Mom's Easy Apple Coffee Cake

5 from 3 votes

You only need a few pantry ingredients and about 15 minutes to prepare this easy Apple Coffee Cake recipe with a cinnamon-sugar topping!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword apple cake, coffee cake recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 25

Total Time 40

Servings people

Calories 242kcal

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish, line with parchment paper so that the parchment overhangs the side of the dish, then grease the parchment as well. Set aside.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract; mix until well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt.
Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture; mix on medium-low speed until just combined. Add the sour cream and mix to combine. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix just until combined.
Fold in the diced apples.
Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish.
Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar topping on top.
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes, then lift the cake out of the pan with the overhanging parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Add more milk to thin the glaze, or add extra powdered sugar to thicken. Drizzle over the top of the cake.
Slice the cake into squares and serve!

Make sure that the ingredients are all at room temperature before preparing the batter. This helps them mix together smoothly and easily, without the need for over-mixing (which can ruin the texture of a cake).
Be careful not to over-mix the batter. You want it to come together so that everything is combined, but then stop! Mixing too much will result in a dry, dense cake.
Use full-fat sour cream (not a lower-fat alternative) for a rich, flavorful, moist, and tender cake.
Peel the apples and dice into very small, uniform pieces. Peeled apples bake smoothly into the batter and eliminate any tough, unpleasant texture.
This recipe yields one small 8-inch coffee cake. For a larger cake, double all of the ingredients and bake in a 9 x 13-inch dish for about 30 minutes.
To make a similar apple coffee cake in a Bundt pan, use this recipe, but fold 2 peeled, diced apples into the batter.
Use full-fat plain Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream.
Add finely chopped pecans or walnuts to the streusel for some extra crunch and toasted nutty flavor.
Fold raisins into the batter. For a real treat, soak the raisins in rum first!