Recipe Background
Apple Crumb Cake delights with its tender apple-filled layers and nutty, spiced crumb top.
Apple Crumb Cake brings a delightful mix of contrasts to your table. The tender, moist cake layers cradle pockets of sweet and tart Honeycrisp apples. Each bite offers a satisfying journey from the soft, fruity interior to the nutty, spiced crumb topping. Walnuts add a crunchy texture that perfectly complements the gentle warmth of cinnamon, leaving a comforting aroma that wafts through your kitchen as it bakes. It's a dish begging to be shared—during a leisurely brunch or with a comforting afternoon tea.
Careful, gradual incorporation of dry ingredients into the wet mixture keeps the cake tender and avoids overmixing, ensuring a light texture. Make sure the flour just disappears into the batter. As your home fills with the nostalgic scent of baked apples, prepare to slice into a cake that's equally inviting silky and crumbly.
Allowing the cake to cool fully before slicing ensures clean cuts and that coveted balance of soft and crunchy textures. This crumb cake makes an ideal treat for relaxed gatherings, where the simple pleasure of homemade baking shines. With layers that reveal elegance through simplicity, it's the kind of recipe that invites both younger and older adults to pause and savor life's quiet indulgences.
Ingredients
For the cake batter:
- 1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons unsalted butter room temperature, divided
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 Honeycrisp apples
For the crumble:
- 1 1/2 cups walnuts toasted and finely chopped
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish generously with 2 teaspoons of the butter.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the sea salt and set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the walnuts, the brown sugar, 1/3 cup of the white sugar, the melted butter, the cinnamon, and the salt and mix until the walnuts and the sugar are thoroughly coated with the butter.
- In a bowl, cream the remaining sugar and the remaining butter with a spatula until well blended.
- Add 1 of the eggs and whisk until the mixture is smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
- Whisk in the remaining egg, until thoroughly incorporated, followed by the yogurt and the vanilla.
- Add the dry flour mixture to the wet ingredients and whisk just until the flour disappears.
- Remove the cores from the apples and chop the apples into small cubes.
- Add the apples to the cake batter and fold in with a spatula until just combined.
- Spread 1/2 of the batter evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish and scatter 1/2 of the crumble mixture evenly over the top.
- Top with the rest of the batter in dollops and spread to evenly distribute.
- Top with the remaining crumble mixture, gently pressing the crumbs into the batter.
- Bake in the center of the preheated oven until a toothpick or bamboo skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
- Transfer from the oven and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
- Slice and serve.
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