Apple Streusel Coffee Cake
Studded with diced apples and topped with a streusel crumble,
this Apple Streusel Coffee Cake is perfect for the chilly Fall mornings ahead!
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I’ve always wanted to find hidden treasure. When I was a kid, I’d go hunting for hidden treasures in my grandparents’ old barn. I never found much aside from old boxes and magazines. And maybe a spider or two.
And then there was the time when the water main broke around the corner from my house in Charleston, SC. The water company dug up the street and sidewalk for several days. Like any 8-year-old kid, I of course went out there in the evening after the workers left to hunt for treasure. The funny thing is that I may have actually found treasure there. It was downtown Charleston, SC after all. Some pirate might have left his treasure chest there. Sadly, I didn’t find much aside from a few broken pieces of old pottery.
Did you guys see the news a few weeks ago about the treasure hunters who found $1 million in lost Spanish gold coins off the cost of Florida? How awesome is that?? I mean, those guys are professional treasure hunters, and they spend their lives hunting for discoveries like that one. But still. It’s enough to get your imagination going!
And then I heard a news story recently about an archaeologist who thinks that the lost city of Atlantis is near Santorini, Greece. He bases his claim on the ancient writings of Plato, but scholars still disagree on whether Atlantis was in the Mediterranean. Wouldn’t it be cool to find Atlantis? I volunteer to go to Santorini for a couple weeks to, uh, look around for a lost city. And maybe relax on the beaches and eat amazing Greek food, too. Just sayin’.
As long-time readers know by now, I love cinnamon. I also love a good coffee cake. The words ‘coffee cake’ will pretty much stop me dead in my tracks no matter the time of day. Now that the Fall baking season has returned, it’s time to get a coffee cake in the oven. And not just any old coffee cake. A coffee cake studded with diced apples and topped with a tasty streusel crumble.
Apple Streusel Coffee Cake
I’ve tried my hand at many different coffee cake varieties over the years. They were all tasty, but I kept having the same problem of the crumb topping sinking into the cake as it baked. A reader recently passed this recipe along as one of her favorites, and I just had to give it a shot. And since we are in the midst of apple season here in upstate New York, I decided to add in some diced apples.
The result was this delicious coffee cake with a layer of streusel in the middle and on top of the cake. The only problem was the fact that I used a bundt pan instead of a standard circular cake pan. Why is this a problem, you ask? Well, bundt cakes get flipped over once they are baked. That means that delicious streusel all ended up on the bottom of my cake. Oops. Oh well, no one minded too much. So embrace the chilly Fall mornings ahead with a slice of this Apple Streusel Coffee Cake.
Did you make this Apple Streusel Coffee Cake at home? Leave me a comment and share your thoughts! Or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog).
Looking for more tasty coffee cake recipes? Check these out, too:
Carrot Cake Coffee Cake
Mixed Berry Coffee Cake
Banana Walnut Coffee Cake
Peach Pecan Coffee Cake
Overnight Coffee Cake
Apple Streusel Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the streusel:
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
For the Cake:
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup 12 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1¼ cups sour cream
- 3 cups apples diced (~3 medium apples)
Instructions
For the Streusel
- Using a medium bowl, add sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg; stir until well combined.
- Add the melted butter; stir until well combined.
- Add the flour; stir until well combined. Set Streusel aside.
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease and flour (or spray with nonstick spray) a standard bundt pan. Set pan aside.
- In medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined; set mixture aside.
- Using a countertop mixer, cream together the sugars and butter until light and fluffy (~2-3 minutes on medium speed).
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.
- Add vanilla, lemon juice and sour cream; mix on low speed until well combined.
- Add dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on low until just combined.
- Fold the diced apples into the batter.
- Pour half of the batter into greased tube or round cake pan. Sprinkle half of the Streusel on top of batter. Pour remaining batter on top. Finally, sprinkle remaining Streusel on top of batter.
- Bake at 350°F for 53-57 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out mostly clean.
- Place cake on cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Notes
I cannot think of anyone who’d mind that you made this in a bundt cake pan and the streusel topping ended on the bottom – because – duuuuuuude – that streusel topping looks so totally scrumptious! Heck, I’d volunteer to help you and Mrs dig up ALL of Santorini over a couple weeks AND let y’all eat ALL the Greek food, if I could have this whole bundt cake to myself! As for my fav coffee cake flavor – I love ’em all as long as they have a streusel topping!
My cousin and I were convinced there was buried treasure on his dad’s “estate” located way way in the mountains amidst the tea plantations (in Sri Lanka) – we used to dig around too – but got in trouble when we forgot to fill the holes back in…which got me wondering – who fills in the holes when professional treasure hunters go digging? 🙂
Hahaha…I totally wanted to just eat that streusel plain! But then Laura walked in and was like “ummm…don’t you flip over a bundt cake?” /facepalm
So I’m thinking we need to organize this treasure hunting trip to Santorini. I’m not sure how much hunting would happen since I would just be on the beach eating Greek food. But I’d be there for moral support…haha! Hmmm…who can we hire to fill in our holes? Lil Shashi maybe?
