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
Blimey – Made this for my Coffee Shop and it went down very well so much so I had to bake it again for the day after as the 1st one sold out within half an hour of opening.
Fantastic cake and will defo be making again! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
A show-stopping crowd-pleaser of a cake!! My go-to recipe every year in autumn when there are cooking apples to use. The cinnamon buttercream is delicious and also goes well on the toffee apple loaf cake recipe on this website as well. Easy to follow recipe and AMAZING results!!!
Hi, I’d like to make this in 2x 10inch tins how would I use the same recipe? Thanks
I would add another half of the recipe on and split between two tins! x
I only have 1 8” tin, could I mix the batter and then bake half and then the other half after? Or would I be best halving all ingredients mixing and baking half then mix and bake the rest after? Thanks x
I think it would be best to make half and bake, and then make the second and bake – cake mix is always best used fresh! x
Fabulous recipe!
My FAVE recipe I’ve made from JP so far. ❤️
I can’t decide which of you recipes to try first. They all look yummy and probably will start with the red velvet x
I’d really love to try it with rhubarb. Should I use the same quantities as apple? And would you cook before hand or not! Going to try it with the custard buttercream for my work bake off entry! I won’t last year with your rolo cheesecake!
Yes it does, and it depends on the type of rhubarb, but it should be absolutely fine without cooking first!! x
This cake is absolute heaven! It turned out perfectly. However, I personally thought it was a bit too sweet with the buttercream frosting, next time I will try making it with a cream cheese frosting instead.
I agree, it has so much flavor and is delicious! I’ll definitely be making it again. I also thought it was too sweet, though. Is it possible to reduce the sugar in the cake to 1/2 or even 1/3 of the total amount without ruining the consistency of the cake batter?
As this cake is a standard cake sponge, reducing anything can cause the sponge to be different unfortunately, but thats up to you x
Made this several times and it never fails, I’ve also just used the cake recipe which is equally delicious
Hi
I only have 1 deep 8 inch tin (it’s 3inches on the sides) and usually put all the ingredients in the tin then halve it once it’s cooled. Would all the recipe be able to go in one tin?
If not would they be able to go in 2 smaller 8 inch sandwich tins?
Thank you and can’t wait to try it!
The cake is really quite deep so it probably won’t fit in one tin, or two sandwich tins. It might be best to make half, or bake one by one x
Hi Jane, when you say cooking apples which variety specifically? Would bramley be best?
Thanks x
Yes, generally I find bramley best!
OMG! I am in cake heaven and so are my family! I’ve just finished my second helping of this cake and all you could hear where moans of appreciation!
The only thing I changed was I made the two tins but didn’t sandwich together, instead we served one hot out of the oven with ice cream and the other I’m taking to work tomorrow!
Quick question though, can this be frozen?
Ahh yay! And it can, but the crumble part may be soft once thawed! X
Hi! Would this work with Demerara sugar please? And how would I make a custard buttercream please, i am using rhubarb instead of apple x
It should be okay with Demerara! And have a look at my custard cream cakes as that’s what I have on my blog at the moment!
Hi, i’m going to make this cake for my brother -in-law’s birthday looks really good i was just wondering if you can use eating apples instead of cooking ones thanks
Ideally not – eating apples dissolve a lot quicker and can turn to mush, because of the timing that the cake is in the oven for!
Hi,
Can you use dark brown sugar in this recipe instead of light brown sugar?
Yes you can!