Apple Crumble Cake!
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A deliciously light and autumnal apple crumble cake with an apple brown sugar crumble sponge and cinnamon buttercream frosting
Apple baking
I’ve been wanting to post something like this for a while… It’s well and truly Autumn now, the weather is changing, and its nearly Halloween. I saw a delicious looking post the other day of some apple crumble cupcakes from Zoella, and this inspired me to use the countless amount of apples that have been growing in my garden recently.
I kid you not, I think we have had over 60 apples in just the past couple of weeks, and I can’t keep up with the baking. Some squirrels got to them, and some were eaten away at by bugs, but there were some absolute beauties which I just HAD to bake with – when you have something literally growing in your garden it’s rude not to use them.
I would say that it is important to use cooking apples because you want the apples to retain some texture when baking. The cake bakes for quite a while, so I would avoid using eating apples as they lose their texture, quicker.
Crumble mixture
I posted my recipe for a caramel apple crumble pie last year, and it was well and truly loved and I knew something crumbly and yummy would be ideal for this post.
A crumble mix is very simple – it’s a simple mix of plain flour, sugar and butter. I always use plain flour in my crumble mix as you really don’t need to use anything else, there is no need for a raising agent. You can use caster sugar, light brown soft sugar, or anything you really have in the cupboard.
It is important to use block unsalted butter and not a margarine in the crumble mix, however, You need to add the ingredients to a bowl and rub the three ingredients together to a find breadcrumb like texture. If you don’t want to make it yourself, I don’t judge you buying a shop bought crumble mix.
Cake mix
I went for a regular idea with my sponge, using a very similar one to my salted caramel drip cake using light brown sugar. I used a touch of cinnamon in the sponge to give it a bit of an autumnal kick, and it goes SO well with the apples it would be rude not to.
- Butter – for a sponge mix, you can use a block butter at room temperature, or you can use a baking spread for the sponge mix
- Sugar – as mentioned above, I like using light brown soft sugar for this because it compliments the other ingredients. You can use caster sugar or even golden caster sugar if you preferred though.
- Flour – self raising flour, of course.
- Eggs – I use medium eggs, so I use six medium eggs, but five large would also work
- Cinnamon – this is 100% optional, but I love the addition of cinnamon with apples.
Baking the cakes
I fold the apple mixture through the cake mix and then split the cake mix between two deep 8″ cake tins. I sprinkle most of the crumble mix on top of the two cakes, and then I bake the cakes in the oven. They take quite a while to bake at 45-55 minutes typically.
I will admit I was a little unsure of how the apples would bake in this cake… Let’s just say, I tried part cooking the apples before I put them into the cake, but it didn’t work. After trying this cake four different times with this method, it’s safe to say that just coating the apples with sugar for a bit of sweetness, and baking them as they are is best. The amount of time that the cake is in the oven bakes the apples to the perfect texture (as you can see in the picture) and I wish I had just tried it the first time.
I tend to leave the cakes to cool fully in the tins to prevent handling the sponges too much – they can be more delicate due to the moisture.
Buttercream frosting & decoration
The spare crumble mix can be baked on a tray for 10-15 minutes until slightly golden, and used as decoration. You can also use fudge sprinkles (such as good combo with the apple and cinnamon again).
Using a cinnamon buttercream frosting was ideal for this as again, flavour heaven. I made it an easy buttercream frosting of 1:2 of unsalted block butter at room temp to icing sugar and it worked wonderfully with the tsp of cinnamon, and a touch of boiling water for smoothness.
I pipe the frosting onto the cake in swirls using my favourite piping tip like always – but you can slather it on instead if you prefer, or pipe it differently.
Tips & Tricks
- I use two 8″ cake tins for this cake
- I use my favourite piping tip for the decoration
- You could also use a ready made crumble mix if you like as well as it does save time, but you’ll still need to bake it on top of the cake in the same way, and bake the spare in the same way as well!
- This cake will last in an airtight container for up to 3-4+ days
- You can freeze this cake for 3+ months if you want
Apple Crumble Cake!
Ingredients
Crumble
- 120 g plain flour
- 60 g caster sugar
- 60 g unsalted butter (not baking spread)
Cake
- 500 g cooking apples (peeled & chopped weight)
- 300 g unsalted butter/baking spread
- 300 g light brown soft sugar + 50g
- 300 g self raising flour
- 6 medium eggs
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Buttercream
- 250 g unsalted butter (not baking spread)
- 500 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and line two 8″/20cm round tins.
- Make the crumble mixture. Rub together the sugar, flour and butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs, leave to the side for now.
- Peel and core the apples, cube the apples into about 2cm pieces.
- Put the apples into a bowl, and cover with 50g of light brown sugar. Mix it up so all the apple pieces are covered and leave to the side.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in the flour, eggs, and cinnamon and beat until smooth. Fold through the apple mixture and split between two 8” lined tins.
- Sprinkle on a layer of the crumble mixture (only about 1/2cm worth per cake) and then bake in the oven for 45-55+ minutes or until baked through
- Leave the cakes to cool in the tins
- Beat the butter for a few minutes until really light and supple.
- Add in the icing sugar and beat fully after each incorporation.