Haha – sure – she will be game – but she isn’t good with any sort of digging – she gets me to pay her $10 for helping me weed and ends up siting around talking to me while I do most of the work…I think we might need a back-up-hole-filler too – maybe Mike? 🙂
I think Mike was born to be a hole filler! But I suspect he’ll demand a constant stream of yummy food in return. 🙂
Treasure hunting in Santorini? I’m in. Let’s go. What are we waiting for?
[Just remember to bring a few slices of that rad coffee cake. OK?]
#WolfpackTreasureHunters
Will do, Alpha! I’ll bring a backpack with a pickaxe, a flashlight and some cake. That sounds like the perfect equipment for treasure hunting! #SantoriniHereWeCome
David, you’re killing me! Another fantastic apple recipe? Which I need to try immediately? If I had any apples (or apple orchard around me), believe me I would have already made this! It’s callous, David because I’ve got my personal list to make. If you don’t stop posting your apple stuff, I might end up using every other your recipe this fall. And if by any chance you’re going to be sharing some pumpkin ideas as well, I could close down my blog. Besides, if I bake all this apple goodies you’ve published on here, who would eat them, eh?! By the way, are you in need in some apple pies – I may have a surplus soon?:) And again, stop this, please. I’m almost begging #stopdavid #applecalamity
Hey man, it’s apple season here in New York. And you know what? I gotta make do with what I’ve got…which just so happens to be lots and lots of apples. Haha! Don’t worry…we’ll wait until October for the pumpkin stuff. I gotta get my apple fix in first! 🙂
I used to go treasure hunting too!!! I found nothing. Well one time my friends and I were picking up these little pieces of “gold” on the playground and it turns out they were fertilizer! Ummm safety first!
But I am all in for searching for Atlantis and making this cake! Streusel on the bottom, top, middle…who cares?! It looks fabulous! Pinned!
Of course you did, Lindsey! Don’t you remember that we decided we were long, lost childhood friends? 🙂 Although I don’t think I ever brought a pocketful of fertilizer home. But hey, we gotta start somewhere on our treasure hunting adventures! 🙂
Can we seriously go to Santori to uh, find this lost kingdom? We obviously need some fuel so I say meat, feta and antipasto platters, followed by souvlaki and then we’d take a break to find it.
I was never into finding treasure, except Gold- There is this place called Sovereign Hill and Australia is famous for being the spot for gold digger (not the human kind). I’d like this cake on our flight to Santori, please.
Yes, I think we would need a lot of fuel (in the form of Greek food, of course) to do some legit treasure hunting. Hahaha…gold digger…haha! Thanks for the morning laugh there, mate!
This looks fabulous! I love apple recipes this time of year- and you just can’t go wrong with coffee cake- I mean all. that. streusel! When I was little, I wouldn’t look for treasure, but my friend and I would pretend treasure was hidden on the playground and convince unsuspecting boys to go on adventures looking for it. Needless to say, it didn’t exist, so they were always disappointed.
Ohhh…you are evil, Medha! You were the one encouraging unsuspecting boys like me to go hunting for long lost treasure. I mean a playground seems like a perfectly logical place to hide treasure, right??
Along with a sweatshirt I wore a few nights ago this is making me feel like it’s Fall! I can’t wait, especially to celebrate with this cake!
Yes! I can’t wait to pull my sweatshirts out of the closet. I actually pulled a light zip-up sweatshirt out the other day, but I put it back in the closet…it’s just not quite sweatshirt season here upstate yet. But it’s coming… 🙂
Hi David! YES to crumb/coffee cake! You did a good job, as always! Coffee cake knocks most doughnuts out of the park, except yours of course!
Haha…well I don’t know, Dorothy…I might still choose coffee cake over doughnuts. A good coffee cake really does stop me dead in my tracks! Thanks for sending along this recipe. 🙂
my mouth is watering looking at the pictures David, that streusel omg!!
I kinda wanted to just eat a bowl of the streusel by itself, Manali…would that be bad? 🙂
I think you did find a treasure – Upside Down Apple Streusel Coffee Cake! It certainly would be a blast to find Atlantis too!
Haha…I like how you put that, Rachelle! I mean this coffee cake is good and all, but I would much rather go treasure hunting in Santorini! 🙂
I’m a sucker for a good coffee cake too! I’m sure adding apples made this cake really moist and from the pictures you would never know that the crumb topping ended up on the bottom. It looks great!
Haha…I carefully flipped the picture around so that you see the bottom of the cake. When Laura pointed that out, I was oh man…what a baking fail! But it’s ok, it still worked out. It was just an Upside Down Coffee Cake! Never heard of one of those? Yeah, me neither…until now. Haha!
Heh–treasure hunting was a personal favorite pasttime growing up for us too, only we’d invent the treasure maps ourselves and bury treasure in strategic locations for friends to find them. Yes that’s one way of looking at treasure: it’s not much the intrinsic value that matters as it is the joy of finding something! And hey look–I found this streusel-filled cake! Treasure 🙂
Haha…that sounds like so much fun, Ala. Maybe you should send me a treasure map so I can go hunting for treasure…just make sure to bury something really good at the “X”, ok? I don’t do intrinsic value! 🙂