Big Apple Crumb Cake
From Smitten Kitchen, a delicious snacking cake topped with apples and a generous layer of crumb topping.
Ingredients
The Apples
- 1 pound apples, 3 medium or 2 large, peeled, cored, cut into 1/4 -1/2-inch wedges
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
The Crumbs
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 4 ounces or 115 grams
- 1/3 cup light or dark brown sugar 65 grams
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar 65 grams
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 175 grams
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts, any kind optional
The Cake
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 85 grams
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100 grams
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1/3 cup sour cream 80 grams
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 130 grams
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Heat oven: To 325°F (165°C). Lightly coat an 8-inch square or 9-inch cake pan with butter or nonstick spray and line with parchment paper that hangs over the long sides. Makes it easy to remove the cake after baking.
- Slice apples into 1/4 min to 3/8 inch thick slices. Toss apples with lemon juice. Mix cinnamon and sugar together and then add to apples. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
- Make crumbs: Whisk melted butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt together until evenly mixed. Add flour and mix until it disappears. Add nuts if using. Set aside.
- Beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, sour cream, and vanilla and beat until combined. Sprinkle surface of batter with baking powder and salt, beat well to combine. Add flour and mix only until it disappears. The batter will be very thick and not really pourable.
- Scrape batter into prepared cake pan and smooth it flat. Arrange apples on cake, slightly overlapped. Resist the urge to pile all the apples on, single layer of overlapping apples is good. If you pile extra apples on, the cake may not bake evenly. Pour any cinnamon-apple juices from bottom of bowl over apples. Sprinkle crumbs over apple slices. For bigger crumbs, squeeze the crumbs into small fistfuls and break these up into a couple bigger chunks over the cake.
- Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the apples doesn’t hit any crisp spots and comes out fairly clean, about 50 to 55 minutes.
- Cool to room temperature, if you can bear it, before cutting into squares or wedges. Dust generously with powdered sugar.
- Cake keeps at room temperature loosely covered in an airtight container for 3 days or in the fridge.
Notes
PSA: Get yourself a scale, soooo much easier :)