Apple Crumb Cake
I’m going to start right off by saying this crumb cake isn’t quite perfect. I’m adding it to my list of dishes to perfect, every painstaking, sugary bite of the way. I do it all for you, dear readers. But in the meantime: this is a pretty darn good crumb cake. The mouths that gobbled it up this morning will attest to that.
And look at those crumbs! Ooh, they are picture perfect. I’ll admit it, I was mostly in this endeavor for the crumbs. Crumb cake isn’t about cake. It’s about crumbs. Giant, moist, tender crumbles of sugar and butter. It’s an anthem for those of us who prefer to eat the tops off of muffins, who like to slyly sneak away spoonfuls of the crisp from apple crisp when no one else is looking.
I adapted a couple of the most popular crumb cake recipes on the Web to come up with this one. Mine has a Fall twist, but I’m sure just about any fruit layer (peaches, plums, bananas, mango, rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries) would be delicious.
This recipe would also translate beautifully to muffins, so go ahead and pour these into muffin tins if that’s more your speed.
One of these days I’ll be revisiting this recipe, hopefully armed with the super ability to kick it up those last few notches. But until then, I can’t imagine anyone would complain about waking up to this cake in the morning next to a nice, hot cup o’ joe. And if you’ve taken this to another level and have a crumb cake recipe you feel passionately about, let me know! I’d love to hear about it.
Apple Crumb Cake
Crumb Topping
1/3 c granulated sugar
1/3 c dark brown sugar
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
8 tbsp vegan margarine, melted and still warm
1½ c all-purpose flour, sifted
3 tbsp cornstarch
Filling
¼ c soy margarine
½ c brown sugar
2 small apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
Cake
1 c all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tbsp cornstarch
½ c granulated sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
6 tbsp soy margarine, softened and cut into pieces
1 egg replacer egg (1½ tsp powder beaten with 2 tbsp warm water)
1 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 2 tbsp warm water
1/3 c unsweetened soy yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
powdered sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 325°. Grease an 8×8″ baking pan.
For crumbs, mix together sugars and spices.
Add melted margarine and mix well. Sift together and add flour and cornstarch.
Mix well; when fully incorporated, it will resemble cookie dough. Break dough into crumbs roughly 1/2″ in size; it doesn’t have to be perfect. Cover in plastic and set aside.
Next, prepare the apple filling. In a saucepan on medium heat, melt together butter and sugar. Add spices and apples; stir to coat. Cover and cook for several minutes, or until apples are tender and topping has caramelized a bit. Pour filling into a dish and set aside to cool.
In a mixing bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, sugar, soda, and powder. Add margarine and mix until no large pieces remain. Add egg replacer, flax seed, yogurt, and vanilla, and mix ’til smooth.
Reserving 1 cup of batter, spread rest of batter roughly across the bottom of pan. Evenly layer the apples on top.
Spoon small dollops of the remaining batter over the apples.
Sprinkle crumbs over cake. Bake 25-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, being careful not to over-bake.
Cool fully on a rack and dust generously with powdered sugar. Store covered in plastic.
Tags: veganmofo 2009
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That looks AMAZING! I love the picture by picture post, it really is a beautiful idea!
Thanks! Glad you liked it
Hell yeah- another delectable and awesome looking recipe! Oh, how I would love to have piece of this cake!