Every autumn the siren song of baking calls bakers home until the volume becomes too much to bear. And at that moment, the only thing that can silence it is a warm-spiced apple cake—the kind that hugs you closer than a knit sweater. This recipe, which keeps things simple, relies on the winning combination of cinnamon and apples to perfume a vanilla cake with pockets of tender fruit. A blanket of cinnamon streusel crowns the cake, giving it a contrasting crunch and a coffee-cake-like character. Feel free to stash the cake on your counter, slicing it throughout the week, enjoying its plush interior as it magically gets better with time.
More cozy bakes this way: Caramel Apple Snacking Cake; Chocolate Olive Oil Cake; and Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf.
Recipe information
Total Time
1½ hours (plus cooling)
Yield
12 servings
Ingredients
Streusel
1¼
1
1½
1½
½
½
Cake and assembly
1
2
1
1½
1½
¼
½
2
⅔
2
1
Need to make a substitution?
Preparation
Streusel
Step 1
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350°. Lightly coat an 8x8" metal baking pan with nonstick vegetable oil spray. Line with parchment paper, leaving overhang on all sides. Lightly coat parchment with nonstick spray. Place 1¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour, 1 cup (packed; 200 g) light brown sugar, 1½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¾ tsp. Morton kosher salt, 1½ tsp. ground cinnamon, ½ tsp. baking powder, and ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, in a large bowl and mix with your hands, squeezing together as needed, until marble-size clumps form. Set streusel aside.
Cake and assembly
Step 2
Toss 1 lb. Honeycrisp apples (about 2 large), peeled, cored, thinly sliced, slices halved crosswise, and 2 Tbsp. (16 g) all-purpose flour in a large bowl to coat.
Step 3
Whisk 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 1½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¾ tsp. Morton kosher salt, 1½ tsp. baking powder, ¼ tsp. baking soda, and remaining 1⅔ cups (208 g) all-purpose flour in a large bowl to combine. Add ½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces, and rub into dry ingredients with your fingers until no visible pieces remain. (Mixture should look like lightly moistened sand. Don’t worry about overworking it.) Add 2 large eggs, ⅔ cup buttermilk, 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, and 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract and stir until no pockets of dry flour remain, about 1 minute. Mix in about two thirds of apples.
Step 4
Scrape batter into prepared pan and spread into an even layer; smooth surface. Scatter reserved streusel and remaining apples over, letting them organically intermix. Bake cake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 65–75 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan. Using parchment overhang, lift cake out of pan and transfer to a cutting board. Dust with powdered sugar and cut into 12 pieces if serving immediately.
Do Ahead: Cake can be made 5 days ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.