This Big Apple Crumb Cake Is 50% Crumb, 50% Cake — And Smells Like October in Every Bite

This is the bouldered and dramatic intersection of two of my favorite things: cinnamon baked apples and a thick crumb cake. I don’t know how they make crumb cake where you are, but here in New York, and where I grew up in New Jersey, crumb cake isn’t a genteel cinnamon-ribboned or finely streusel-ed coffee cake, but a hefty square that’s 50% crumb topping and 50% a golden, sour cream–enriched cake and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Thanks to brown sugar and cinnamon, the crumb topping is always a dark stripe, and a snow-cap of powdered sugar isn’t optional. Fruit is, but this is too good with fresh apples to skip them.

At-a-glance

For such a loud and attention-demanding cake (I’m still talking about cake, I think?), no delicate slice or dice of apples will do so I use here a full pound of thick wedges snugged so tightly they barely fit in their confines, an all-too-accurate New York real estate story. Squeezing your crumbs in small handfuls before breaking them over the apples created more boulder-like pieces. Baking this cake for almost an hour at a slightly lower temperature gives the apples enough time to get tender, their juices bubbling. Your kitchen will smell, at minimum, like a blissful epiphany of apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and at peak melodrama, the absolutely best decision we’ve made yet in October.

I’m back! I’ve missed you. I never intended to take such a long break, or any at all, but I was pulled under by a vacation (too short), a manuscript deadline for my next book (too quick), and then the two-week photoshoot for it (100 recipes in 10 days, oh and btw, I’m the photographer) and when I emerged, because I only like sparkly new things, I didn’t want to share any of the recipes I already readied but new ones that had piqued my interest while I was buried. One of the things that’s different about SK, sometimes for the better but occasionally for the worse, is that there’s no editorial or recipe development staff and just one me, and life gets busy. But my central dedication to this space — which turns 15 this fall! — remains unchanged. Good luck ever getting rid of me for good. ;)

Big Apple Crumb Cake

Servings: 12 to 16
Time: 30 minutes prep, 1 hour baking

Cakes with fresh chunks of fruit taste good on the first day and fantastic on the second day, when everything has a chance to settle. In this case, the topping adheres better on the second day. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make it as soon as possible, just that it will reward you for planning ahead.

Video:

Ingredients — Apples

Ingredients — Crumbs

Ingredients — Cake

Ingredients — Finish

Heat oven to 325°F (165°C). Lightly coat an 8-inch square or 9-inch cake pan with butter or nonstick spray. For extra security, line it with parchment paper.

Prepare apples: Toss the apple wedges with the lemon juice, then add the cinnamon and granulated sugar and set aside.

Make crumbs: Whisk the melted butter with the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt until evenly mixed. Add the flour and stir until it disappears — the mixture will be very thick. Set it aside.

Make cake: Beat the softened butter with the sugar until lightened and fluffy. Add the egg, sour cream, and vanilla and beat until combined. Sprinkle the surface of the batter with the baking powder and salt and beat well to incorporate. Add the flour and mix only until it disappears.

Assemble: Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Arrange the apple wedges on the cake, slightly overlapping; the author usually fits all but two wedges (those are cook’s snacks). Pour any cinnamon-apple juices from the bowl over the apples. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the apple slices. For larger crumbs, squeeze the crumb mixture into small fistfuls and then break those into a few big chunks; scatter those over the cake.

Bake: Bake until a toothpick inserted into the apples meets no crisp spots and you can see juices bubbling around some apples, about 50 to 55 minutes.

Cool to room temperature if you can bear it before cutting into squares or wedges. Dust generously with powdered sugar.

Cake keeps at room temperature loosely covered (in an airtight container the crumbs will eventually soften) for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator well-wrapped for up to 6 days.

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