Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake
A sweet delicious cinnamon apple coffee cake with buttery crumb topping
There is no season I love more than fall. Everything about it is perfect. Baking is no exception.
The flavors that I tend to think of whenever fall rolls around are pumpkin and apple. Of course, there are many other wonderful fall ingredients, but I don’t think it’s controversial to say that apple and pumpkin are the main two.
I was really in the mood to make an apple recipe. I know pies are delicious and all, but I didn’t feel like making a crust. And I was more in the mood for a cake. And in using apples, I felt it most fitting to make a coffee cake. It just sounded good.
I had a bag of Pink Lady apples, which I know are good for both eating and baking. I used 5 or medium-sized apples to get about 4 cups.
I really wanted to have a rich coffee cake, without it competing with the apples in terms of sweetness. So I didn’t add as much sugar as you may see in a regular cake. And this was an appropriate time to utilize the unsweetened applesauce I had on hand. This adds moisture, and of course, it fits with the theme!
Although I was strategically using less sugar for this coffee cake, I still HAD to add some cinnamon chips to the batter; it just sounded too good not to.
And what is a coffee cake without a nice buttery crumb topping? Should I even add a glaze on top of that? Sure, why not.
This smelled so good while it was baking, I just hoped that the taste would live up to the aroma.
I allowed this to cool completely, then glazed it. I must say this was extremely flavorful! The cinnamon chips were a very good choice. The cake was soft but sturdy enough to hold up the apples in the middle and the crumb topping. This is a rich and buttery coffee cake bursting with fall apple flavor. I will keep coming back to this one in the future!
Recipe:
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INGREDIENTS
Cake:
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp butter extract
- 1 cup applesauce
- 1 cup cinnamon chips
Apple Filling:
- 4 cups chopped apples
- 3 TBS sugar
- 2 TBS flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
Crumb Topping:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
Vanilla Glaze (Prepare after cake is baked and cooled):
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 TBS half & half
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Coat a 13×9 inch pan with nonstick spray
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
- Stir in both extracts, followed by the applesauce.
- Add the flour mixture and cinnamon chips to the butter mixture, stirring until combined.
- Spread about half of the mixture into the prepared pan.
- Top as evenly as possible with apple filling.
- Dollop remaining cake batter over the apples
- Spread carefully, trying to cover the apple as much as you can (don’t worry if some apple shows through).
- Sprinkle with the Crumb Topping as evenly as possible.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes
- Cool and drizzle with Vanilla Glaze
Apple Filling:
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl
- Add apples and toss to thoroughly coat.
Crumb Topping:
- Stir together all ingredients
Vanilla Glaze
- Stir together all ingredients
NOTES:
- I used Pink Lady apples, but you can probably use any other apple that is considered good for baking (NOT Honeycrisp!)
- I peeled the apples and chopped them into little pieces, as opposed to slices.
- Be careful not to overbake!
