This is a tale of two cakes. I had this brilliant idea to take a recipe for an apple coffee cake and put some streusel topping on it. Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?
Well, what you cannot do is put too many apples and too much streusel and expect it to rise and be nice and cakey. AND, if you put it in a normal size cake tin and fill it to the top with the streusel topping, you’re going to clean the oven for an hour. Just take my word for it.
See how all the cake bits had to squeeze out the sides because the inny bits were too heavy? Did we eat it anyway? Absolutely
If you cover it with pouring custard, you’ll never regret that there’s a foot of streusel topping. I got the streusel idea from Martha Stewart but she must have made a cake the size of Georgia because I had heaps left over for cake #2 and I’ve still got a container of it. I’ve adapted the recipe for human consumption.
John and I enjoyed the cake with a good friend who’d stopped by on their way north and John doesn’t like cake as a rule but he had 3 pieces of it. I think having the custard over the top made a difference. The only thing left were those big side lumps that were stuck to the tin, looking like the ramparts of a fort.
I got up this morning and thought I’d try the cake again and this time I’d chop the apples and add to the mix and layer very thin slices on top.
Once I skillfully (not) placed the thin apple slices on top, I dusted it with the stresel topping.
Then it went into the oven for 30 minutes and 10 minutes after that it looked like this.
Now I’m pretty sure everyone has the same problem I do of getting the first slice out of the way. I call that one “the photographer’s slice.” The second and all subsequent slices come out just fine. Only the first one comes out looking like a dog’s breakfast.
This was perfect as a treat for a young visitor today. I couldn’t resist drizzling it with some homemade caramel sauce.
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp coarse salt
- 113 grams (4 oz, ½ stick) butter
- ½ cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans or walnuts
- 2 medium apples peeled and chop one and slice the other thinly
- 60 grams butter, melted
- 200ml milk
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 190 grams self-rising flour
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 100 grams sugar (I used raw)
- pinch salt
- Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt together.
- Cut the butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers.
- Mix in pecans and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 180C / 350F
- Prepare apples just before making cake so they don't turn brown and ugly
- Place melted butter in in mixing bowl and add the milk, egg and vanilla extract and mix well in a mixer or with a wire whisk.
- Add flour, sugar and salt and mix till well combined.
- Add chopped apple and pour into a greased and floured tin
- Place apple slices on top in a circular pattern.
- Dust the top with streusel mixture.
- Bake for 30 minutes or til cake is risen and done.
You are pretty brilliant my friend, no joke 😀
Love love love this recipe, bookmarked twice!
Cheers
CCU
LOL you just make my day
You would hear a word of complaint from me or anyone else Maureen, I’d take either version, and I’d even enjoy the overflow bits! I always bake my cakes on a parchment lined cookie sheet to avoid the cleanup!
Obviously I wasn’t thinking or I’d have done that too! 🙂
Wow! Coffee cake it sounds different. Thanks for the recipe i will try it in home. Here is for Indian dish lovers. ClickIndian Recipes
Thanks for coming by and leaving a comment!
thats so lovely! 🙂 i would love to try on my own too. hopefully it doesnt fail
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How lovely to see you again, I hope you try it too. 🙂
Well it’s absolutely beautiful! Love the “Pouring custard” and bet that would be good on anything. I like the crunchy cliff hangers – tasty. Have a lovely weekend Maureen!
I never knew pouring custard before I moved here but you can buy it in the store in a cardboard milk-type container. I made my own but I have bought it in the past.
It must be fall in your neck of the woods if you’re making apple desserts?? Looks delicious Maureen. Have a great weekend!
It is! The end of summer was over a week ago although you’d never know it from the weather. 🙂
I’ve had more than my share of “do over” dishes because my brilliant concept turned out not to be so brilliant after all. Both versions are good but I really do like the idea of the first one. This sounds weird, but maybe put the streusel on the bottom – that way you can pile it thick and it won’t weight down the cake. Kind of a streusel upside down cake. 😉 Or maybe not. 😉 (See why I have so many do overs?!) Anyway, great looking cake. And I wish I could solve the problem of the first slice, too. That always get me.
