This is the best Cinnamon Apple Crumb Cake I have ever tried! It is so easy to make, that anyone can make it and best of all it takes less than 10 minutes to mix everything up.
This blog post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. Thank you so much for supporting the brands that support The Happy Mustard Seed! All words, views, and opinions are my own
If you love apple crumb cake, you will love this recipe: it is easy to make, mixes up fast, and it uses minimal ingredients that you already have in your well-stocked pantry. The only thing you will need is a fresh apple.
Baking has long played a tradition in my family and as a child, I can remember that delicious smell of fresh-baked cake and cinnamon wafting through the air. If I close my eyes and take a deep breath I get that same feeling of running into the kitchen for breakfast waiting, not so patiently, for everything to be plated.
I am carrying on those traditions and I can’t wait to share my recipe with you so that you can share it with your family.
Today I am using a variation of my grandma’s easy apple cake and adding a streusel crumble to the top. Sometimes you just want something extra special as a homemade treat for your family, and this is it.
When you add a crumble you will tend to use fewer apples as well. In this recipe, I am going to use just one apple instead of the three to four that I normally use for the apple cake.
If you add all three apples and the crumble on the top of the cake at the same time it weighs down the delicate cake too much and it can cause the cake to burn on the outside edges and be raw or undercooked in the middle. I learned this through lots of trial and error trying to get the recipe just right.
Apple Crumb Cake Goodies To Add
This recipe is so versatile that you can add some of your favorites without too much fuss. Just remember that you will need to watch the baking time when you add things by starting at the base time and checking the cake. Since oven times vary so much, the type of pans used and adding additional items, you want to be mindful of not adding too much of an ingredient.
You can add raisins, nuts, berries, bacon, maple syrup, and just about anything you want to the top. Just make sure that it is not too full because you want to be able to cut the apple cake without it toppling over on you.
This is a moist cake that is similar to a coffee cake but less dense. Look to add no more than a quarter cup of any ingredient if you keep the crumb and one cup if you remove the crumb.
this cake reminds me of my grandmother. If you pressed her for the details of the recipe, she wasn’t always free with the information. I think that you can relate to that; I had to figure out a lot of the missing pieces, mainly the taste and texture.
I have seen her use the basic apple cake recipe for several different desserts. Instead of apples, she topped the cake with strawberries for strawberry shortcake, cherries, bananas, lemon, peaches, caramel icing, buttercream icing and so much more.
Easy For Beginner Bakers To Make With Quick Results And Minimal Effort
Since I am a beginner baker myself and I can make several things very well and that is why I am always sharing easy baking recipes for you with simple to follow instructions and easy to find and quality ingredients.
I never want anything over-complicated, because I know I will never want to make it again. This recipe checks off all the boxes for me: quick, scratch-made, simple, minimal ingredients, easy for beginners and kids too.
This is a recipe that my daughter made when my husband was in the hospital for emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix, a day I will never forget, Thanksgiving Day, 2014. My daughter wanted to do something special for the nurses and doctors that were helping her dad to continue to live after multiple complications and multiple extended stays.
She wanted to give something from the heart, so she chose to bake. So I suggested cinnamon rolls since she was familiar with making them and apple cake because it held a special place for me. It was her first time making the apple cake, and she couldn’t believe how easy it was to do.
The nurses couldn’t believe that my daughter made the apple cake all by herself, she was just ten years old at the time, but was already becoming an excellent baker.
Admittingly, she mixed the batter and thought it looked a little off. She became disappointed as she wanted this to be perfect.
The batter is supposed to be super sticky so don’t be surprised!
The stickiness of this batter reminds me of when you let your toddler kids bake next to you and they add a few extra ingredients. The toddler wants you to taste test and you may not want to, am I right?
But even though she was unsure, my daughter had the batter right.
The batter after a few turns of the spoon looks crumbly and like it needs more liquid. It doesn’t, just keep mixing to fully combine the wet and dry ingredients. It will only take a couple of minutes.
Once she got it into the greased pan, she decided to go ahead and make the cinnamon rolls too. Just in case the apple cake didn’t turn out.
