Procrastibaking: Apple Coffee Cake
Lindsey Botkin | October 18, 2023
Welcome to Procrastibaking, my new recipe review column. This week to avoid studying for midterms, I baked a fresh apple coffee cake.
One of the things that sets this coffee cake apart from others is the use of apples and apple cider. That's right, my twist on this recipe marries the best that coffee cake has to offer with apple pie filling, and fresh cider to create a fun variation of a beloved dish.
I used fresh apples from Stepp's Hillcrest Orchard. I used two different varieties of apples in the mix itself because I wanted the crunch from the Stayman apples while also including the light sweet taste of the Golden Delicious apples. Cooking this mixture on medium heat allowed the apples to soften into the apple pie filling everyone loves! This method of cooking apples has the added benefit of creating a sugary syrup that can top the cake once it comes out of the oven or as a flavoring in coffees and lattes.
For the coffee cake recipe, I used one from a cooking blog named Go Go Go Gourmet. While this was the first recipe that I have used from Go Go Gourmet I found it to be easy to follow, and it produced exactly the kind of product I expected. This recipe calls for milk to be used in the batter. Instead of milk, I elected to use apple cider to add more apple flavor to the dish.
The process of making the cake is one of the less complex recipes in technique, however, it does take a good chunk of time even if you are an experienced baker. The process of creating the apple syrup and then assembling the cake from scratch is somewhere around a 2-hour process, but I promise in the end it is beyond worth it!
Apple Filling:
5 Apples (cut into cubes)
¼ Cup Brown Sugar
½ Tsp Vanilla Extract
Rinse and cut your apples into cubes leaving the skin on the apples.
Once they’ve all been cut, toss them into a medium saucepan and turn the heat on low.
Add in your brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.
Allow the apples to simmer until the meat of the apple is soft to the touch, but crisp in the center.
Once they have reached this consistency drain the syrup that has formed out of the saucepan and into a small bowl.
Take the apples off the heat and set them aside.
After following the recipe for the cake batter and pouring the batter into the appropriately sized pan, you will sprinkle the apple-like filling on top of the cake. As the cake bakes the apples will sink through the batter and into the cake, evenly dispersing them throughout.
Overall this fall treat was a fantastic way to kick off the autumn season. The apples elevate the dish by adding both flavor and texture. The golden, delicious apples and the stayman apples complement each other nicely, balancing the sweet and the acidic flavors furthering the complexity of the dish. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of baking and assembling this cake.