This moist, tender Apple Crumb Cake is filled with warm, comforting spices, apples, and pecans for a delicious, fall-inspired take on classic coffee cake.
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This recipe is…
Packed with sweet-tart apples, swirls of cinnamon sugar, buttery and delicate streusel, and a sweet apple cider icing, this moist and tender cake not only TASTES like fall…it makes your whole house SMELL like it too! (No fall harvest-scented candle required.)
It’s the perfect way to usher in apple season…or to pretend like it’s autumn any time you’re craving those comforting and warming fall flavors.
Slice up this tasty coffee cake with a mug of steaming coffee to make any weekend morning feel extra cozy. Or, enjoy it as part of a grand brunch spread next to a Quiche Lorraine, Healthy Breakfast Salad, easy Egg Muffin Cups, or our Blueberry Sweet Potato Breakfast Meatballs.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It features the best flavors of fall: apples, cinnamon, and an apple cider icing!
- Just 20 minutes of prep
- Stores and freezes well
Apple Crumb Cake Recipe Ingredients
This recipe has three components: the cake, crumble, and icing. Here’s everything you’ll need to whip it up. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Flour – you’ll use all-purpose flour for the cake as well as the crumble
- Baking powder and baking soda – you’ll use both of these leaveners to create a light and tender cake
- Salt – we call for 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- Butter – butter gives richness to the cake and crumble
- Eggs – 3 eggs go into the cake batter
- Vanilla extract – you’ll add vanilla extract to both the cake and the icing
- Maple syrup – 2/3 cup maple syrup complements all the fall flavors
- Milk – we call for milk for the cake batter, and the icing
- Apples – the star of the show! Chopped apples go into both the cake and the crumble
- Sugar – opt for white sugar, or coconut sugar
- Cinnamon – this warming spice is a key ingredient in all three components
- Ginger – 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger goes into the crumble
- Nutmeg – this baking spice adds a distinct flavor
- Cloves – the flavor of cloves is assertive, so you just need a a pinch!
- Pecans – while this ingredient is optional, it adds great flavor and crunch
- Powdered sugar – this sweetens the icing
- Apple cider – apple cider is delicious in this autumnal recipe, but you could use milk instead
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
Try these simple tweaks to make this recipe your own.
- Swap your spices – substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice for the spices in the crumble
- Make Muffins – To muffins instead of coffee cake, bake at 350 F for about 25-30 minutes. (This recipe will make about 18 muffins.)
- Go gluten-free – substitute a 1-for-1 gluten-free flour blend to make this recipe gluten-free. Our favorites are King Arthur Measure for Measure and Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1.
- Dairy-free version – substitute coconut oil for the butter and use the dairy-free milk of your choice.
- Leave out the refined sugar – use coconut sugar in place of the white and brown sugar, and omit the glaze.
How to Make Apple Coffee Cake
While this recipe may look intimidating, it is actually super simple and straight-forward, and it will make you feel like an absolute pro in the kitchen!
Step 1: To get started, you’ll first need to make the cake batter. We’re all about simplicity here, so this batter can be made in one large bowl and just requires a quick whisk to mix it all up.
Add all of the dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk together until combined.
Step 2: Add the wet ingredients to the bowl, and mix again until fully combined.
Step 3: Finally, stir the chopped apples into the batter, and voila! – your batter is ready to go! Do note that the batter will be pretty thick but should still be pourable.
Step 4: In another effort to keep things as simple as possible, we’re using melted butter instead of softened so that you don’t have to spend any time manually working the butter into the mixture.
To make the crumble, add all of the dry crumble ingredients to a separate bowl, give them a quick whisk, then stir the melted butter into the flour mixture until a crumbly texture forms. If your mixture is on the mushy side (it can be flattened into the palm of your hand and sticks together), add 1 teaspoon of flour to the mixture at a time, until the texture of coarse crumbs is reached.
Step 5: To assemble, simply grease or line a square pan (we used a 9×9, but an 8×8 pan will also work) with parchment paper, then pour in half of the cake batter and spread it evenly.
Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, or coconut sugar) on top of the batter, then pour the remaining cake batter into the pan. Finally, sprinkle the spiced crumble over top in an even layer.
Step 6: Bake the cake in a 350°F oven for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Step 7: Once the coffee cake is out of the oven, let it cool for at least 30 minutes (until the cake is at room temperature).
While the cake is cooling, whisk the powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and apple cider together in a small bowl, and once the cake is cooled, drizzle the icing over top. If your icing is on the runnier side, add a bit more powdered sugar to thicken it up, and if it’s too thick, just thin it with a bit more apple cider.
