This cake!
This unassuming little cake. It will rock your world! It doesn’t look like much… oh!, but looks are so deceiving!
It is fully fall. There is no denying it. The leaves are all turned, the weather is brisk and cool, and Halloween is on our doorstep. This also means that we are in the depths of fall food season. In other words… pumpkin. It seems that pumpkin is the golden child of the fall food world. Now, I like pumpkin. And sometimes I even love pumpkin. I mean, pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling is pretty good stuff. But… there is a limit, and honestly, I feel like pumpkin belongs more in the realm of November and Thanksgiving season. Pre-Halloween fall, on the other hand, with it’s sunny and crisp-but-still-warm days, colorful leaves, fall festivals, and homecomings, belongs fully to sun-kissed, crisp, juicy, sweet apples.
Now this cake – it’s incredible… the perfect use for fall apples. In fact, I have received multiple spontaneous unsolicited rave reviews from my husband and coworkers. It’s an important distinction, because unsolicited reviews are way more valuable than solicited. Let me illustrate:
Me: “Try a piece of the Apple Cake I just made. What do you think?”
Hubby: (takes a big bite) “Oh – it’s really good!”
Versus…
Me: minding my own business at work
Coworker: (returning from the break room, still chewing on something) “Did you make that apple cake? Wow, it’s really good!”
Now, which review do you think holds more value?
Anyway, the first time I made this, I almost couldn’t believe how good it was, but I knew right away it was a keeper forever: a recipe I will go back to time and time again. Now… I’ll admit, it’s not the most gorgeous cake. But, let’s just say that it actually tastes waaaay better than it looks like it will taste.
This cake centers around a delectable brown sugar snickerdoodle base, which has rich, warm, caramel-ly undertones that perfectly complement the bright flavor of the apples. Delicious, sweet-tart chunks of apple peek out of the cake keeping every bite ultra-moist and flavorful. Atop the cake is a delicious cinnamon crumb topping that adds a perfect touch of contrasting crunch. I mean, who doesn’t love a crumb topping anyway??
So seriously… you absolutely have to try this cake. So worth it.
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1½ cup packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1½ cup apple, peeled and diced
- ¼ cup almonds, finely chopped
- 6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into cubes
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup almonds, finely chopped
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8x8 inch or 9x9 inch pan by spraying evenly with cooking spray.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cream of tartar and salt in a medium bowl until evenly mixed. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until fully combined. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and stir until fully incorporated. Stir in the apples and chopped almonds. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
- For the streusel topping, add all the remaining ingredients to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until fully incorporated and mixture resembles coarse meal. Spread the streusel over the batter and lightly press into the surface.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until the topping is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
I like to dice my apples into chunks that are about 1 cm cubes. This makes them small enough to distribute evenly and cook through, but leaves them large enough for nice sized chunks of apple in the cake.
I used dark brown sugar in this recipe, because I generally prefer the richer taste and caramel flavor of dark brown sugar. Feel free to substitute light brown sugar if you prefer.
If you don't have a food processor to make the struesel, you can mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and almonds in a medium bowl. Cut the chilled butter into the mixture using a pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse meal.
This cake is perfectly awesome eaten out-of-hand as a snack bar, but equally great warmed up and served a la mode with some vanilla ice cream!
Recipe slightly adapted from FoodieCrush’s Apple Blondies with Cinnamon Almond Streusel (added more apple, decreased sugar).
Love the streusel topping. Will definitely try making this recipe again. 🙂