Mulling Spiced Apple Coffee Cake with Spiced Streusel

This cake was almost the death of me.

Actually, that should be cakeS. These cakes were almost the death of me. Sweet, delicious death. 

I got it into my head that I wanted to make a coffee cake. But not just any coffee cake. No, I needed one that was warm and spicy and speckled with apples. One that was so purely autumnal it warmed the tummy and the soul.

Plus, it needed to be covered with streusel because, let’s be real, coffee cake is just a vehicle for streusel at the end of the day.

I made one cake, and it was good. So good I shared majority of it with my neighbors and coworkers because I didn’t want to eat the whole thing. It wasn’t winning any awards in the looks department though. I knew I could do better.

And so I did. I made the cake you see before you now. And this one, oh ho! This one! It was so good that I didn’t share. Not one piece. Nope. I ate this entire cake by.my.self. It wasn’t all at once, or even in one day, no, it was over a few days. But still, an entire cake. And me. It’s the most significant relationship I’ve been in in months. That, my friends, is the mark of a good cake. 

Don’t be like me. Make this Mulling Spiced Apple Coffee Cake with Spiced Streusel and share it. Enjoy the tender apples, warm spices, light cake, and crunchy streusel with friends. They’ll thank you for it. And so will your jeans, because I don’t care who you are, no one’s eating an entire cake and fitting in their skinnies the next week. Ain’t happening.

Mulling Spiced Apple Coffee Cake with Spiced Streusel (makes one 9-inch cake)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3 TBSP apple cider mulling spices, such as Aspen, divided

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup plain Greek yogurt (nonfat is fine)

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups peeled and finely chopped apples (I used gala)

For the Spiced Streusel:

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. apple cider mulling spices

¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat, stir in two tablespoons of the mulling spices and set aside to cool. (If you browned the butter, I wouldn’t hate you. It’d actually be kind of amazing, but heck if I’m making a third cake…)

While the butter cools, prepare the streusel by combining the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and mulling spices in a medium bowl and then cut in the butter using a fork. Mixture should be crumbly and form clumps. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, remaining tablespoon of mulling spices, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Pour cooled butter into the bowl of a stand mixer along with brown sugar. Beat on medium to medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, vanilla, and yogurt, mixing to incorporate and scraping the sides. When all the ingredients are combined, increase speed to medium-high to high and beat until mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 more minutes. I mean it, light and fluffy, the batter should look pale! This is where a lot of the lift in this cake comes from.

Working in three batches, add the dry ingredients to the mixer SLOWLY. Mix until fully combined before adding the next batch, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Stir in apples.

Pour into prepared pan and smooth out top. Sprinkle streusel over top of batter and press down lightly.

Baked in preheated oven for 50 - 60 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Check the cake after 35 minutes and if the streusel is becoming too brown, cover loosely with a piece of tinfoil and continue baking.

Remove cake from oven and allow to cool until just a bit above room temperature before removing ring from pan.

Cake can be served warm or at room temperature, but is also delicious chilled.

Cake for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. Do it.