Recipe Tip
Make-ahead – If you’d like to make this bake in advance, we recommend making it one day in advance, and then storing it in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to enjoy your cake, you can either warm the whole thing up in a 350°F oven for 5-10 minutes, or microwave individual pieces for about 20 seconds.
How to Serve
Once the cake cools, drizzle the icing over top. Then, slice it into squares and serve it at room temperature.
How to Store
If you’re lucky enough to have leftover coffee cake, you can store it at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for about a week.
This coffee cake also freezes beautifully! Our favorite way to freeze coffee cake is by wrapping each piece individually in parchment or wax paper and then adding them all to a large Ziplock bag in the freezer. Frozen coffee cake should keep in the freezer for about 4 months. To reheat, simply microwave an individual piece for about 1 minute, or bake in a 350°F oven for about 15 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Coffee cake (AKA crumb cake or crumble cake) is typically served at breakfast alongside a cup of coffee (hence the name). Texture-wise, it’s much like a muffin but it’s baked into cake form rather than individual muffins. Coffee cake usually has a crumb topping that adds to its delicious, irresistible appeal!
You totally can! We actually made this apple cake gluten-free (as we do with all of our baked goods), and it turned out beautifully. To ensure a tender, moist gluten-free coffee cake, we used King Arthur Measure for Measure flour – this is the flour we use to develop about 95% of our gluten-free baked goods because it is easy to find, affordable, doesn’t have a gritty texture, and, of course, makes a delicious end product. Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free flour is another really great option. When shopping for gluten-free flour, be sure that your blend contains xanthan gum, otherwise you’ll need to add in a teaspoon.
This one can! In fact, we tested a TON of different egg substitutes in several different baked goods, took all kinds of notes, and then laid it all out for you in this super helpful guide to egg-free baking. For cakes and cupcakes, we recommend subbing in plain Greek yogurt (¼ cup of yogurt per egg) – Greek yogurt made for fluffy and slightly crisp on the outside cakes that had a really delicious flavor and held together really well.
More of Our Best Apple Recipes
If you tried this recipe for Apple Crumb Cake, or any other recipe on the Fed & Fit website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Cinnamon Apple Coffee Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 8 tablespoons butter, melted
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 medium apples, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (about 1 heaping cup)
- 1/3 cup white sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
For the crumble:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- Pinch of ground cloves
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 medium apple, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes (about 1/2 cup)
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans, optional
For the icing (optional):
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1-2 tablespoons apple cider or milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a 9×9 (or 8×8) pan or line with parchment paper.
- To make the cake, place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Then, add the butter, eggs, vanilla, maple syrup, and milk, and whisk until fully incorporated. Finally, stir the apples into the batter.
- Pour half of the cake batter into the bottom of an 9×9 (or 8×8) pan, then sprinkle the 1/3 cup sugar over top, as evenly as possible, followed by the teaspoon of cinnamon. Pour the remaining cake batter over top and spread evenly.
- To make the crumble, add the flour, sugar, and spices, to a bowl and whisk to combine. Then, stir in the butter until a crumbly mixture forms and mix in 1/2 cup of chopped apples and the pecans.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon crumble on top of the coffee cake batter, then bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- While the cake is cooling, whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream for the icing, then drizzle over top and serve!
Nutrition
This recipe states that you can use a 9×9 or an 8×8. DO NOT USE AN 8X8 PAN IT WILL OVER FLOW!
We are so sorry you had this experience, Lindsey! -Team FF
My family and I loved this. Made with coconut sugar and no glaze. Ate half that day and froze the other half. Took it out a couple of weeks later and let defrost on counter. It was every bit as good as the first day. This recipe is a keeper.
We are so glad to hear that, Marilyn! What great modifications. Thank you for taking the time to share with us.
Delicious recipe! Made it gluten free and for a breakfast treat—
My husband raved over it!
Wahoo! Such a yummy treat!
The apples in the batter says divided. What are they divided for?
Whoops! Just deleted “divided”! Thanks for catching that, Kelli!
This recipe! LOVE it. It’s still sweet without the glaze. I used King Arthur All Purpose as my Flour.
So glad you loved this, Erica!! Thanks for sharing this with us!
This looks like the perfect addition to my baby shower dessert table in a few weeks! Thank you!!
Yay!!! It’ll be a hit for sure!
I thought this said vegan but don’t see any egg free alternatives?
Vegetarian, not vegan, Nicole! We haven’t tried it with an egg substitute, but a flax egg may work…let us know if you try it!