Apple Coffee Cake

Try this fruit-filled apple coffee cake with buttery crumb topping, warm fall spices, and a light cake base made with yogurt and brown sugar while apples are at their best!

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Ingredients You'll Need and Why

You probably have most of these ingredients on hand, and there are some easy substitutions that can be made. These are our notes from recipe testing. You can find the full recipe card below with complete measurements and instructions.

• Apples: use a good baking apple that will keep its shape after baking, like Honeycrisp or Boskoop. Since the apples are being peeled you could also use Granny Smith but it doesn't do much for the cake.
• Flour: use all-purpose for the best results. Up to half of the flour can be replaced with whole wheat flour but note that the cake will be noticeably denser if you do so. We haven't tested with a gluten-free alternative.
• Butter: you need both cold and room temperature butter for this recipe. If you don't have salted butter be sure to add an extra pinch of salt to both the topping and the cake batter. If you want to use a non-dairy alternative, we recommend vegan butter that comes in stick or block form and not the type that comes in a tub. The cake texture will be different when using anything other than real butter and it is quite a bit softer when made with margarine.
• Eggs: these should be large eggs, at room temperature. Large eggs are 57 grams (weighed with shell) in North America. To quickly bring cold eggs up to room temperature, submerge them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes.
• Lemon: the apple pieces are mixed with some lemon juice to help prevent browning. It can be left out if you don't have a lemon.
• Yogurt: this should be full-fat Greek style yogurt or similar. Choose a thick yogurt. Ideally the yogurt should be at room temperature to prevent the cake batter from curdling. Full-fat sour cream is the best substitute.
• Brown sugar: use light or dark brown sugar. We prefer light brown sugar to prevent it overwhelming the spices in the cake, but it doesn't make too much of a difference.
• Sugar: this should be plain white granulated sugar. Raw or cane sugar gives the cake a slightly pitted texture and makes the topping much crunchier.
• Spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground ginger. Try apple pie spice as a delicious alternative.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

How to Make Apple Crumb Cake

We're going to be clear from the beginning here that this is a slightly more involved cake than you might be used to, due to the reverse creaming method. You'll need a few bowls and should read the recipe carefully before beginning. It's not complicated, just a little different!

Step 1: mix the flour, sugars, vanilla, and butter together to make the crumb topping and set aside. Use clean hands to mix this rather than trying to do it with a spoon or spatula.

Step 2: in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to combine. We use a hand mixer for this cake but you can use the paddle attachment on your stand mixer if you prefer. Add the butter and half of the yogurt to the flour mixture.

Step 3: in a smaller bowl, whisk the eggs, the other half of the yogurt, and vanilla. Because the yogurt needs to be divided, it's best to do this now rather than later, when you might be more likely to forget to only use half of it.

Step 4: mix the butter and yogurt into the flour mixture with an electric mixer until combined and sandy looking.

Related: Dutch Apple Pie

Step 5: add the yogurt mixture and mix again on low until just combined. If you're worried about over-mixing, switch to a spatula once it's mostly mixed and finish by hand. Over-mixing will make the cake dense.

Step 6: transfer the batter to a greased 9-inch cake pan. Mix the apple pieces with the lemon juice, then top the batter in an even layer. Apples don't stick to the edges of the pan as much as berries do, so the pan can be greased instead of lined.

Step 7: top with the streusel. It won't cover all of the apple pieces, but you don't want too thick of a layer of the crumb topping.

Step 8: bake until lightly golden, about 40 minutes. The cake will pass a toothpick test once baked.

Related: German Apple Cake

Expert Tips for the Best Cake

• Don't change the method: a reverse creaming method refers to the butter being mixed into the flour mixture before adding any milk, eggs, or other wet ingredients (the yogurt). This coats the dry ingredients more evenly in fat, so you get a more consistently fine crumb, exactly the goal for coffee cake.
• Cool in the baking dish: if you try to remove the cake while still warm, it has a tendency to split right down the middle. Wait for it to cool, then carefully turn it out of the pan and flip right-side up.
• Grease the dish: you can line it if preferred, but greasing with butter boosts the flavour even more and this is a cake that works well with just greasing. Use parchment paper if you know your baking dish is really sticky or if it has a damaged coating.

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