Apple Streusel Coffee Cake

 Any excuse to bake with apples makes my day, so I tweaked a recipe for apple raisin crumb cake and transformed it into an Apple Streusel Coffee Cake! I whipped up this apple laden coffee cake to take to a volunteer coffee.

The moist and tender cake was chock full of caramelized apples, and the addition of the streusel topping pushed it over the top! We had way too much food, so I was delighted to squirrel away a few leftovers for myself!

Apple Streusel Coffee Cake

You may think of apples as seasonal, but I’ll bake with apples in the winter, spring, and summer as well as the fall. More apple varieties may be available in autumn, but this apple streusel coffee cake is terrific with apples that can be found year-round.

Whether you need to treat your family to a special breakfast or you have someone in your life that needs some TLC, this is a fabulous way to share the love. Laden with delicious bits of apple, this coffee cake is a delightful way to start the day!

This Brown Sugar Apple Bread and Pumpkin Bread with Apples are two other delectable apple baked goods that are perfect for breakfast!

Tips for Making Coffee Cakes

Whether you eat your coffee cake with a cup of coffee or glass of milk, you want it to be rich, tender, and delicious! I have a few tips on how to make sure your coffee cake is the best it can be!

• As with almost all baked goods, start with room temperature ingredients, especially eggs. This will ensure easy incorporation into the rest of the recipe components.
• Use quality ingredients, especially butter and vanilla. Generic butters often have more water than brand names. Spurge on European butter for special occasions. Also, use real vanilla extract not imitation. Read your labels carefully.

• I look for ingredients like buttermilk or sour cream in a coffee cake recipe. The fat and acid of dairy help to make a rich, tender cake.
• Measure your ingredients carefully. Remember, baking involves chemistry and changing the proportions of the ingredients can ruin a recipe.
• Make sure your baking powder is fresh. It’s not used as often as baking soda and often expires as it sits in your pantry!

• If your recipe calls for a streusel or crumble topping, don’t overwork the ingredients. I like to use my fingers to mix the topping, making sure there are some larger crumbs.
• Use an offset spatula to smooth the batter. If you look closely at my slice it’s not perfectly level, but it would have been a lot worse had I used a rubber spatula.

• Don’t over-bake. Over-cooking your coffee cake removes precious moisture and can result in a dry cake.
• Slice your coffee cake with a serrated knife. The sawing motion helps cut through the cake easily along with any add-ins like the apples in my apple streusel coffee cake.

More Coffee Cakes and Breakfast Sweets You’ll Love

Coffee cakes are extremely versatile. They make terrific breakfast and brunch treats, but also are excellent for tea time, snacking and dessert. My family went crazy for this Copycat Sarah Lee Butter Streusel Coffeecake and this Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake is one of my personal favorites. I’m also loving the look of this Blueberry Cream Coffee Cake and this Cherry Cheesecake Coffee Cake.

Do you have a favorite coffee cake recipe? I’d love to hear about it!

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The Recipe:

Apple Streusel Coffee Cake

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Yield 9 servings

A moist, tasty coffee cake topped with streusel and filled with cinnamon spiced caramel apple bites.

Ingredients

Apples

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 pounds baking apples (I used Honeycrisp), peeled and cut into 1/3-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Streusel

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped pecans
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes

Coffee Cake

• 1 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• Pinch of salt
• 4 tablespoons butter, plus more for greasing
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1  egg, beaten
• 2/3 cup buttermilk

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan. Add the apples, sugar, and lemon juice. Cook over medium until the sugar dissolves. Continue to cook, stirring as needed until the apples are tender and caramelized. Stir in cinnamon.
2. Mix together the flour, brown sugar, and pecans. Cut in the butter to form the streusel, using your fingers if needed to make crumbs.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 9 x 9-inch baking pan with a flour and oil spray like Bakers’ Joy or line with non-stick foil and set aside.
4. To make the coffee cake, whisk together the 1 1/2 cups of flour with the baking powder, baking soda, allspice, and salt. In another bowl, beat together the 4 tablespoons of butter with the sugar until light and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Mix in the egg until incorporated. Slowly, beat in the buttermilk and the flour mixture in 3 alternating batches, ending with the flour mixture. Fold in the apples.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Crumble the streusel evenly over the top and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

Notes

Adapted from Food and Wine.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

9

Serving Size:

1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 442Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 83mgSodium: 375mgCarbohydrates: 67gFiber: 3gSugar: 40gProtein: 6g

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