I’m glad I’m not the only one with “first slice” issues. Somewhere on some how to do this brilliant thing, someone will have sorted it out. Now when you see that, let me know?
I love streusel on top of anything sweet, and this looks delish, I would have eaten it too. I recently was watching the foodnetwork and they said when you make fruit cobblers not to completely cover the fruit with the batter so it can breath and the topping can get crusty, huh never knew that, maybe the same thing applied to your cake? Who knows as long as it was tasty 🙂
Yes, that’s exactly what happened to me. The cake batter had no place to expand.
What a sinful and delicious looking glaze!
I couldn’t resist drizzling it with caramel sauce 🙂
I like to offer to take every last bit of any of your “overflows”! Looks scrumptious!
I want to make this cake SO bad. As to the pouring custard, did you post a recipe for it previously cause, as far as I know, Ontario, Canada doesn’t sell such a product and I can see using it again and again. 🙂
PS: I made the coffee cake today and it was great, even without the pouring custard. 🙂
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/130645.html
I’m quite pleased about this 🙂
Pass me a slice of your beautiful cake, please Maureen! ; )
I would LOVE to 🙂
Hungry….you are making me hungry.
Both are delicious in different ways.
I love it when you show us you “mistakes.”
Gives me hope.
I’m pretty ordinary, Roberta. The difference between me and people who say they can’t cook is that I don’t give up til I master it. 🙂
You know what I like the best about this recipe? The “pouring custard’ part and it’s all soft and yumm. You come up with just awesome recipes 🙂
Pouring custard is pretty common here. I just made normal custard and added more cream. 🙂
I love apple cakes, the streusel topping is so tempting!
How awesomely good does that look? YUM! Hope you make that when I come visit!
I’d make anything you want, my sweet friend!
I’m working on a good pouring custard recipe. Today’s version was more of a ‘dolloping’ one but it tasted great and that’s what counts. It will be a work in progress.
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/130821.html
Thanks again for the great coffee cake recipe. I’ve given up chocolate/ice cream/candy for Lent and I needed a sweet treat. 🙂
I like the sound of both varieties of this dish! The messy outcomes just give you more to eat yourself 🙂 Mind you, cleaning the oven is not fun – so I might streamline straight to your second, neater option. Thanks for the recipe!
I used a mixture of ammonia and baking soda and it washed right out of the oven so I was thankful for that. Nothing on the sides of the oven and that’s the most difficult to clean for me.
You’re back! I would love some of this cake, Maureen. It looks so moist and full of flavour. What a shame about your oven though! And I would like mine with caramel sauce too xx
You’re on when you come back, you can spend the day here and I’ll make that cake for afternoon tea AND I’ll make dinner.
I have a soft spot for apple tea cakes anyway, but with the struesel topping it looks just fabulous! Thanks for sharing!
The American in me always says coffee cake but I’ll admit the basic recipe was apple tea cake and it came from the Thermomix recipe forum. 🙂
Sorry that your first cake went awry but so very glad you weren’t so discouraged that you gave up. With its apples and streusel topping, this coffee cake is meant for Sunday mornings. Thanks for sharing.
I’d be happy with any morning and this cake 🙂
If first you don’t succeed…but from the looks of that one slice dripping in glaze, I gather it was well worth it!
Astonishing photos…you are such a great photograph. Your recipe is very much to my liking, I shall try it but it will probably look a lot less interesting :).
Maureen, that looks so lusciously good that even though I am full from dinner, I salivated like one of Pavlov’s puppies! 😛 And yes the first slice is never a pretty one is it?
I love apple cake and what could ever be better than strusel. it looks deluciousa and I wish I had some
Hi, Maureen!!!
This is my first time here. I love your orgasmic creations.
This apple streusel coffee cake is really to die for — perfect accompained by a good cup of coffee. I cannot stop staring at the first photo…
Hi Denise and lovely to meet you. Thanks heaps for visiting and I hope we get to be great friends.
