A soft apple crumb cake topped off with a crisp cinnamon streusel and drizzled with a vanilla glaze. A great recipe to use up any surplus of apples you might have accumulated from apple picking!
Zach and I went apple picking not once, but twice this month. Each time we made our way out of the orchard precariously balancing a crate piled with no less than 15 lbs of apples each time (and when I say “we”, I really mean Zach, he did all the heavy lifting).
That’s… a lot of apples.
I already shared my apple butter recipe that uses nearly 6 lbs of apples alone, but I still had a mountain of apples on my counter that I didn’t want to go bad, and so the baking continued. I made some freezer friendly apple crisp, to be cooked at a later date, my favorite apple pie, and my apple crumb muffins, and then I still had enough apples to make this apple crumb cake over and over (and over) again until I was 100% happy with it.
After my pumpkin coffee cake recipe was such a hit with everyone who tried it, I’d been determined to try to make an apple version and decided a slight variation of that recipe would make a great base for this apple crumb cake.
The apples add a nice touch of moisture, but I included sour cream and melted butter for added moisture, as well. It makes the cake extremely soft.
The streusel is the same one that I used there, as well as on my favorite coffee cake recipe, it’s easy and is made with melted butter, which makes for the most flavorful and easy-to-mix-together streusel that you may have ever tried.
Enjoy!!
Apple Crumb Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter melted
- 1/2 cup sugar (100g)
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar tightly packed (50g)
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream (120g)
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (156g)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups diced, peeled apples (165g) (this was about 1 1/2 apples for me)
Streusel Topping
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (125g)
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar tightly packed (150g)
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 Tablespoons butter melted
Vanilla Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar (65g)
- 2-3 teaspoons milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and lightly grease and flour a 9" springform pan.
- Combine melted butter and sugars in a large bowl and stir until well-combined
- Add eggs and vanilla extract, stir well
- Stir in sour cream.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Using a spatula, gradually add dry ingredients and wet and stir until just combined-- do not over-mix!
- Fold in apple pieces and pour batter evenly into prepared pan. Set aside and prepare your streusel.
Streusel
- Prepare the crumble by whisking together flour, sugars and cinnamon.
- Pour the melted butter into the mixture and, using a fork, stir until crumbles form. Evenly sprinkle streusel over batter.
- Transfer pan to oven and bake on 350F (175C) for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before adding vanilla glaze.
Vanilla Glaze
- If desired, make glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Start with 2 teaspoons of milk and add a third if it isn't thin enough to drizzle.
- Drizzle over cooled cake. Allow glaze to harden, slice, and enjoy!
Lindsay says
Easy, Beautiful, & Delicious!!! So glad I tried it!
Sam says
I’m so glad that you enjoyed the cake, Lindsay!! 🙂
donna l ledger says
do you have to use a springform pan or will a cake pan work as well?
Sam says
As long as the cake pan is deep enough it will work!
Rosemarie Mcfadden says
I just took this fabulous cake out of the oven to cool. This cake is very moist and tastes terrific. Hubby loves it with a cold glass of goats milk. Thanks for such a great recipe and it’s definitely a keeper.
Sam says
So happy to hear it was such a hit! <3
Joanne says
The cake looks delicious straight out of the oven. Serving for a brunch. I added some walnuts. Spring foam is a must it rises all the way to the top.
Fran says
I have plenty of apples from going to the farm with the grandchildren. When searching for an apple cake receipe, I choose your receipe because using a spring pan just makes it so simply. Cake is cooling and I plan on icing it. I am bringing it to a family get together and I will let you know how much they liked it.
Sam says
I hope everyone loves it!! 😃
Pat says
What went wrong??? I’m not a novice baker. It looked great when I took it out of the oven. After it cooled I noticed the center had fallen in. When I removed it from the pan the bottom was almost liquid. It had baked for 43 [email protected]
Where could I have gone wrong?
Sam says
Check your oven temperature to make sure it’s correct. It sounds like the cake was definitely underbaked.
Sherry says
Could you make cupcakes with this batter?
Sam says
I would have a few concerns with making this into a cupcake, they won’t rise much and could be pretty dense. You can check out my Apple Crumble Muffins for a great apple muffin!
Kristy says
Yum! It was fun to make, easy to bake, and simply amazing to taste. I love this recipe! I used a 7 by 7 square pan, so it took about 20~ minutes longer to bake, but still came out super moist and delicious. It’s sweet with a pinch of tart, which I love. Bonus: Smelled divine as it was baking! Thanks for the recipe
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it Kristy! ☺️
Ghazal Lahooti says
Best recipe ever.
Tnx😙😙😙
Sam says
Thank you so much! ☺️