Apple cinnamon cake dripping in caramel sauce and covered in crunchy streusel topping. This is the fall dessert you’ve all been waiting for– Caramel Apple Coffee Cake. The sautéd apples are layered in, making it elegant and glamorous and perfect for any party from birthdays to book clubs.
I was in a pinch, so I doused my cake with store bought caramel, but feel free to use your favorite caramel sauce recipe and pour it over the cake warm so it sinks into the cake.
If you wanted, you could always just grate the apples and stir them into the batter or even cup them up smaller and stir them in. I wanted to layer mine so I could see them better in the photos and I like finding big pieces of soft apple in my cake, it just seems more festive to me 🙂
I just eye-balled my batter as I poured most of it into the pan and then layered apples on top. Don’t fret too much about it!
The trickiest part about this cake is just knowing when it’s done. Because there’s layers of apple in it when you go to stick a toothpick or something in the center if you poke an apple, you won’t know if it’s done or not because you can’t get to the middle of the cake! I poked mine a few times until I found a spot without an apple and then I could figure it out. Looking back, I’m realizing if you just don’t put any apples in the dead center, then you can easily check the middle of the cake! Problem solved!!
Be generous with your caramel sauce! The cake isn’t all that sweet and you’ll want the gooey caramel to act as your glaze. If you’re serving this at a party, you can even just cute slices of the cake and then spoon on the caramel to individual pieces or let your guests put theirs on.
Is your mouth watering yet? I’m so excited for fall!
Fun fact: I love bobbing for apples, I think it’s hilarious and so fun! I’m terrible at it but there’s something comforting about fall that makes me want to be a 10-year-old kid again.
Caramel Apple Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- STREUSEL TOPPING:
- 1 C. flour
- 3/4 C. chopped nuts optional (walnuts or pecans work great)
- 1/2 C. butter melted
- 1/3 C. brown sugar packed
- 3 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- pinch salt
- CAKE:
- 3 apples peeled and cut
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1/2 C. butter
- 1 C. sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 C. flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 2/3 C. milk or buttermilk
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- Caramel Sauce store bought or homemade
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch spring form pan or you can use a small casserole dish.
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2. Make topping by combining all ingredients, set aside.
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3. Sautè apples in 2 Tbsp. butter on the stove and set aside.
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4. Beat 1/2 C. butter and sugar together.
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5. Add in eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed.
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6. In a separate bowl. combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Pour half of these dry ingredients into the butter/sugar/egg mixture and gently mix. Add buttermilk and vanilla and the follow with the remaining dry ingredients. Mix only until combined.
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7. Pour 2/3 of the batter into your prepared pan and spread out evenly. (See photos above.) Layer in half of the apples and then top with the rest of the batter and apples. Sprinkle on topping and bake for 40-55 minutes or until the cake is set. Check at 30 minutes, you may want to cover with foil to keep the top from browning too much. (read above in blog post for tips on knowing when it's done)
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8. Let cool or serve warm. Pour 3/4 C. or caramel sauce over the top just before serving!
I love how this cake turned out! I have about 20 apple trees in my backyard and this would be the perfect cake to make to use some of the apples up! I will be trying this soon. Thanks!
What type of apple did you use? I know some are better for baking than others. Looks great!
I used granny smith but gala will work great too!
Looks incredibly moist and perfect for ringing in the fall season!
Looks amazing but where does the coffee come into it? Caramel apple COFFEE cake
Coffee cake actually doesn’t have coffee in it! Weird, I know. It’s meant to be eaten with coffee and the texture and flavors compliment each other. Traditional Coffee Cake is vanilla and brown sugar in the flavor…no coffee!
This looks delicious! I could be missing it, but did you say how long you sauted the apples?
Just 3-5 Minutes!
I had the cake in the over for an hour and 15 minutes and it’s raw from about an inch in from the sides, I don’t live at a weird altitude or anything and I’ve never had this problem with any of my baking before. Any suggestions? 🙁
That is so weird I’m so sorry! Next time you can try to up the cooking temperature a little and just bake it for longer. So sorry!
Hi…..can u send me th caramel sauce’s recipe please?
I used Envy apples and cut them into smaller bite sizes. I mixed a little more than half the apples in the batter and the rest on top with the streusel. It turned out Great! I’ll definitely make this again. Love your site. Thanks!
I’m so glad you loved it as much as I did!
OMG, this cake looks so so delicious. I so want to bake this right now.
Can this be made with cake mix?
Yes!
1 box white or yellow cake mix
1 C. sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 eggs
1/3 C. oil
Is the the sour cream substitute for the milk?? Or would you still need to add milk??
Oh sorry! You can add 1/3 C. of milk to that!
Just wondering how long you sauté the apples for… Thanks!!
Just 3-5 minutes or so. And honestly you don’t really have to, if you cut your apples some what thin, they’ll bake find if you pop them in raw!
Good morning! This looks devine! What changes are needed to make this using a
9×13 in pan?
Thanks
The baking time will probably be decreased a little bit, other than that, no changes!
Hello! And thanks for sharing this cake! I would like to know that if I don’t have buttermilk handy and use milk, would the cake still come out the same or should I use plain yogurt as the subsitute?
You can use milk, or just add a scant tablespoon of vinegar to the cup, then fill to the measurement with milk and let it sit a few minutes to sour for the buttermilk effect.
Regular milk is fine! Buttermilk is just more rich and thick!
Hi there,
Love this recipe….my batter was quite thick but it turned out perfectly! Luscious and moist with a taste of apples and cinnamon. Definitely a keeper!
Awesome post.
the topping is like a wet doughy mixture is that supposed to happen with the butter
Just made this and it turned out so great! Added a handful of instant oats to the streusel topping instead of nuts but otherwise followed the directions exactly. The cake set perfectly at the 55 minute mark. Fluffy and delicious! I plan on adapting them into cupcakes for my next family gathering.
Hi Lizzy. I’d love to give this recipe a try but I’m using very small apples. How many cups would you say this recipe uses? Thanks!!
U geeft aan in het recept b.v. 1 c meel en ook, 02/01c boter. In Nederland werkt men met hoeveelheden in grammen hoeveel gram is dit.
Groetjes Lieke
Coffee cake is an old fashioned term for cake you would put out with coffee for guests.
The flavor of this cake is amazing, I should’ve used granny smith instead of gala. But I also had an issue with doneness. In for 50 minutes, topping was getting too dark, even with foil. Middle wasn’t any where near done. Had to put it back in, center fell, but still tasted great.