JUMP TO RECIPE
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen me make this cake last weekend. If not, I think it’s time I tell you about my Nana’s Apple Coffee Cake recipe.
My Nana is a great baker and she has collected so many recipes from her many years of perfecting her favorites. Last year, before we were all quarantined at home, I took photos of some recipes from my Nana’s recipe box. They were all classic things that remind me of her most, like rice pudding, something called Yum Yum, and this Apple Coffee Cake.
It’s a simple vanilla pound cake-ish cake, stuffed with cinnamon-sugar apples, and topped with sandy cinnamon-sugar crumbs. Yum. We tend to eat this as an afternoon snack or as dessert, but since we’re living in crazy quarantine times right now, it would also be a great breakfast. I mean, if we’re all staying home away from each other, we should at least be able to eat cake for breakfast, right?
If you’re looking for another baking project this weekend, I suggest my Peaches and Cream Cupcakes or my No-Churn Espresso Caramel Ice Cream. Either, or both, would keep you busy and give you a delicious, sweet treat. Happy Friday everyone (whatever that means now…)!
Nana’s Apple Coffee Cake Recipe
Servings: 12
Active Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Apple Filling
4 medium apples, sliced thinly
1 lemon, juiced
4 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cinnamon Crumble Topping
1/2 stick (2 ounces) butter, chilled
8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons cinnamon
Vanilla Coffee Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup neutral oil (like vegetable or canola oil)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup orange juice
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Filling: In a large bowl, combine the sliced apples, lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon. Set aside while you make the topping and cake batter.
For the Topping: Using a box grater, grate the butter into a medium bowl. Then, combine the butter with the flour, sugar, and cinnamon, and gently rub the mixture together until it resembles sand. Set aside.
For the Cake & Assembly: Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a tube pan really well, more than you think is necessary (trust me). Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In another bowl, whisk the oil, melted butter, orange juice, eggs, and vanilla together. Then, add the liquids to the flour mixture a little at a time, beating until it is all combined and no lumps remain.
Place half of the cake batter in the bottom of the prepared tube pan and spread out in an even layer.
Using a slotted spoon, add the apple filling on top of the cake batter, trying not to get too much of the juice from the bowl into the cake.
Add the rest of the cake batter on top of the apples and spread out evenly. Sprinkle the topping over the cake and place it in the oven.
Bake for one hour, or until a skewer comes out clean and the cake has started to pull away from the sides of the pan a little bit.
Leave the cake to cool for a couple of minutes in the pan, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
Cooking Note
If you have a tube pan with a removable bottom, this is the time to use it. When you’re removing the cake from the pan, you want to avoid losing too much of the coffee cake crumb topping from the cake, which might be inevitable if you have to flip the cake out. If this happens, just stick/pour the crumb topping back onto the cake while it’s still warm.
If you make and enjoy any of my recipes, please leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag me in your pictures on Instagram (@bookishkitchen #thebookishkitchen)! I love seeing my followers recreating my recipes.
