Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Streusel Topping
Apple cake is everything you love about an honest-to-goodness butter cake! Cinnamon-dusted apple slices nestled in moist and tender buttery cake, and with the most heavenly, crumbly brown sugar cinnamon streusel topping you'll ever taste!
Ingredients
- 175 g unsalted butter softened at room temperature,
- 175 g brown sugar
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 3 eggs lightly beaten
- 175 g self-raising flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp milk
For the streusel topping
- 115 g plain flour plus extra, for dusting
- 85 g brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 85 g unsalted butter chilled, cubed
For the apple filling
- 3 apples peeled and cored, diced or sliced thinly
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
Make the streusel topping
- Put the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a mixing bowl.
- Rub in the butter gently with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Bring the crumbly dough together into a ball.
- Wrap the streusel dough in cling film or a plastic bag. Let chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Make the apple filling
- In a bowl, combine diced or sliced apples, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and lemon juice. Give it a couple of good tosses to coat evenly. Set aside.
Make the cake
- Preheat oven to 190 deg C (375 deg F). Grease the sides and base of a 20-cm or 8-inch loose-bottomed cake pan. Line the base with baking paper.
- In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed. Cream until the batter turns pale, light and fluffy. This may take up to 5 minutes.
- Add the lemon zest and beat for 5 - 10 seconds, until well distributed throughout the batter.
- Add in the beaten eggs, in 4 additions. Beat well after each addition. The batter will curdle at first. Continue to beat on medium speed until the batter becomes smooth again, before adding the next addition.
- Sift in the self-raising flour and salt. Beat on low speed until just combined. Finally, add the milk. and again, beat on low speed until well incorporated. The final batter should be smooth.
Fill the cake pan, top with grated streusel, and bake
- Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Smooth the surface with a spatula.
- Arrange half of the apple cubes or slices (discard any juices) over the batter.
- Spread the remaining batter over the apples. Smooth once more with a spatula. Arrange the remaining apple cubes or slices (again, discard any juices) on top of the cake batter.
- Remove the streusel dough from the chiller and coarsely grate it.
- Spread the grated streusel evenly over the apples, to the edges of the cake pan.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour (time will vary slightly depending on your oven). Test with a skewer by inserting it into the centre of the cake. If the skewer emerges with some sticky batter, bake for a few more minutes and check again. When baking is finished, remove the cake from the oven and leave it in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the pan, and let cool on a wire rack. Best served warm.
Nutrition Information:
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 375kcal, Carbohydrates: 48g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 11g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g, Cholesterol: 93mg, Sodium: 252mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 27g
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