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.