A cross between an apple crumble and a deliciously spiced cake—this recipe is the best of both worlds. The generous drizzle of caramel sauce takes it to a whole other level.
It's soft, lightly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. The apple layer adds moisture and together with the crumble, it gives a great textural balance between the soft cake and the crunchy and slightly saucy apples. The caramel sauce brings it all together into a perfect harmony.
Perfect for apple season, or when you just have too many apples and want to make something delicious and easy with them.
If you like this recipe, try out these Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls, this Starbucks Cinnamon Coffee Cake, and these Italian Bomboloni!
I love apple crumble and it's actually one of the first desserts I started making when I was younger. I would make it so often for dinner parties and everybody loved it. That validation fuelled me.
So now I decided to make a cake version of the recipe—and boyyyy it did not disappoint.
Ingredients
- Brown sugar
- Butter
- Neutral oil
- Eggs
- Plain yogurt - full fat
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger
- Milk
- Rolled oats
- Apples
- Caramel sauce
Substitutions
- Yogurt - Sour cream, greek yogurt
- Brown sugar - White granulated sugar - It won't be the exact same in terms of flavour because the molasses in the brown sugar helps add richness and some extra moisture.
Storage
Cool and store the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days and in the fridge for up to 1-2 weeks.
A few tips for this cake
- Make the apple mixture before adding flour to the batter- This is because if you prepare the apples before starting on the cake batter, the apples will release too much moisture causing the cake to either have too much moisture or the spices on the apples kind of get diluted. If you do it after making the cake batter, the batter sits for too long and the baking powder starts reacting—which means it won't be as effective once it goes into the oven. Won't have as much rise.
- Use a spatula to mix the batter once you add the flour & don't over mix - This helps prevent developing the gluten in the batter, which would result in a dense and gummy cake. Not good
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Apple Crumble Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup brown sugar (150g)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted (56g)
- ¼ cup neutral oil (50g)
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup plain yogurt (85g)
- 1¼ cup all purpose flour (172g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 tablespoon milk (28g)
Crumble
- ½ cup all purpose flour (69g)
- ⅓ cup rolled oats
- 4 tablespoon brown sugar (50g)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted (56g)
Apple Topping
- 2 large apples, sliced or chopped (238g)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ cup brown sugar (50g)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- pinch salt
- caramel sauce to drizzle on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line an 8" round pan with parchment paper.
- Combine all the crumble ingredients except for the butter. Mix in the melted butter until well combined—it should clump together if pressed. Set aside.½ cup all purpose flour, ⅓ cup rolled oats, 4 tablespoon brown sugar, ⅛ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- In a large bowl beat together the sugar, butter and oil until light and pale.¾ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted, ¼ cup neutral oil
- Crack in both eggs and whisk until combined. Beat in the yogurt and milk.2 large eggs, ⅓ cup plain yogurt, 2 tablespoon milk
- Set this mixture aside and peel and chop the apples. Toss with lemon juice.2 large apples, sliced or chopped, 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Now toss the apples with brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, ground ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.¼ cup brown sugar, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger, pinch salt
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and ground ginger to the wet ingredients and gently mix to combine using a spatula. Make sure not to over mix the batter.1¼ cup all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pour and spread the batter into the prepared pan. Evenly cover with the apples and then the crumble. Bake at 350 for about 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with a few crumbs. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Drizzle with caramel sauce right before serving and enjoy!caramel sauce
Huzaifah Sheikh says
I tried it and turned about so much deliciousssss and tbh it really deserves a standing ovation. Thank yiu for sharing the recipe.
Lily says
Baking soda isn't in your list of ingredients but is in the detail of the recipe! Just had to panic search my cupboards for it after buying all the ingredients .
Nabeah Wahab says
Thank you for catching that! I'm so sorry for the inconvenience It was in the recipe card but I didn't realize it wasn't in the list up top! Just fixed it now!
Donna says
The recipe says 14 cups of oil is that supposed to be 1/4 cup oil?
Nabeah Wahab says
Omg, yes I'm so sorry! Just fixed it.
Tylan Beasley says
Omg this was amazing! I will definitely be making this again. 10/10
Manahil says
I tried this recipe few weeks back and really loved it! The flavors were just right! Will be making it again in the coming days. Also, really appreciate how you've written the ingredients in grams as well as in cups, and how you've mentioned the required ingredients for each step again under it.
garima (@strawberryjo) says
do you have a recipe for caramel sauce? if so pls share hehe
Saadia says
I usually measure 1 cup all purpose flour as 120g, so 1 1/4 would be 150g. How does your flour measure 172?
Nabeah Wahab says
Cups often vary in a size by a few grams depending on which you have. I've tested this myself with a few different ones and each cup of flour weighed a little different in grams. This can also be affected further by the type of flour, how it's aerated and measured.
The cup I use in my recipe development is 1 cup=138g flour. In my recipes, I include both the cup and exact weight measurement of the ingredients I'm using so it's accurate and can give you the best results!
Olive says
I'm not exaggerating when I say I've made this cake three times in 3 weeks and my friends and colleagues adore it. It's so soft and that crumble! I've only just started baking (literally three weeks ago) and have also baked the chai spiced coffee cake and blew everyone's mind!
Nabeah Wahab says
This literally made my day, thank you so much!!