What do you make when you’re having people over for coffee? You know, a bite to eat, but not too filling and not too sweet. Something not overly fussy, preferably that you can throw together in 15 minutes with stuff you have at hand. Without icing, obviously, because it takes time to ice a cake.
This apple crumble cake has been a staple of mine ever since I first made it, over six years ago. It was the last week of university and I don’t remember if everyone brought cake or not, but I remember this cake. A classmate had brought it in and I remember smell of apples wafting through the classroom. I remember thinking that I don’t normally like cake, but this is a really good cake. I remember pestering this classmate who I’d barely spoken to all semester for the recipe. And let me tell you, it’s not often that I go chasing cake recipes.
So here it is, a perfect coffee time cake (tea time cake, for those of you who aren’t Australian). Perfectly browned on the outside, topped with apples, a teensy bit of brown sugar and guaranteed to make your house smell like that of a domestic goddess. I’ve adapted it a little, mostly just tweaking the American measures, but you’ll find the original recipe at JustHungry.
- 3 apples - peeled, cored and diced into 2cm chunks
- 200g flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 90g white sugar
- pinch of salt
- ½ cup milk
- 1 egg
- 80g melted butter
- 60g brown sugar
- 40g all-purpose flour
- 30g butter
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and grease a loose-bottomed 18cm round cake tin. Anything in the range of 18-20cm round, or square will work, but any bigger and cake will be noticeably flatter. Alternatively, use a 25cm tin and turn this into a slice.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder together, then mix in the sugar.
- In a separate bowl, combine the milk, egg and melted butter, then add to the flour mixture.
- Make the crumble mixture by rubbing together the brown sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon with your fingers, until the mixture resembles crumble.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin, top with the diced apples and sprinkle the top with the crumble mixture.
- Bake for 35 minutes - it's a little tricky to tell when this cake is cooked as you can't really test it with a skewer because the apples get in the way - just go with your gut.
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