Putting ‘pouring custard’ on top would be like adding butter to anything — it’s gonna be delicious! However, I must say, I LIKE the look of the first cake, the way it almost reaches out of the pan to grab your attention and invite you to dig-in. As a big fan of streusel topping, you couldn’t discourage me with a foot or more, I would be ready with plate in hand for my serving (or two). 🙂
far be it from me to discourage you from eating a foot of streusel 🙂 It WAS really good.
Is there anything more wonderful than a fruity coffee cake with struesel? Not in my book – this looks fantastic!
Lovely to see you, Donalyn and thanks heaps for the comment. I’m still swooning over your FANTASTIC pecan pie. It’s SO mine.
haha I laughed at the ‘dog’s breakfast’ comment, and I agree 🙂 I’d still eat it, I think this looks delicious.
I like things to look good when I serve them but sometimes things just taste good. I remember once I made some scrambled eggs with onions, peppers, mushrooms and cheese and my father said, “Maureen, anyone who’d eat that would eat shit with a rusty spoon.” I’ve never forgotten it and I laugh every time I make those eggs. 🙂
bahahaha I’m so stealing that term “The photographer’s slice”! Brilliant!
Cleaning the oven for an hour… not so brilliant. Glad it all worked out in the end though! x
Be my guest 🙂 I’m sure I’ve pinched a phrase of yours over the past year or so, Shellie 🙂
This looks like a scrumptious cake Maureen. I don’t cook many cakes these days – perhaps that’s why they never seem to look great, I’m out of practice – but I firmly believe it’s the taste that counts!
It IS all about taste but I love it when things I make look as good as they taste. Makes for better photos.
The cake looks really moreish, the caramel sauce would have gone down a treat too. Glad to be reading your posts again.
The caramel sauce was an afterthought and I had to hurry and snap the pics before the caramel melted into the custard. 🙂
What a lovely coffee cake! I can’t imagine a coffee cake without apples and streusel seems like such a perfect topping for apples!
Julia, we were both doing cinnamon and apples this week. I loved your pancakes with yoghurt.
Oh I am so pleased that you are back!!
This cake looks like one I have been searching for for about three years. My mother used to make a Streusel Coffee Cake when I was a kid and it had Demerara Sugar in it and loads of cinnamon. This will be the next cake I make 🙂
I used raw sugar but demerara sounds good too 🙂
This has got to be our favorite kind of baked good – a coffee cake stuffed with apples and topped with streusel. This is perfect! The texture looks lovely. And I will say that my dog would love a slice for breakfast. As would husband and I no matter how it looks (but you are right, it is me who eats the messed up, pre-photo op slice). Gorgeous, Maureen, and bookmarked.
I’m not the only one who has trouble with the “photographer’s first slice” 🙂
You had me at the foot of streusel! YUM!
yeah, I got a bit carried away and when I turned the light on in the oven and had a peek through the window and saw that the batter had nowhere to go than out the sides I realized I’d made a teensy oops. It tasted great though I wouldn’t have served it to the Queen. 🙂
Maureen if you hadn’t said anything I’d have thought that the first one was meant to look like that and it was some sort of crust. It looks like two of my favourite things have merged into one here! I think I’d have to add a big scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
I really liked this cake, Claire and I’ll be making it again.
You’ve certainly got me salivating early in the morning Maureen, what a way to start the day, having to change my shirt because of drool! 🙂 This looks wonderful, I’m so glad you didn’t give up after the first attempt!
Oh Chris, I would never want you to have a damp shirt. Come on over for a piece of cake. 🙂
Woah…look at that caramel dripping down. Amazing cake.
Thanks a lot, Adrian!
I’m absolutely loving this cake. Delicious.
Hi Nisrine and thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I really appreciate making new friends. 🙂 Off to visit you!
I am sooooo excited to see you back, we missed your posts, and you!!!! I would have the same problem, I would want to add loads of struesel…..because it is DELISH:-) Your coffee cake sounds fabulous, and the custard sauce and caramel sauce you topped on the cake…..oh my goodness, YUM! Hugs, Terra
Aww, you always make me feel terrific. What a lovely person you are even if you chose someone to marry that drinks from the wine bottle.
Both versions look scrumptious.
Thanks a lot, Wizzy!
Maureen you had me hooked from the first picture…great recipe!
