Serious Attempts At Entenmann's Crumb?

[scott123]

I'm floating the idea of making an Entenmann's crumb cake knockoff.  I spent a few minutes googling it, and it's amateur city.  None of the attempts that I came across actually took the time to read the ingredients, which, imo, is copycatting 101.

 

http://www.shoprite.com/pd/Entenmanns/Crumb-Coffee-Cake/17-oz/072030002255/

 

Wheat Flour, Sugar, Palm Oil, Water, Dextrose, Soybean Oil, Egg Yolks, Molasses, Nuts [Cashews, Hazelnuts (Filberts), Pecans, Walnuts], Whey (Milk), Yeast, Soy Flour, Salt, Mono- and Diglycerides, Modified Cornstarch, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Cinnamon, Artificial Color, Soy Lecithin, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate), Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Corn Flour, Preservatives (Calcium Propionate, Sulfiting Agent), Xanthan Gum, Spice & Coloring, Cellulose Gum,Coconut, Calcium Sulfate, Beta Carotene (Color), Vitamin A Palmitate, Caramel Color. May Contain Almonds.

 

The two major standouts that I can see is no butter, and the present of nuts.  Has anyone come across a crumb recipe that's palm oil and/or hydrogenated soybean oil based and that contains nuts? I'm not looking for something similar. I want the real deal.

[gfweb]

Big ingredient list. I wonder how many are there to prolong shelf life.

[scott123]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

Big ingredient list. I wonder how many are there to prolong shelf life.

 

Well, the calcium propionate, as an anti-bacterial, prolongs shelf life, obviously.  And then you've got the xanthan and cellulose gums, which I'm sure act as humectants, prolonging staling. Other than those, it's just your average mega-bakery juju (mixing aids, emulsifiers, etc.)

 

For the record, I don't care about the cake component.  I'm not worried about the cake.  The crumb is the hard part, imo.

[Lisa Shock]

The part most people ignore is the clue in the name of the cake. The topping is made from crumbs, that is: leftover broken cake, bloom, badly formed cake, etc. all crumbled then dried out in the oven to be used in later recipes. Crumbs are an important ingredient in professional bakeries, I have cookbooks with a lot of formulas for their use. HERE is an existing thread on the topic.

[cakewalk]

Very surprised by the nuts, and I don't remember a cinnamon flavor to it either. Actually the molasses is also a bit of a surprise. This was a standard cake in just about everyone's home when I was growing up (sixties/seventies), but I can't remember the last time I ate it. Not sure if the current list of ingredients is the same as the original list of ingredients. But I assume you've eaten this cake much more recently than I have, and you're aiming for its current, rather than its past, taste and texture. I do remember seeing a vegan recipe for a "NY Crumb Cake." (The name always takes me by surprise, I never thought of it as a NY thing.) I can't say anything about the vegan recipe except that it certainly would not have used butter. Here is one, it's not the Entenmann's recipe but maybe it has something to offer in your search: http://vegangretchen.com/vegan-coffee-cake/

[GlorifiedRice]

Remember, there are 2 Entenmanns crumb cakes.

One is soft and the other is bready like.

I like the soft one.

 

https://www.entenmanns.com/en/product-categories/crumb-cakes

[cakewalk]

2 minutes ago, GlorifiedRice said:

Remember, there are 2 Entenmanns crumb cakes.

One is soft and the other is bready like.

I like the soft one.

 

https://www.entenmanns.com/en/product-categories/crumb-cakes

Goodness, never realized there were so many! I think it's the plain old Crumb Cake, second row all the way to the left, that I remember. I also remember that all butter French Crumb Cake, but that's from much later. (College, actually.) I am currently resisting the impulse to put on my jacket and walk up to the supermarket to buy one. 

[scott123]

2 hours ago, GlorifiedRice said:

Remember, there are 2 Entenmanns crumb cakes.

 

I'm sorry, but your cut rate pound cakes (cheaper to manufacturer) with nutless crumbs (again, cost cutting)- these crumb cake wannabes aren't welcome here

 

I don't care how they label it, a pound cake with crumb is still a pound cake

Edited February 6, 2017 by scott123 (log)

[scott123]

3 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

The topping is made from crumbs, that is: leftover broken cake, bloom, badly formed cake, etc. all crumbled then dried out in the oven to be used in later recipes.