- Add in the cinnamon and 1-2tbsps of boiling water and beat for about 5 minutes until really light and fluffy.
- Get the first cake and spread/pipe some of the buttercream onto it
- Add the second cake on top and pipe on the other half of the buttercream.
- Sprinkle on the crumble mixture and maybe an extra sprinkle of cinnamon, and some sprinkles and yaaaay you’re done!
Notes
- I use two 8" cake tins for this cake
- I use my favourite piping tip for the decoration
- You could also use a ready made crumble mix if you like as well as it does save time, but you’ll still need to bake it on top of the cake in the same way, and bake the spare in the same way as well!
- This cake will last in an airtight container for up to 3-4+ days
- You can freeze this cake for 3+ months if you want
Hello Jane
I am a huge fan of your recipes and cakes. Apologies if this has been mentioned but would you know if this can be successfully frozen, please? I was just a little worried about freezing the crumble and if it might end up a bit soggy? Thank you for your help
Hi jane can you use rhubarb in this recipe ?
You can do!
I used rhubarb last week and it was even better than the apple version I made the week before!
Hi Jane, definitely going to try this as part of a 2 tier birthday cake…! Would it work if I used 2 deep 6” tins instead of the 8”..have you tried this?
The cake is quite deep already so I really would recommend reducing the recipe for a 6″! I usually use 2/3 of a recipe for a 6″!
Could I swap the Apple for plums as they are in season?
Can’t wait to try this recipe!
The plums may soften more so compared to the apple, but otherwise yes! x
Hi Jane, can’t wait to try this one! Do you know what tip(s) you used to pipe the buttercream? I always seem to use too small ones :/
I buy medium or large sizes from Iced Jems! My favourite is the medium 2D closed star piping tip, or the large round nozzle!
Hi Jane- I love apple crumble and really liked the cupcakes recipe you did! I’m not a massive fan of buttercream so I was wondering, do you think this recipe or the cupcake recipe could work as a traybake and if so what size tin do you think would work best? I have seen your cookie bar recipe but I really like this one. Thank you for your help!
I made this today as a traybake in an 8” square tin, I used half the ingredients (quantities slightly adjusted as I only had large eggs), it worked perfectly & is absolutely delicious. I will definitely be making this again.
Looks delicious. Would adding some sultanas work ok?
I don’t see why not! x
Hi Jane,
This looks delish! My husband loves apple crumble
but hates cinammon!
Is it ok to leave cinnamon out of the cakes or swap
for something else?
Then I’d top with custard buttercream.
Thank you!
Amazing I also chopped up some white chocolate and put on top with the crumble. I made this yesterday with my niece who came over from Canada. Everyone loved it so much it there’s nothing left already and it hasn’t even been 12 hours.
Hi
I’m going to make this tomorrow but Ive only have two 8 inch sandwich tins. There not very deep. If I halfed the recipe would I still get a decent size cake and not a pancake😂 thanks
Hiya! Its probably best to maybe try 2/3 of the cake rather than half, as I reckon it should still fit with 2/3! x
Great thank you very much 😊
Great recipe! What size tin do you use? x
It’s mentioned in the method.. x
This looks amazing! Hoping to make it for my boyfriend’s birthday, however, he has had a few health issues recently and so is trying to go gluten free where he can. Obviously I can just switch the flour for gluten free, however I know sometimes the quantities used need to be altered slightly as a result – I don’t know if you have any tips/experience with gluten free flour or know if I would need to alter anything here with this recipe? Thank you! x
Hiya! Stereotypically you can just switch it over, it can just often be slightly crumbly. For this its probably worth just switching.. but yes a good quality brand such as Doves Farm. x
Hoping to make this today,is there anything I can use instead of cinnamon?
Any spice you fancy!
I’ve just baked this today and it is absolutely delicious. Definitely a cake to bake when having friends over
Ooh thank you so much! I am so happy you loved it!
Does it need to be refrigerated?
No 🙂
Thank you. This cake is soooo yummy – I think you did see my post on instagram. Just wondered about something. for the cake i made, i used apples from a friend’s garden and it took about an hour of baking in total. I am totally obsessed with the cake and will make it again. My only issue was the cake was too tall for my liking. Is it possible to use 2 x 12 inches round tins instead? and perhaps adjusting the baking time?
I would not recommend two 12″ tins at all, the volume difference is far too large it wouldn’t work very well at all. I’d say two 9″ tins would work best if you want it slightly thinner.. or 10″ at a push, but you risk the apples not cooking properly if you reduce the size and baking time.
Baked this for my husband who adores all things apple. It is easy – and truly delicious, but it struggled to hold its delicate shape when getting it out of the tin. Any suggestions for making it a little more resilient?
Umm make sure its fully cooled and be careful? Hard to say really as I’ve never had an issue getting a cake out of a tin. Make sure you line the tin properly? x
Fabulous cake! Can’t wait to try it. Please can you tell me what sprinkles you used, they look like caramel?
They’re salted caramel chunk sprinkles x
Very nice! I will have to look out for some. Many thanks. So excited to make this cake, I think I may try it for MIL’s birthday, she’ll love it. x