Holiday Baking: Eggnog Crumb Cake

 

First, we need to get some formalities out of the way: namely, I almost never bake from a mix!  I've evolved to be a snotty brat that way.  After we got married, I started discovering how to cook and bake, and the first time I made an actual cake from scratch, I was shocked.  It tasted NOTHING like the boxed cakes I had previously made up to that point.  It tasted so much richer, so much more simple and basic but at the same time more complex.  I also decided that, if I'm going to go through the hassle of busting out my mixer, cracking eggs and adding dry ingredients to wet ingredients, I might as well go the whole nine yards and make everything from scratch.  At that point, it's already a project, so it makes more sense to use pantry items instead of a pre-packaged mix.

All that being said, I've come to find that Trader Joe's Baking Mixes are essentially like the real thing.  They save time during the holidays, but they also require the use and addition of real ingredients like butter (instead of oil or shortening) and milk (instead of water) to keep the cake tasting completely homemade.  I've been happy with their brownie and blondie mixes, and I am thrilled with their Cinnamon Crumb Cake, pictured above.

After making it once, I decided to switch things up for the holidays and add eggnog to the base of the cake.  The recipe calls for milk, so I made a quick substitution.  Since eggnog is so thick, I still added 1/3 cup of milk to the batter until it reached a good consistency (as for any cake.)  The finished product was delightful!  The eggnog wasn't overpowering, but at the same time it had a strong presence in the cake.  It went along beautifully with the cinnamon crumb top.  This cake was perfect for a holiday weekend morning with a cup of coffee.  I need to go back to Trader Joe's and stock up on some more to make for this weekend and maybe next weekend!

I'm going to remind myself of this tip next year, to substitute eggnog in baking products for the holidays.  It's an easy way to put a holiday flourish on an everyday treat!