 

One would have to assume that crumbled cake would most likely, at one point or another, be visible in the end product.  Maybe not all the time, but, in my 40 years of eating crumb cake, I've never seen a visible morsel of cake.  That being said, there's a dryness to the real thing and a slight crunchiness that I've never seen in a home version. I've always assumed it was the dryness of shortening/later palm oil as opposed to the butter based home versions, but I'll concede that there might be cake in there. If they were taking this router, for ingredients purposes, it would have to be leftover cake from crumb cake.

[GlorifiedRice]

10 minutes ago, scott123 said:

 

I'm sorry, but your cut rate pound cakes (cheaper to manufacturer) with nutless crumbs (again, cost cutting)- these crumb cake wannabes aren't welcome here

 

I don't care how they label it, a pound cake with crumb is still a pound cake

 

 

Wow!

[scott123]

3 hours ago, GlorifiedRice said:

 

Wow!

 

In all seriousness, these new cakes you're pointing out are a bit of a thorn in my side.  With a greater level of automation, cheaper ingredients, and a far larger profit margin, these herald the end of the classic crumb cake of my youth. It's only a matter of time.

 

If you enjoy them, that's great, but, for me, they mark the incredibly sad end of a much loved childhood staple, that, unlike many childhood staples, has stood the test of time, and, for the most part, continues to be as good as it always was..

[gfweb]

If we are lamenting, how about lamenting the loss of the classic Horn and Hardart crumb buns. Philly and perhaps NYC classics

[Lisa Shock]

6 hours ago, scott123 said:

 

One would have to assume that crumbled cake would most likely, at one point or another, be visible in the end product.  Maybe not all the time, but, in my 40 years of eating crumb cake, I've never seen a visible morsel of cake.  That being said, there's a dryness to the real thing and a slight crunchiness that I've never seen in a home version. I've always assumed it was the dryness of shortening/later palm oil as opposed to the butter based home versions, but I'll concede that there might be cake in there. If they were taking this router, for ingredients purposes, it would have to be leftover cake from crumb cake.

 

Yes, especially with a big factory setup, the crumbs in the crumb topping are made with the base cake. A small mom&pop place might use a variety of crumbs. You don't tend to see the crumbs because they are ground down to a fine consistency, like oat flour, and, the crumb topping has quite a bit of fat in it which moistens them. -Plus, they start out with a goodly amount of fat already in them.

 

I have old commercial baking books and they all have sections on using crumbs for all sorts of things like: rum balls, toppings, fillings (bear claws), swirls (cinnamon bread), pie fillings, pie crusts, pastries and cakes. Chocolate ones are also often seen pressed into the sides of cakes after being frosted with a white frosting. The crumbs add a small measure of gluten, which helps bind some products, as well as add flavor and texture. They don't appear on ingredients lists as they are comprised of a bunch of ingredients which are the same as the main cake. They also help the bakery save money by recycling broken/oddball/day-old product.

 

You can try this at home. Save a piece of your current crumb cake without the topping, or a slice of cake, a cupcake bottom, an old fashioned cake doughnut (not a yeasted one), slice thinly and dry in a low oven. You can often do this with no energy costs by putting the tray in after making something else and using the residual heat in the oven. Then, break the chunks down by whirling for a few seconds in a food processor or blender. (you can freeze the crumbs until needed) Use these crumbs instead of most of the flour in a crumb topping recipe and you will get a better, tastier, result. (a tiny amount of bread flour is still useful)

[GlorifiedRice]

8 hours ago, scott123 said:

 

In all seriousness, these new cakes you're pointing out are a bit of a thorn in my side.  With a greater level of automation, cheaper ingredients, and a far larger profit margin, these herald the end of the classic crumb cake of my youth. It's only a matter of time.

 

If you enjoy them, that's great, but, for me, they mark the incredibly sad end of a much loved childhood staple, that, unlike many childhood staples, has stood the test of time, and, for the most part, continues to be as good as it always was..

 

Scott, They arent NEW. The French Crumb Cake has been around 30+ yrs.

Its the same texture as Philly's beloved Tastykake Coffeecake Junior.

BTW that cheese filled cake is the same texture as your fave crumb.

 

The reason I mentioned the other cakes is because someone was shocked that it had nuts

so I thought maybe they were thinking of the wrong one, and mentioned the others

 

Personally I prefer the Apple Puffs

 

[rotuts]

C*ra*P

 

now Im going to have to go and buy one of those E's CC's

 

I remember getting E's cakes on rare occasion when it was a local-ish product in the N.J. area

 

and CC's were on the top of my fav list.

 

then CC got gobbled up and was everywhere and slid right downhill.