After the disappointing Pear and Ginger Muffins, I was left with a hankering for some good, sweet, crumbly breakfast foods. I was craving coffee cake. Months ago, I had seen this recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog and had been looking for a reason to try it out. But when I announced my intention to my husband C, he protested. Apparently, he thinks that all the baking I’ve been doing is causing him to gain weight. I assured him that this coffee cake would be taken in to my workplace to feed grateful co-workers and that it need not grace his lips, but he still seemed skeptical.
I didn’t have any rhubarb, but I did have two apples, so I chopped them up and set them aside. I then moved on to the crumb part, and that’s when I knew this would be a good recipe. One stick of melted butter combined with the sugars, spices and flour made a crumb topping unlike any I’d ever seen. The topping was thick, almost like play dough. And by having melted butter, it was more thoroughly incorporated into the topping than it would have been if it was cold butter. Once the cake batter was done, and the apples added, the topping was applied by tearing chunks off of the buttery mass. The topping was basically as high as the batter itself, and since the best part of the coffee cake is the crumb topping, this was a very good thing.
Once the cake was in the oven, the cinnamon and spice aromas permeated our apartment. C began wandering into the kitchen, and asking when the coffee cake would be out. When I reminded him that that the coffee cake was destined for my co-workers, the begging began. In the end after making him smell the cooling coffee cake for 30 minutes, I relented and cut him a piece. ‘Mmm… better than Starbucks’ coffee cake’ – which he assured me was high praise.
So if you like your coffee cake heavy on the crumbles, and better than that Seattle chain, this is the recipe for you!
Apple Crumb Coffee Cake
With apologies to Smitten Kitchen and Adapted from The New York Times 6/6/07
2 Apples – peeled and chopped into a ¼ dice.
For the crumbs:
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cups flour
For the cake:
1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces.
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. Peel and chop the apples and set aside.
2. To make crumbs, in a large bowl, whisk together sugars, spices, salt and butter until smooth. Stir in flour with a spatula. It will look like a solid dough.
3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.
4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon apples over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over apples; it does not have to be even.
5. Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.
May 21, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I am going to ask my wife to make these.
May 21, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Harlan, you will have to make it yourself!
May 22, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I want to make this coffee cake. But I’m wondering if you have any suggestions for how I could shave a few calories off without sacrificing too much taste. Maybe less sugar? Any ideas?
May 22, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Well, one thing I can tell you is the blueberry cake on my blog is made with agave nectar, which has about the same number of calories but you use less of it, and also cut down on the liquid in the recipe if you swap agave nectar for sugar. My cake also doesn’t have any eggs…. you’ve got me thinking; perhaps I should try to make a version based on this recipe. I will let you know if I come up with something tasty!
May 22, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Greta – I can tell you I used low fat sour cream in this recipe and couldn’t tell the difference. I haven’t had much luck using no-fat products – so I wouldn’t recommend that. You could always cut the recipe for the topping in half – it really does make a lot – but part of the goodness of this recipe is the fact that it has so much crumb topping. I’ve never cooked with agave nectar, so I can’t speak to Alistarra’s recommendation, but I am intrigued.
I know J has some of Weight Watchers cookbooks – perhaps she can see if they have any tips cutting down the calories.
May 22, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I am actually working on my tentative recipe right now. I might try replacing at least some egg with applesauce…. I will try to keep it crumbly too.
Agave nectar is a low glycemic sweetener, so it doesn’t give you that “sugar high” feeling. I’ve actually gotten great reactions when people try my baked goods- people who know that I don’t bake with normal sugar are usually a little afraid but are pleasently surprised.
Anyway hopefully soon I’ll have something good to share on my blog tastybuthealthy.wordpress.com
November 12, 2008 at 7:29 am
Hi S! Made your coffee cake last night and it’s delicious. I used light brown sugar since I never buy the dark brown. It took longer to bake. I took it out when the toothpick came out clean, but when I went to cut it, it was gooey, so I must not have tested it where one of the dollops was, so back in the oven it went – 60 minutes total. Scott and I ate it hot – we couldn’t wait. It was yummy.