Learn how to make streusel topping with this easy recipe. Streusel is the crunchy topping made from flour, sugar, and butter (with maybe some spice or not). When scattered on top of cakes, muffins, or baked on its own, streusel transforms into a crunchy lightly sweet textural bit of awesomeness.

I have been eating and making streusel my whole life. With Czech and German grandmas, basically every cake growing up was covered with streusel. I would have it no other way.

So many times I would come home from school to find my Mom’s oatmeal cake loaded up with streusel. Long before I ever drank a cup of coffee, I knew inherently that “coffee cake” meant something delicious topped with streusel. To me this smells like home.

You’ll love how streusel bakes up into this crunchy, slightly sweet crumble. Streusel topping is the ultimate for people who aren’t into decorating cakes (hand raised!).

Here’s the truth though: I’m trash at making streusel by hand. I always overmix it so the crumbles aren’t round and lovely, leaving weird squishy things that never bake up right.

So I’ve tested and finally come up with a technique that works every time. That this is the easiest way to make streusel is good for you too.

Grab a bowl and let’s make some awesome streusel!

How to make streusel

What is streusel?

Streusel is a German word for a topping made from flour, sugar and butter combined together to make a crunchy crumb topping. Sometimes you can add some whole grains like oats or spices for a little added texture or flavor change. You probably have already it in some form without even knowing. All my crumb cake fans out there have definitely loved streusel.

You can use streusel to top:

Cakes
Muffins
Fruit crisp (My Mom always put a thick layer of streusel on her apple crisp!)
Breads
Pretty much any baked good.

Streusel recipe step by step

Crumb topping ingredients

To make streusel, you’ll need:

Flour: all-purpose or pastry flour
Brown sugar: Brown sugar is best here as it has more moisture than white sugar, making for a better crumble.
Butter, melted and cooled
pinch of salt (for flavor balance)
cinnamon (optional but it tastes so good! I grind my own in a spice mill with this cinnamon)

Mix the dry ingredients for crumble topping

In a small bowl, measure your flour. Next, add in the sugar, salt and cinnamon if using. I like to use my hands here to make sure to break up the clumps of brown sugar. Mix everything well.

Add the butter

From here, melt a stick of butter if you haven’t already. Let it cool off just so that it’s not hot. If the butter is too hot when you go to add it to the dry ingredients, it can dissolve the sugar too much and change the texture.

mixing streusel in a bowl — Pour in the butter

Pour the cooled butter over your dry ingredients, then use a fork to toss everything together.

Stir the butter around until it starts to form clumps. It may look a little bit like a paste. If that’s the case, don’t worry.

Chill the crumb topping

Don’t skip this step!

This is the most important step in making good crumble topping. If you skip this, you might not get glorious big crumbs. I’ve also noticed that if your crumbs are the same temperature as what you’re topping it with, you can run the risk of it sinking or disappearing and melding into the batter. This is especially a problem with thinner batter cakes. At any rate, this works best for me, and I will never not do this.

Cover your bowl and place it into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

Break up the crumbles

Take out your crumb topping and use the fork to scrape around the edges of the bowl, forming large crumbs. If the crumble feels too soft, continue to chill it for a little longer. If the butter is too hard because you froze it for too long, let it thaw on the counter for a couple minutes before breaking up the crumbles.

Top your favorite baked good

baked streusel and berries on a German crumb cake

That’s all there is to making streusel! From here, sprinkle it on top of a cake, muffins, quick breads, or fruit crisp before baking. Here I put it on top of my favorite German crumb cake. If you like it, let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you!

Recipes on Baking With Tradition that use streusel

This is an ever growing list as streusel and crumb topping variations are probably my #1 used extra thing I add to my recipes, so bookmark this page and keep coming back!

Easy streusel topping

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Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 3 cups

Print Recipe

Description

Make this beautiful crunchy crumb topping to top your favorite cakes, muffins, quick breads, fruit crisps and more.

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour
1 cup (200 g) firmly packed brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 stick of butter (113.5 g), melted and cooled

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Instructions

Melt the butter in a small pan. Set aside to cool briefly.

In a small bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon until well-mixed.
Pour in the melted butter, then use a fork to toss the ingredients together. Stir everything together until the crumbs start to form.
Cover the bowl, and refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes or freeze for 20 minutes.
Use your fork to scrape around the bottom of the bowl to create big crumbs. If the mix feels too soft, pop it back into the fridge. If it’s too hard to scrape the bottom of the bowl, the crumbs probably got a little too cold. Let them warm up for a few minutes on the counter before you try again. Break up big crumbles into pieces about pea-sized or slightly larger.
Top your favorite baked good with your finished chilled streusel before baking, and bake as usual for a layer of irresistable crunchy goodness.