Thanks, Jessica and lovely to see you, it’s been ages!
Now you have me craving coffee cake! This apple cake looks to die for! Sometimes I judge a treat like this as to how long it would last in this house. I’d give this one 2 days. And if you don’t know – only 2 people live here. 🙂 What a delicious coffee cake!!!!
An apple a day keeps the doctor away, and I think custard and caramel sauce help with that, too. 🙂 Hope you had a great week end!
I had a lovely weekend and hope you did too. I love eating cake and telling me it will keep the doctor away. I knew there was a reason I really liked you. 🙂
I love a good streusel cake! And even better with apples. Thanks for the recipe!
It’s Autumn.. time for apples 🙂
Do you know what’s funny, that second photo is my favourite. I love happy oops moments. This is stunning Maureen.
It was yummy too. 🙂
Oh wow, I wouldn’t have cared how this looked either – sounds delicious! Sorry I haven’t been quite around these parts, Maureen! Been so busy with starting full-time work, I’m only able to catch up on my blog-reading today because it is a long weekend for us 😛 Hope you’ve been doing well!
That’s quite interesting with the custard on top. Good to have you back! 🙂
Ooh, lovely pics and lovely cake – perfect for the new seasons apples just coming in now. If only it would cool down here so I could bake!
Wow that looks fantastic! I love the caramel drizzle. The first one looks really tasty as well. Aside from the leaking, were there any other differences between the two?
the first one had more streusel so I liked the topping better but the second one had a much better texture
This sounds SO good. It’s gorgeous too!
Thanks for coming by, Dorothy and I just love your crusty site!
It looks perfect to me! Duly noting the observations you made about this cake. I have banana bread in the oven right now and I went a little overboard with the bananas and making substitutions to my original recipe. I have my fingers crossed that it will rise properly. It smells good–hoping it will taste good!
Instead of banana bread what I have been really wanting to make is coffee cake but I’ve been too lazy to make streusel. If only I could have knocked on your door to borrow some of your leftovers! I would invited myself inside for a slice of this gorgeous cake, too. 🙂
you can drop by anytime for streusel. I’m sure I’ll have some in the fridge for you.
Maureen, this cake looks fantastic! I would love have it with my morning coffee…always something sweet is welcome. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe and have a lovely week!
That caramel drizzle really drew me in. Fantastic addition. Who could resist it. I’m sure as you were putting that first cake in the oven you thought to yourself, that’s probably too full. I’ve done the same thing.
Yes, the coffee cake was outstanding with just the streusel, but then you had go and pour on that lovely caramel sauce! If I were you visitor, I’m not sure I’d leave until every last piece was gone!
yeah, I’m bad like that 🙂
Combining two recipes sounds like a perfect idea! Double pleasure for the people who consumed it! Looks scrumptious!
oh lordy this cake looks amazing!
it tasted pretty good too 🙂
if only we could sit and have a slice of this together! WOW! Is all i know to say. it looks amazing
This cake looks soo good, just my kind of dessert. Lovely!
Wow Maureen! This cake sure looks great…now that I am sipping on my coffee I wish I could have a slice of this cake.
Hope you are having a great week 🙂
Your cake looks WONDERFUL, especially the top picture with the drippy caramel sauce yum! I could with some right now with a nice cuppa.
Nazneen
Oh, man! I love coffee cake! The apple addition sounds fantastic!
That’s so true about “the photographer’s slice”!! So hard to take that out. What was your trick? 😉 Maureen, this coffee cake looks so good and I love the streusel! That alone makes this cake 120% better. I need a cup of good coffee for this! YUM!
I broke it into pieces and ate it 🙂
You had me chuckling out-loud 4 times reading this! I’m definitely putting this cake together this weekend as I’m hoping to have just as much FUN as you seem to have had! Sure hope you write more than recipes my dear, as you have the gift! You write just-as-if-we’re-chit-chatting over the back porch fence! Actually as much as I’d like you for a chum, I’m glad ya don’t live next door or I’d never.get anything accomplished!
Wish me luck!! And let me know if you’ve written/published anything else, as I sincerely mean it, you’re a gifted writer! ??