Spiced Apple Crumble Cake
It’s that time of year again, where we celebrate the most important meal of the day (morning tea!) and raise vital funds for cancer research as part of Cancer Council’s Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea.
To celebrate this year’s event, I’m excited to share my spiced apple crumble cake. It’s a textural delight with a delicate and lightly-spiced cake crumb bejewelled with pieces of apple that are amped up by the lemon juice and spices. And, of course, its topped with a crunchy crumble reminiscent of the glorious dessert this cake is inspired by.
I love to use spices in my baking, and here I’ve used a mix of cinnamon, ginger and cardamom. But feel free to use your favourite spices in their place, or keep it traditional with three teaspoons of cinnamon.
One other quick note - you will have more crumble mix than you need for topping the cake. As you’ll see in the recipe I like to use half of the crumble mix on the cake and then bake the other half on a baking tray so each cake slice can have extra crumble. Though a word of warning - the crumble is very moorish, so try not to eat too much of it before serving the cake!
INGREDIENTS
Crumble
100g unsalted butter, room temp
150g brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
125g plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
85g rolled oats
50g almonds, roughly chopped (or nut of your choice)
Cake
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Zest and juice of 1 small lemon
230g unsalted butter, softened
230g caster sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
170g full-fat plain yoghurt
1 teaspoon salt
320g plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
Extra sea salt flakes for sprinkling
METHOD
Prepare the crumble
Beat the butter and brown sugar together in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add all the remaining ingredients and beat on low until combined. The mix will be crumbly with a similar texture to wet sand, which is what you want! Set the crumble aside.
Prepare the cake
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C and grease and line a 22cm spring-form tin.
Peel, core and dice your apples. Place the diced apples into a bowl with the lemon juice (reserve the zest) and the spices, mixing to combine. Set aside.
Place the butter, sugar and lemon zest into a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment) and beat until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes), scraping down the bowl at least once.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping the bowl down after each addition. Then add the yoghurt and beat until well combined.
Add the flour, salt and baking powder and beat on a low speed until almost combined. Gently fold through the spiced diced apples and incorporate any flour that is not yet mixed in. Pour the cake batter into your prepared cake tin and use an offset spatula to smooth and level the batter. Use half of the crumble mix to cover the top of the cake by gently squeezing and sprinkling the crumble over the cake. Gently press the crumble on the top of the cake. Set the remaining half of the crumble aside for a moment. Bake the cake for 65-75 minutes, rotating the cake half-way through the baking time, until golden brown and a cake tester comes out with only a few moist crumbs on it.
While the cake is baking, line a baking tray with baking paper and tip the remaining crumble onto the tray. Spread and press the crumble so the mix loosely comes together as a single thin slab. Bake for 25-30 minutes, taking out halfway through to gently mix the crumble and press loosely back together to ensure even baking. Once the crumble is golden brown, take out of the oven and leave to cool on the tray.
Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before transferring from the tin to a wire rack to cool to room temperature. Serve with a sprinkling of the extra crumble, and a dollop of vanilla Chantilly cream or vanilla ice-cream.
This cake will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
