie says
OMG, I’m the same way! I will automatically skip a savory recipe that calls for lemon (or really any citrus). I don’t like my fruit and my real food to mix, is that too much to ask?! But this crumb cake is right up my alley! Lemon and sugar? Bring it on! Better yet, mix ’em up, bake ’em together, and bring it to me!
thedomesticrebel says
I’m the SAME WAY!! The only thing I’ll make an exception for is orange chicken, because the sauce isn’t super orange-y and is more tangy, like BBQ sauce, haha. And come on over!!
Linda says
Hmm, don’t see the almonds anywhere or am I getting blind in my old age?
thedomesticrebel says
Linda, oops – that’s a total error on my part! Fixing it now!
Jessica says
There’s no almond in the recipe?? I see the lemon extract and zest, and vanilla, but no almond flavoring…
thedomesticrebel says
Duh! I’m a doofus. I’m fixing it now! Thanks Jessica!
Jessica says
It’s okay, thought I was reading it wrong at first! ?
Jenny K. says
This looks quite delicious!! Quick question though, it says lemon almond, yet I don’t see any almonds or almond extract in the recipe. Am I missing something? Thanks!
thedomesticrebel says
Jenny, I’m a total dork! Fixing it now!
Kim says
I love love love lemon and almond, so this cake is an absolute must-try for me! I don’t mind lemon in savory food, except that I always add sugar to the recipe. My chicken piccata is actually pretty sweet, so I’m not sure it even qualifies as “savory” after I’ve made my changes to it. 🙂
Bon says
Doesn’t say where to add the almond extract.
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Bon, fixing that now. You add it along with the vanilla and lemon juice.