A while back, I had been stopping at a bagel store for bagels on my way home from Sunday Mass. On the counter was some nice crumb cake selling for $1 a slice, which I bought a few times. I mentioned to my father that it was great food but really expensive, and I figured that I could make it myself for much less money than that. One day he came home with a piece of this cake that an acquaintance had made. I tasted it and told him, "I need this recipe!" He somehow managed to obtain it from his source, so here it is.
Mix the ingredients for the crumbs and then refrigerate for approximately one hour.
Optional: Sprinkle confectionary sugar over the top of the cake.
To make it like the $1 a slice version in the bagel store, take some chocolate syrup or hot fudge and dribble it over the top. This makes it especially interesting and delicious.
Notes: I sometimes use less sugar. As little as 200 mL is probably sufficient, but for the first one, stick to the script. Allow at least five minutes to break the hardened crumb before removing the half-baked cake from the oven. This makes quite a bit of crumb cake, so I often freeze about half of it and save it for subsequent Sundays. It freezes well and defrosts quickly, especially if it's sliced before freezing. (I defrost and eat only a slice at a time.) If anyone out there has a sugar-free version, I'm interested.