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Apple Coffee Cake

Apple Coffee Cake

This apple coffee cake is perfect for your morning coffee break! Moist cake, sweet cinnamon apples, crumb topping and a caramel glaze – it’s so tasty!

This apple coffee cake is the perfect snack to have with your cup of coffee today! It’s super quick and easy to mix up.

Don’t be scared off by the longer recipe, there are several different components to this cake, but they are all super easy.

A piece of apple cinnamon coffee cake on a plate

This apple coffee cake is a version of the coffee cake my mom used to make on a regular basis when I was growing up.

I don’t make coffee cake that often myself, but whenever I make this cake, I wonder why not.

They’re so easy to make, they taste fantastic, and they’re perfectly acceptable as a morning snack with your coffee.

Piece of apple cinnamon coffee cake on a plate

Plus I’ll take a fruit filling and a crumb topping over buttercream icing any day.

This apple coffee cake is absolutely delicious.

I highly recommend making it for a snack today!

Easy cake filled with cinnamon apples and topped with a crumb topping and salted caramel glaze on a plate.

Does apple coffee cake need to be refrigerated?

No, this apple coffee cake does not need to be refrigerated.

It is best served warm the day it is baked, but leftover cake can simply be covered tightly and stored at room temperature.

It reheats well in the microwave on low power, and will still be delicious for up to 3 days if covered tightly.

After this point it will start to dry out, so I recommend enjoying this coffee cake soon after baking it.

An apple coffee cake with a crumb topping and a salted caramel glaze on a cooling rack with apples.

Why is a coffee cake called a coffee cake?

This type of cake is called a coffee cake because it is typically served warm with coffee.

Not because there is coffee in the cake, although my kids were concerned about this possibility.

A piece of apple coffee cake on a plate with apples and the pan of coffee cake.

Some may have coffee flavouring, but this isn’t a requirement to be called a coffee cake.

They are typically moist, denser cakes with a filling of some sort (often a fruit filling) and a crumb topping.

And they go very well with a hot cup of coffee.

Easy apple coffee cake

How to make Apple Coffee Cake:

  • There are 4 components to this coffee cake – the cake batter, the apple filling, the crumb topping, and the glaze. Don’t worry though – all 4 are very easy to mix up!
  • I used salted caramel sauce to flavour the glaze. If you don’t have any and don’t want to make it for just a tablespoon of sauce, you can replace it with maple syrup for an equally delicious glaze.
  • Serve this cake warm, it is best the day it is baked. Cover any leftovers tightly so it doesn’t dry out and reheat it on low in the microwave.

Here are some more great snack cake recipes for you:

Piece of apple cinnamon filled coffee cake with a crumb topping and a salted caramel glaze on a place with apples.
Yield: serves 9-12

Apple Coffee Cake

A piece of apple coffee cake on a plate with apples and the pan of coffee cake.

This apple coffee cake is perfect for your morning coffee break! Moist cake, sweet cinnamon apples, crumb topping and a caramel glaze - yum!

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the topping:

  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 5 tablespoons butter, melted

For the cake:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk

For the filling:

  • 2 cups apples, peeled, cored and chopped (2-3 apples)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

For the glaze:

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Lightly spray an 8x8 inch baking pan with cooking spray, or line it with parchment paper and set aside.


For the topping:

  1. In a small bowl, make the topping by mixing the sugar, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon until combined.
  2. Add the melted butter and stir until everything is well combined. Set aside.


For the cake:

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  2. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, and buttermilk.
  3. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. The batter will be thick.


For the filling:

  1. In a medium bowl, stir together the apples, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon.


Assemble the cake:

  1. Spread about half the cake batter into the prepared pan.
  2. Spread the apple mixture over top of the batter evenly.
  3. Cover the apples with the rest of the cake batter. The batter is thick so this is easiest by putting small scoops of batter all over the apples and then spreading it as evenly as you can.
  4. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over top.
  5. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  6. Allow the cake to cool for 5-10 minutes.
  7. While the cake is cooling, make the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of milk, and salted caramel sauce until well combined. Thin with additional milk if necessary.
  8. Drizzle the glaze over top of the slightly cooled cake.
  9. Serve warm. If not enjoying the cake right away, let it cool completely, and then cover it tightly with plastic wrap. It will keep well for up to 3 days at room temperature if covered tightly, and reheats well in the microwave.

Notes

Any kind of apples are fine for this recipe. I typically use Gala apples as I almost always have these on hand.

If you don't have salted caramel sauce for the glaze and don't want to make or buy some for just 1 tablespoon, you can replace it with 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. This will give a different flavour of glaze of course, but maple glaze or vanilla glaze are equally tasty on this coffee cake.

If you don't have buttermilk, you can substitute regular milk mixed with 1 teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice.

Another vegetable oil is fine as a replacement for the canola oil.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 312Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 45mgSodium: 267mgCarbohydrates: 51gFiber: 1gSugar: 32gProtein: 4g

Nutrition Information is estimated based on ingredients used and may not be exact.

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