Apple Crumb Cake

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This crumb cake becomes a seasonal favorite when apples are tossed into the vanilla cake batter. With this apple crumb cake, a generous amount of crumb topping is baked on top of an apple cake. With brown sugar, cinnamon, and sweet apples you will definitely be eating more than one slice. And don’t forget to drizzle it with a powdered sugar icing over it before serving. 

Let me break down this cake for you. 

Sweet apples. Check.

Warm cinnamon spice. Check.

Loads of brown sugar crumb topping that I can’t get enough of. Check and double check. 

Yea this apple crumb cake has got it all. 

Ingredients for apple crumb cake

The ingredients for this cake are adapted from my blueberry crumb cake (that’s adapted from Epicurious’s New York Style crumb cake). But I added in a few different ingredients to make this a festive Fall favorite. Here is what you need to round up from the pantry:

• Light brown sugar
• Granulated white sugar
• Cinnamon
• Salt
• Unsalted butter
• All purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Eggs
• Greek Yogurt
• Vanilla Extract
• Apples

How to make this apple crumb cake – step by step 

• Make the topping. Mix both sugars, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl and whisk to blend. Add warm melted butter and stir to blend. Add flour and toss with fork until moist clumps form (topping mixture will look slightly wet). Set aside.

• Prepare the pan. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. 
• Sift the dry ingredients. Sift the rest of the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into medium bowl. 

• Cream the butter and sugar. Using electric mixer, beat room-temperature butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 

• Add remaining wet ingredients. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Add greek yogurt, and vanilla extract and beat just until blended.
•  Add the flour gradually. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, beating just until incorporated after each addition.

• Fold in chopped apples. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in chopped apples into batter. 

• Add crumb topping. Transfer cake batter to prepared baking dish; spread batter evenly with rubber spatula or offset spatula. Squeeze small handfuls of topping together to form small clumps. Drop topping clumps evenly over cake batter, covering completely (topping will be thick).

• Bake the cake. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean and topping is deep golden brown and slightly crisp, about 1 hour. Cool cake in dish on rack at least 30 minutes. Drizzle with icing if using. Cut cake into squares and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Tips On Making This Apple Crumb Cake

• Measure your flour. Be sure to measure your flour correctly if you are using dry measuring cups or you can use a kitchen scale for best accuracy.
• Soften Your Butter. You want properly softened butter so that you can cream mixture properly. The sugar punches holes into the butter creating air pockets, which helps to aerate and help the cake to rise. Here are 3 quick ways to soften your butter. 
• Bring your eggs to room temperature.  You don’t want cold eggs being added to your creamed butter mixture. It will seize up the butter. So place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using them. 

How do you store crumb cake?

This cake will be fine at room temperature, covered with either plastic wrap or aluminum foil, for 2 days. You can also freeze this crumb cake if you wanted to. 

To freeze the cake, you can cut it into slices, and then place in a sealable plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months. The cake will thaw at room temperature quickly. You can also warm up a slice of this cake in your microwave for a few seconds before enjoying. 

More Cake Recipes To Try

• Easy Carrot Sheet Cake
• Vanilla Sponge Cake
• Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe

Tools To Make This Apple Crumb Cake

• 9×13 baking dish
• mixing bowls
• electric mixer
• rubber spatula
• sifter

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Apple Crumb Cake

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Total Time1 hr 20 mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apple, crumb cake

Servings: 16 slices

Calories: 532kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

For the crumb topping

• 1 cup (213 g) packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (99 g) granulated white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, warm
• 2 ½ cups (300 g) cups all purpose flour

For the cake

• 2 1/2 cups (300 g) all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• ¾ cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 ½ cups (297 g) granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups non fat plain greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 apples chopped

For the powdered sugar icing

• 1 cup (114 g) powdered (confectioners) sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoons milk
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Make the topping. Mix both sugars, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl and whisk to blend. Add warm melted butter and stir to blend. Add flour and toss with fork until moist clumps form (topping mixture will look slightly wet). Set aside.
• Prepare the pan. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish.
• Sift the dry ingredients. Sift the rest of the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into medium bowl.
• Cream the butter and sugar. Using electric mixer, beat room-temperature butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
• Add remaining wet ingredients. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Add greek yogurt, and vanilla extract and beat just until blended.
• Add the flour gradually. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, beating just until incorporated after each addition.
• Fold in chopped apples. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in chopped apples into batter.
• Add crumb topping. Transfer cake batter to prepared baking dish; spread batter evenly with rubber spatula or offset spatula. Squeeze small handfuls of topping together to form small clumps. Drop topping clumps evenly over cake batter, covering completely (topping will be thick).
• Bake the cake. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean and topping is deep golden brown and slightly crisp, about 1 hour. Cool cake in dish on rack at least 30 minutes. Cover and let stand at room temperature.
• Make the icing. In a mixing bowl with a whisk, combine the icing ingredients until smooth. If it's too thick add a little more milk. If it's too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar. Drizzle over the cake. Cut cake into squares and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Notes

• Measure your flour. Be sure to measure your flour correctly if you are using dry measuring cups or you can use a kitchen scale for best accuracy.
• Soften Your Butter. You want properly softened butter so that you can cream mixture properly. The sugar punches holes into the butter creating air pockets, which helps to aerate and help the cake to rise. Here are 3 quick ways to soften your butter. 
• Bring your eggs to room temperature.  You don’t want cold eggs being added to your creamed butter mixture. It will seize up the butter. So place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using them. 

Nutrition

Calories: 532kcal | Carbohydrates: 80g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 236mg | Potassium: 142mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 48g | Vitamin A: 13.2% | Vitamin C: 1.3% | Calcium: 6.5% | Iron: 11.8%