This Apple Crumb Cake is full of warm spices, apple chunks, and Greek yogurt to keep it soft! This recipe has a super thick crumb layer and is a perfect fall cake.
I get asked all the time what my favorite dessert is. It seems like a natural question for people to ask, considering dessert is what I do, but what most people don’t realize is that being constantly surrounded by new and exciting desserts makes it so much harder to choose one to hail as your favorite.
When the question comes up, as it inevitably does, my answer usually has something to do with apples (unless it’s a chocoholic sort of day – you know the ones). Apple crisp is a pretty standard answer, but sometimes it’s an apple crumble pie. It almost certainly includes apples, cinnamon, and a crumble of some sort.
So, considering this apple crumb cake has a whole lot of apples, cinnamon, and crumb, it’s not a surprise that this became one of my favorites as soon as I tried it. I couldn’t resist stealing a bite as soon as I could, before the cake was entirely cooled, and I was immediately swooning. If you love apples and cinnamon and crumbles the way I do, I think you’ll like this one.
The recipe is inspired by the two other crumb cakes I’ve posted on Bakerita – Pumpkin Crumb Cake and this Banana Crumb Cake. Both of them turned out to be big hits, and I knew an apple iteration would turn out just as delicious as the previous flavors.
The cake itself is kept super moist from the Greek yogurt and apples, yet fluffy and also sturdy enough to hold up all the crumb topping! I chopped the apples into small chunks as well as did thin half slices. This gave a variety of textures in the cake that I loved! You can chop up the apples however you like, but if you do slices, make them thin, and in you make chunks, make them small. You want the apples to get nice and tender. It’s also super flavorful – the cake is enhanced with cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg, and allspice. It’ll make your house smell like the best of fall when it’s baking.
The crumb topping has big, thick crumbles of butter and brown sugar. This crumb topping isn’t joking around – it forms a pretty thick layer on top of the cake. The crumb adds a crunchy texture that works so nicely with the flavors and texture of the cake, and all together it makes for a cake that irresistible for dessert or as an afternoon snack cake. It would be perfection served with tea on a cold fall afternoon. Bonus points if it’s raining!
You could, of course, drizzle a glaze on top of the cake, but I found a sprinkle of powdered sugar was enough to pretty up the cake and give it that finishing touch. This is a quick and simple cake with big time flavor. This is definitely a new favorite of mine – I hope you’ll give it a try. Enjoy!
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Apple Crumb Cake
Save Print Prep time 20 mins Cook time 1 hour Total time 1 hour 20 mins Author: Rachel Conners Serves: 1 9-inch cake Ingredients For the cake - 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup Greek yogurt
- 2 cups peeled & diced apples
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup dark brown sugar
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon table salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and still warm
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- Preheat an oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan or a 9-inch cake pan with 3-inch sides.
- Prepare the crumb topping: Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl to combine. Add flour and stir until mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough. Set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the sour cream and mix. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Fold in the chopped apples. The batter will be quite thick.
- Spread batter in the prepared pan. Top with the crumb topping. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for about 15 minutes. Remove the sides from the pan and slide the cake onto the rack.
Hungry for more? Check out some of my similar recipes!
Pumpkin Crumb Cake
Banana Crumb Cake (Dairy Free)
Apple Crisp
Blackberry Cornmeal Cake
Apple Berry Crisp
Caramel Apple Crumble (GF)