Needless to say, both were a hit and the staff at the hospital couldn’t believe that she made it herself. They thought that it was made by me. And really, I am not a baker in the sense of providing recipes worthy of a pastry chef. It is something I have to practice diligently. And I am great at some things, while other things leave much to be desired.
This apple cake is not one of them. In fact this buttery cake is perfect for all apple lovers, it may even convert you to love apples if you already do not.
Let’s Bake The Apple Cake
First, preheat your oven to 350 degree oven. And then grab all your ingredients and start mixing.
Grease your pan. You will need a 9×6 or smaller.
Simple Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached White All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Bob’s Red Mill Baking Powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
Wet ingredients
- 1 egg, beaten well
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tart green apple, cored and thinly sliced and placed on the side.
Note:
The apple slices will brown since we are using fresh apples. But you can place it inside a bowl with lemon juice and water to make sure to keep its color.
Or you can make the batter and crumb and then cut the apple so that it can be immediately placed on top of the cake.
Instructions
Grab your baking pan and grease the bottom of the pan. Then, in a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk them together. In a medium bowl, add egg and heavy whipping cream, mix to combine. Drizzle in the melted butter and combine well. Then add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and combine using a wooden spoon or spatula.
Once Combined, add to your prepared pan
Press the batter down in a thin layer using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon,, then create your apple layer by topping the cake batter with thinly sliced apples.
Let’s Make the Crumb Topping
This is a traditional crumb mixture that you could also use on top of apple pie.
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
Dry Ingredients
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached White All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk them together. Add the softened butter and make sure to combine
Once topped with your apple, grab your crumble
Now for the best part of a crumb cake, the crumb. Add the crumble to the top of the assembled apple cake with apples. Place in the oven and bake. Start at a base time of 45 minutes, because ovens are different (gas, electric, convection, etc) Test at 45 minutes, add additional time if needed. I do 5-minute increments. No more than 60 minutes should it take to bake.
The apple cake is not super sweet, I like to say it reminds me of a coffee cake almost. But it is something that you can teach to even your toddlers to put together. Because it mixes with a spoon in less than 2 minutes.
You can have this cake for breakfast, snack or dessert. The dessert can be topped with homemade whipped cream and or your favorite ice cream
I hope that this recipe becomes a part of your family traditions this year. With so much going on, it is nice to sit down, take a breath and just enjoy a slice of apple crumble cake around the family table with a nice friendly, but competitive board game.
I love this soft apple crumb cake for so many reasons. It is easy to make a sweet treat, it does not use a lot of apples, it is a single layer cake so it does not require a lot of fuss.
Serve With
Scoop of Ice Cream would be perfect if you are using this as a dessert item.
Greek Yogurt Served on the side and then topped with fresh fruit would be a delicious treat to serve alongside this recipe.
Cup of Coffee Is an absolute on Christmas morning for us adults.
Hot Cocoa Is another great addition to have with this.
Other Recipes You Will Love
Cinnamon Apple Crumb Cake
Ingredients
- For The Cake
- Ingredients
- Dry ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached White All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Bob’s Red Mill Baking Powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup sugar
- Wet ingredients
- 1 egg beaten well
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tart green apple cored and thinly sliced and placed on the side
- For The Crumb Topping
- Wet Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened
- Dry Ingredients
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached White All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- For The Cake
- In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk them together. In a medium mixing bowl, add egg and heavy whipping cream, mix to combine. Drizzle in the melted butter and combine well. Then add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and combine using a wooden spoon or spatula.
- Once Combined, add to your pan
- Press the batter down in a thin layer, then top with thinly sliced apples.
For The Crumb Topping- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk them together. Add the softened butter and make sure to combine
- Once topped with your apple, grab your crumble
- Add the crumble to the top of the assembled apple cake with apples. Place in the oven and bake. Start at a base time of 45 minutes, because ovens are different (gas, electric, convection, etc) Test at 45 minutes, add additional time if needed. I do 5-minute increments. No more than 60 minutes should it take to bake.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin This For Later! Click the Image Below To Save
Leave a Reply