If you have a few leftover apples to use up, this Apple Streusel Coffee Cake is the perfect excuse to turn them into something special. Soft, buttery cake is layered with tender cinnamon apples and finished with a sweet, crumbly streusel topping that makes every bite irresistible.
I love serving this cozy cake for weekend breakfasts, brunch gatherings, or afternoon coffee breaks. It tastes like something from a bakery but is surprisingly simple to make at home.
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Ingredients
- Flour - I’ve used all-purpose flour, a sturdy flour that’s great for holding add-ins like apple slices, so they don’t sink to the bottom. You can also use gluten-free flour blend with xantham gum.
- Apples - Use any leftover apples you have. You can use many apple varieties, preferably sweet and tart apples such as Granny Smith that I used.
- Cinnamon - Use ground cinnamon for a delicious warm spice to this bread. Apple pie spice can also be used, but then you will need to adjust the amount of cinnamon called for in this apple streusel coffee cake recipe.
- Baking powder - Check the expiry date on the packaging of this product so that it creates a good rise in the apple crumb cake.
- Eggs - Use large eggs at room temperature.
- Butter - Allow the butter to reach room temperature for easier mixing into the other cake base ingredients. Unsalted butter is preferable otherwise, omit the salt listed in the recipe.
- Sugar - I’ve used white sugar. While you could also use light brown sugar, I don’t recommend using dark brown sugar as this will affect the color of the loaf and alter the taste.
- Milk - Dairy milk or a plant-based alternative. I prefer full-fat milk for flavor, but you could use low-fat milk or skim milk.
- Vanilla extract - I use good-quality vanilla extract in most dessert bread and other baked treats. Not the artificial kind.
- Buttery cinnamon streusel - The crumbly topping combines unsalted cubed butter (almost frozen), all-purpose flour, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon. You can add an extra teaspoon ground cinnamon if you like, which will darken the color of the streusel.
For the full list of ingredients, please scroll down where you'll find the recipe card.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Beat the eggs with an electric mixer on low speed, and add butter, sugars, and vanilla. Mix again until combined.
In a separate medium bowl combine the flour mixture and add to the buttery sugar mixture. Mix on low. Fold in the apples.
In a large bowl combine streusel topping ingredients until you get crumbs. The easiest is to use your hands for this!
Pour half the batter into a 9 x 5 inch square pan, loaf tin (greased or lined with parchment paper). Add half of the streusel topping and carefully add another layer of batter. Cover the top of the cake with streusel topping.
Bake for 60 minutes (depending on the oven, may take extra 5-15 minutes) until the toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, dry or with a few breadcrumbs.
Let the buttery cake rest in the tin for 15 minutes before transferring it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cut in slices and serve right away.
You can also drizzle some icing on the bread as I did for this Blueberry Cream Cheese Bread this recipe. You can use milk or apple juice instead of lemon juice.
Tips
- Your cubed butter must be cold when making the brown sugar streusel topping, preferably almost frozen (but not too frozen). The cold butter will create the perfect crumble texture instead of a batter-like or pastry consistency.
- Since every oven differs, I recommend checking on your apple crumble coffee cake after 50-55 minutes of baking. If the bread requires further baking but the top is getting too brown, cover the bread with aluminum foil for the rest of the time.
- I always prefer to eat this apple streusel bread within 2 days of baking for the best texture and taste, but it can be stored longer in the fridge (about 3-4 days).
- Make sure that the eggs, butter, and cream cheese are all at room temperature, as this helps them to mix much better into the batter.
- You can easily double the ingredients to make a second bread if you have two bread pans available and store the one in the freezer to enjoy later.
Freezing and Storing Instructions
Allow your Apple Streusel Coffee Cake Recipe to cool completely and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Store at room temperature for 2-3 days.
You can keep it longer, for about 4-5 days as well but the texture may not be the same and moist anymore.
Freeze in an airtight container, preferably wrapped individually in parchment paper, for up to 3 months.
Apple Recipes
📖Recipe
Apple Streusel Coffee Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 +½ cup apples, diced, Granny Smith's
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temp
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ½ cup milk, or plant-based milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Streusel Topping
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold, cut into smaller cubes, almost frozen
- ½ cup + 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoon ground cinnamon, the more you add the darker the streusel topping will bake.
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Beat the eggs with an electric mixer on low speed, and add butter, sugars, and vanilla. Mix again until combined.
- In a separate medium bowl combine the flour mixture and add to the buttery sugar mixture. Mix on low. Fold in the apples.
- In a large bowl combine streusel topping ingredients until you get crumbs. The easiest is to use your hands for this!
- Pour half the batter into a 9 x 5-inch square pan, or loaf tin (greased or lined with parchment paper). Add half of the streusel topping and carefully add another layer of batter. Cover the top of the cake with streusel topping.
- Bake for 60 minutes (depending on the oven, may take extra 5-15 minutes) until the toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, dry, or with a few breadcrumbs. Let the buttery cake rest in the tin for 15 minutes before
- transferring it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cut in slices and serve right away.
Notes
- Since every oven differs, I recommend checking on your apple crumble coffee cake after 50-55 minutes of baking. If the bread requires further baking but the top is getting too brown, cover the bread with aluminum foil for the rest of the time.
- Your cubed butter must be cold when making the brown sugar streusel topping, preferably almost frozen (but not too frozen). The cold butter will create the perfect crumble texture instead of a batter-like or pastry consistency.
- I always prefer to eat this apple streusel bread within 2 days of baking for the best texture and taste, but it can be stored longer in the fridge (about 3-4 days).
If you are looking for more easy baking recipes, we have a delicious Pumpkin Bread With Cream Cheese Frosting, buttery and chewy Cookies and Cream Cookies or Cinnamon Banan Bread With Raisins for something different.
Frequently Asked Questions
When making apple bread, balancing sweet and tart flavors is key which is why apples like Granny Smith are very popular - they are both sweet and tart.
If you have another favorite apple in mind that is sweet and tart, go ahead and use that!
Dry bread results from too little liquid, adding too much flour, overmixing the bread batter, or baking the bread at a higher temperature than what has been instructed in a recipe.
It’s also important to keep your baked bread in an airtight container when storing it in the fridge or on the counter.
Apple bread consists of eggs, sugar, butter, flour, vanilla extract, baking powder, diced apples, and spice (usually cinnamon).
I’ve also added a brown sugar streusel to the top of this dessert bread for added decadence.
Apples that usually don’t bake as well include McIntosh, Gala, Fuji, and Red Delicious. These apples tend to be too soft for long baking times or their flavor is not as well balanced as something like Granny Smith.
While it won’t ruin your apple bread, I suggest sticking to Granny Smith apples or something similar for your apple bread.
The terms “streusel” and “crumble” are often used interchangeably, although a streusel usually consists of a smaller crumb while a crumble consists of larger-sized crumbs.
Easy Bread Recipes
All Baking recipes can be found here.
Haley
Buttery and soft apple streusel bread for breakfast or a quick snack! Delicious!