Apple Crumb Coffee Cake

Last week I was taking a stroll over at Everybody Likes Sandwiches when I saw a delicious looking coffee cake. Now, she made the coffee cake in a bout of insomnia induced baking, and forgot to add the baking powder. The cake looked so good I was certain that I just had to make it. I decided to give it a shot Saturday afternoon, as a nice treat for all the spring cleaning I was doing. When gathering the ingredients I decided I would go ahead and give it a shot with the baking powder. It came out wonderfully, but I think I'm going to try it without the BP too, because her cake looks so wonderfully dense with apple. This cake gave me one of the nicest moments of the weekend- windows open, sun and breeze streaming in, hands messily mixing crumb topping while Prairie Home Companion seeped out of the speakers from NPR. It made me feel like I was doing something that my grandmother had surely done before me. So pleasant! Second nice moment- eating a piece of this cake!

Apple Crumb Coffee Cake
Recipe from Everybody Likes Sandwiches












for the cake part:
1 1/2 cups of flour
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 Granny Smith apple, chopped

for the crumb part:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

• Preheat oven to 400. Butter and flour an 8" round cake pan, shaking off any excess flour. Prepare crumb topping in a medium-sized bowl, crumbling mixtures with your fingers until it looks like crumbs. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, combine egg, milk and oil. Add the wet to the dry and mix. Add in apples and stir until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and top with crumb mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool.

My notes: I had one large Fuji apple in the crisper, so that's what I used. Fuji holds it's shape well when baked, so it's a nice texture with the cake. I used a 9" round pan, no problem there. I cooked it for 25 minutes and my crumb topping was a little dark, so maybe cut it a little earlier next time. This cake was so delicious, especially with a nice cup of coffee, of course.