This apple streusel coffee cake is made with fresh apples baked right into the cake, a gooey cinnamon swirl center, and a sweet & crunchy streusel topping. Freshly picked hoenycrisp apples, warm spices, and comforting flavors are the epitome of fall - and they're all rolled into this one simple coffee cake. You'll find soft baked apples throughout the soft spiced cake, with a buttery cinnamon swirl filling running through the middle. Oh and the streusel topping - it's nothing like you've ever had before. Made with quick cooking oats, the streusel is almost like a brown sugar oatmeal cookie that truly sets this coffee cake apart from the rest.
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Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour: Be sure to weigh your flour carefully, as it can dramatically effect the outcome of the cake.
- Leaveners: You'll need both baking soda and baking powder for the cake.
- Spices: I used a combination of several warm spices, but feel free to change them up to your liking.
- Whole Milk: Use whole milk for optimum flavor and overall result.
- Yogurt: Yogurt is added to the cake for moisture and texture, and to the glaze to make it thick.
- Applesauce: Applesauce adds moisture and amplifies the apple flavor.
- Oil: Use a neutral oil such as vegetable, canola, or light tasting extra virgin olive oil.
- Unsalted Butter: Use room temp butter for the cake, and cold, cubed butter for the cinnamon swirl and the streusel.
- Sugars: In every element of this cake, you will need brown sugar and granulated sugar.
- Eggs: You will need 3 eggs for the cake.
- Apples: I recommend using either honeycrisp or granny smith apples.
- Oats: My secret ingredient for the best streusel topping is quick cooking oats!
- Powdered Sugar: If making the glaze, you'll mix the powdered sugar with milk and yogurt (which makes the glaze thicker!)
FAQ
No one likes a streusel topping that immediately melts into the baked good when it's put in the oven. My secret is to take out the flour and add in quick cooking oats. The oats ensure that the streusel doesn't melt, but instead bakes up into a sweet & crunchy oat topping that resembles an insanely good brown sugar oatmeal cookie.
I prefer baking with honeycrisp apples, granny smith apples, or a combination of the two! I love sweetness of honeycrisp apples and the way that they hold firm rather than cooking down into mush. Granny smith apples bake similarly but are more tart, so they're a good choice to pair with honeycrisp to balance out the sweetness.
- Whole Milk: You can use an equal amount of buttermilk in the cake batter.
- Yogurt: You can use an equal amount of sour cream for the cake.
- Electric mixer: Use either a stand mixer or hand-held mixer to beat the butter and sugars.
- Square pan: You'll need a 9"x9" pan for this recipe - my favorite is USA Pan.
- Kitchen scale: You'll need a kitchen scale to weigh all of your ingredients (read why below)!
Other fall recipes you'll love
How to accurately measure ingredients for baking
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed to create incredibly delicious baked goods that you can easily recreate in your own kitchen with success. The only way this is possible is to standardize the way ingredients are measured - by weight. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), I can ensure that you can make the recipe accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale.
If you would like to convert the recipe to volume measurements, this is the best conversion chart. If you chose to do this, I cannot promise a good result as I do not test my recipes with this method.
Trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!
Happy baking! x
PrintRecipe
Apple Streusel Coffee Cake
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 9x9 cake 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This apple streusel coffee cake is made with fresh apples baked right into the cake, a gooey cinnamon swirl center, and a sweet & crunchy streusel topping.
Ingredients
For the Cinnamon Swirl:
- 28g unsalted butter (cold, cubed)
- 106g brown sugar
- 8g cinnamon
For the Streusel:
- 100g quick cooking oats
- 106 brown sugar
- 30g granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp allspice
- ¼ tsp cloves
- ¼ tsp ginger
- 113g unsalted butter (cold, cubed)
For the Apple Cake:
- 330g all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp allspice
- ¼ tsp cloves
- ¼ tsp ginger
- 150g whole milk (room temp) (or buttermilk)
- 56g plain whole milk yogurt (room temp) (or sour cream)
- 130g applesauce
- 110g oil
- 85g unsalted butter (room temp)
- 142g brown sugar
- 132g granulated sugar
- 3 eggs (room temp)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 200g honeycrisp apples (peeled and diced into very small pieces)
For the Glaze:
- 100g powdered sugar
- 30g plain whole milk yogurt
- 10g whole milk
Instructions
For the Cinnamon Swirl:
- In a small bowl, combine the cold, cubed butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
- Cut the butter into the sugar and cinnamon by squishing the pieces with your fingers. Mix until the butter is fully incorporated and the mixture resembles wet sand.
- Place in the fridge until ready to use.
For the Streusel:
- In a medium bowl, combine the oats, sugars, and spices.
- Add in the cubed cold butter and squish the pieces together with your fingers until it is fully incorporated.
- Place in the fridge until ready to use.
For the Apple Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
- Line a 9"x9" pan with parchment paper long enough to hang over the sides for easy removal.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and ginger. Set aside.
- In a large measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together the whole milk, yogurt, applesauce, and oil. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar for 2-3 minutes.
- Add in vanilla and eggs one at a time, allowing each to fully incorporate before adding the next.
- In about 3 additions, alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients until everything is fully combined. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl frequently.
- Lastly, fold in the honeycrisp apples.
- Pour half of the batter into the prepared square pan. Top with all of the cinnamon swirl mixture, then gently pour the rest of the batter on top. And the streusel on top and bake for about 1 hour to until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool before removing from pan and adding the glaze.
For the Glaze:
- In a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, yogurt, and milk until smooth.
- Drizzle on top of cooled cake and serve!
Notes
- I recommend making the cinnamon swirl and streusel before making the cake batter, so they'll be ready to go when you're ready to bake the cake. Just store them in fridge while you're making the cake batter.
- You can use just about any baking apple - I prefer honeycrisp apples for this recipe.
- Store this cake at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze individual pieces for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
- Calories: 520
- Sugar: 53.5 g
- Sodium: 145.9 mg
- Fat: 25.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 71.9 g
- Protein: 4.1 g
- Cholesterol: 66.1 mg
Keywords: apple streusel coffee cake, apple streusel cake, apple streusel coffee cake recipe, glazed coffee cake, cinnamon apple crumb cake, apple sour cream cake, apple coffee cake with buttermilk
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