Big Crumb Apple Coffee Cake

I don’t now if I mentioned but I started culinary school this week.  It has been a while since I have had to sit in a class room but soon we will be moving into the kitchen and I could not be more excited.  Although studying about food safety caused me to wake my husband up screaming while I dreamed of chasing some pathogen microbe out of my house.  I promise to come back with a more detailed post about my educational culinary adventures.

Let’s talk about BIG Crumb Apple Coffee Cake.  I served this coffee cake for my New Year’s Day brunch and it was very well received.  If I am not mistaken I think my friend Amanda E. had 3 slices.  Unfortunately due to my lack of time management and scatter brain multi-tasking abilities I forgot to take a photo of the sliced finished product.  But trust me this cake will be your coffee’s new best friend.  Like total BFFs!

Now let me show you how I dice and apple.  First I core and slice the apple into 8 wedges using an apple slicer/corer.    I thin peel each individual wedge.  You can peel the apple first and then slice and core but I like to do it backwards.  Don’t ask me why, I have not rhyme or reason.

Now slice your wedges in half lengthwise to create 2 wedges.  Durrr!

Stack the wedges on each other and lay on their side.  Slice in half lengthwise on the flat side, creating apple sticks.

Slice the “sticks” into small squares.

TA-DA you have diced your apples!

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Toss apples with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.

To make crumbs in a large bowl whisk together sugars, spices and salt.

Pour melted butter over sugar mixture.

You know it’s going to be good when you pour butter over sugar.

Whisk until smooth.  Stick your finger in it and lick it…..it’s yummy!

Then, add flour with a spatula or wooden spoon and combine.

It will look and feel like dry dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.

This is the secret to BIG crumbs.

To prepare cake, in a small bowl, add sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla.

Whisk it all together until well combined.  Do not stick your finger in it and lick it….not yummy.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened.

Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula.

Beat until dough comes together.  It will be a thick batter.  Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan.   Spread the batter evenly in the pan.

Sprinkle apples over batter and gently press into the batter.

Dollop set-aside batter over apples; it does not have to be even.

Using an off-set spatula spread the batter over the apples.  You don’t have to cover all the apples.

Press the crumb mixture together.  Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over cake.

Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Do you see the monster crumbs on this cake.  They are HU-MUN-GUS!  The great thing about this cake is that it’s not super sweet.  It is light, moist and you can taste that touch of sour from the sour cream.  It really is a perfect complement to your coffee.

And the crumbs DUDE, THE CRUMBS are awesome!   They are like sweet gold nuggets that you can eat.  You could easily make this cake your own buy subbing the apples with pears, cherries, rhubarb or blueberry. Really you cold use whatever is in season.

Your coffee told me it has been getting lonely.  Make this cake ASAP.

Print Recipe

Big Crumb Apple Coffee Cake (adapted from the Smitten Kitchen via NY Times)

Butter for greasing pan

For the apple filling:

• 1/2 pound apple, trimmed
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

For the crumbs:

• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, melted
• 1 3/4 cups cake flour (I was out and used all-purpose and it worked great)

For the cake:

• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup cake flour (ditto on the all-purpose flour–worked just fine)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. For filling, toss diced apple with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.

To make crumbs, in a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Then, add flour with a spatula or wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.

To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.

Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from rhubarb), 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.