My very first job when I was in high school was at a bakery down the street from where I grew up. In the midst of boxing up cakes, slicing bread, and slinging donuts on Saturday mornings, I developed a deep love affair with crumb cake that opened my eyes to a world way beyond Entenmann's. The buttery, plush dough, the fat crumbs, and powdered sugar were pure bliss.

This is a crumb cake meets muffin combo that's directly inspired by the classic bakery breakfast cake. And like their inspiration, these muffins have a fine, delicate crumb with a buttery, vanilla flavor and a thick topping of sweet crumbs. Ready to make them your reality? Let's get started!

Making Crumb Muffins Just Like the Kind from the Bakery

There are a few key elements that come together to make a winning batch of crumb muffins. We'll go over the three major elements to show you just why.

• How to master the muffin method: Your perfect bakery muffin needs a winning crumb.
• The best flour for the job: We're keeping things light and airy with cake flour.
• What makes the best crumb topping: Butter's a major component.

Start with the Basic Muffin Method

Even though these breakfast baked goods are inspired by a cake, we stir them together using the basic muffin method.

The muffin method is a standard procedure of mixing ingredients together in a specific order. It starts by mixing the dry ingredients together in one bowl, and the wet ingredients — including the liquid fat — separately in another bowl. The wet ingredients are added to the dry ingredients and gently stirred together until just mixed. If you still see lumps after mixing, that's OK. A gentle hand here prevents the overdevelopment of gluten and gives you a nice, craggy crumb. This distinction gives you a muffin and not a cupcake, which is exactly what we're after. Your batter will be a bit thinner than a creamed batter where air is incorporated in, so don't hesitate when you notice this difference.

What not to do: 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Muffins

The Best Bakery-Style Crumb Muffins Start with Cake Flour

To create a muffin with the soft, light qualities of its crumb cake inspiration, this recipe uses cake flour in place of all-purpose flour. Cake flour is more finely ground and has less protein, which leaves the muffins with a fine, light crumb and soft texture. Using cake flour is an easy way to avoid heavy, dense muffins even if you end up stirring just a bit too much.

Make your own: The Easy Way to Make Cake Flour Substitute

How to Make the Best Crumb Topping

I hate to play favorites, but I'm going to do it anyway. The crumbs are the very best part of these muffins. Not to be confused with streusel, this topping covers the muffins with a layer of big, densely packed nuggets that are sweet and buttery with a subtle cinnamon twist.

The crumb topping is a mixture of cake flour, white and brown sugar, melted butter, and cinnamon. When mixed together, it resembles a thick dough rather than a bowl of crumbles. When preparing the topping, mix just until the ingredients are well-combined — and be sure not to overmix, as more mixing makes for smaller crumbs.

After spooning the crumb topping into each muffin well, it's crucial that you gently press the crumbs into the muffin batter. This ensures the topping stays firmly planted over the top of the muffins and won't fall off.