For some reason, I have a fondness for those shrink wrapped crumb cakes you sometimes find while in line at the gas station, the kind with super sweet topping that looks just like rabbit pellets.  Appetizing, I know....

I've plugged away, baking coffee cakes with various streusel, but I could never quite reproduce what I was searching for.  Then, the Cook's Illustrated folk struck again.  I was making the wrong thing all along.  Today, I followed the America's Test Kitchen dvd instructions and made a New York/German style kuchen, a real crumb-y cake.  The secret is to make a substantial "dough" topping, streusel-like but with a high flour content, and roll each crumb into individual balls.

I slipped half a thinly sliced apple at the 2/3 mark and baked the batter in a lightly oiled springform pan.  I had no trouble turning the cake out, although I am still second guessing my oven temps and the cake is slightly overbaked at the bottom.  I really need an oven thermometer! With a soft and fine moist cake and a crumb like the lunar terrain, I am finally a happy gal.  Best of all, the sugar doesn't overpower like a gas station dandy.