Ultra soft apple crumb cake is loaded with warm cinnamon apples and extra crumb topping. A homemade version of classic New York-style crumb cake, this breakfast cake is buttery and moist, deliciously tender, and drizzled with sweet maple icing.
I originally published this recipe in 2017 and have since added new photos and more success tips.
If crumb topping is your love language, you’ve come to the right place. And if warm cinnamon apples make your mouth water, today’s your day. Finally, if soft buttery cake is your ideal indulgence, I’m your baker.
Today’s homemade apple crumb cake is like my apple cinnamon crumb muffins, apple cake, and apple cinnamon bread… but in breakfast/coffee cake form. Those are favorite seasonal recipes to make (along with pumpkin crumb cake muffins), so a cake version is a no-brainer. Readers have loved it:
One reader, Jean, commented: “One of the best crumb cakes I have ever made. The crumb topping adhered beautifully and made the cake. I also like the addition of sour cream to the cake which helped to make the cake moist, not dry like so many crumb cakes. ★★★★★“
One reader, Les, commented: “There is no other word to describe this cake than PERFECT! Tried many recipes from your site and this one is now in our top 3 best cakes… ★★★★★“
One reader, Martha, commented: “There are not enough superlatives to adequately describe this cake. Perfection. This is a keeper recipe. ★★★★★“
One reader, Sarah, commented: “THIS CAKE DESERVES WAY MORE THAN 5 STARS. Absolutely marvelous recipe… this will forever be my ‘go-to’ coffee cake recipe… the crumb topping is delightfully crunchy and is easily the best streusel I have ever had. ★★★★★“
Ingredients You Need & Why
Like my traditional coffee cake recipe, this is a butter- and sour cream-based cake, AKA the best kind of cake, and here’s what you need to make it:
- Flour: All-purpose flour provides the structure of this cake. It’s sturdy enough to support the thick batter and multiple layers of this crumb cake.
- Baking Soda + Baking Powder: Baking soda and baking powder help the cake rise.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens the cake, and you need brown sugar for the crumb topping.
- Butter: Butter adds flavor and creates structure in the creaming process.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream gives us an extremely moist crumb cake that’s a little denser than, say, a fluffy vanilla cake. Tight crumbs, like pound cake, but with a much softer texture. Don’t remove the fat from this cake by using a lower-fat alternative. Fat = flavor! We don’t want to skimp there. This is cake!
- Eggs: 3 eggs add richness and bind the ingredients together.
- Salt + Vanilla Extract: Use both for flavor.
- Cinnamon: We can’t have crumb cake without cinnamon!
- Apples: The star of apple crumb cake, of course.
Best Apples for This Cake
Use any variety of apples you enjoy! You need about 2-3 large apples for this recipe. Personally, I love tart Granny Smith apples paired with the sweet crumb cake. If you enjoy a certain type of apple in your apple pie or apple cinnamon scones, you’ll love it here, too.
- Tart apples I love: Granny Smith, Braeburn, Jonathan, and Pacific Rose
- Sweet apples I love: Jazz, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Gala, and Fuji
And here’s a full list of the best apples for baking.
Overview: How to Make Apple Crumb Cake
When I first tested this recipe, I mixed the apples into the cake batter (just like we do in my apple cinnamon muffins recipe). This was tasty, of course, but the pieces of apples each held a soggy outline inside the baked cake. It just… didn’t look appetizing. I found that layering the apples on top of the cake batter was best.
This gives us 3 delectable layers: a soft and buttery cake, topped with tender cinnamon-spiced apples, and then a TRUCK LOAD of crumb topping.
This apple crumb cake comes together easily.
Make the crumb topping first. Place that in the refrigerator or freezer until you need it. The colder the crumbs, the more they will hold shape in the oven.
Whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until combined—the mixture may look curdled, and that’s perfectly fine. Gently mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
Toss the apple chunks with cinnamon, then spread the thick batter into a 9×13-inch pan (this size is just right for the amount of batter). I am using this pan in the photos. Scatter the apples and crumb topping evenly over the batter, pressing the crumbs down firmly so they stick.
Bake until golden and set. If the top or edges begin browning too quickly, loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil to prevent over-baking.
Crumb Cake with Extra Crumbs
You’ll notice A LOT of ingredients in the crumb topping. Not in the number of ingredients, but in terms of the volume of ingredients… like more butter, sugar, and just as much flour as in the cake itself. Why? Because the crumb topping is the BEST PART of a CRUMB CAKE!
You’re using the same ingredients in the crumb topping as you are in the cake, so it’s an extremely convenient recipe. The gang’s all here: granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, melted butter, and flour, plus brown sugar. Make sure some crumbles stay in larger chunks because those are the best bites.
The crumb layer is literally half the cake and I see zero problem with this! Otherwise, you might as well just make a regular apple cake (also delicious, by the way)!
Icing Options
This apple crumb cake truly doesn’t need anything on top, but if the opportunity for sweet maple icing presents itself, we’d be fools to say no. Here are some wonderful icing options for this cake:
- Maple icing from my maple cinnamon rolls (what I use)
- Vanilla icing (my go-to topping for classic coffee cake and crumb cake muffins)
- Caramel icing from my apple cinnamon rolls
- Brown butter icing from my brown butter apple blondies
And if you are looking for more fall dessert inspiration, here is a list of 30+ fall cake recipes.
Apple Crumb Cake
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Crumb Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Delicious New York-style crumb cake with warm cinnamon apples and DOUBLE the buttery crumb topping! Make the crumb topping first, and then place it in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use. Cold crumbs hold their shape in the oven.
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Cake
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup (240g) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375g) peeled chopped apples (about 2–3 large apples, see Note)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- optional: maple icing, vanilla icing, or caramel icing from apple cinnamon rolls
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a glass or metal 9×13-inch baking pan or line with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Make the crumb topping: Mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium bowl. Stir in the melted butter. Using a fork, lightly mix in the flour until crumbles form. Don’t over-mix. Place in the refrigerator or freezer until you need it in step 6. Cold crumbs hold their shape in the oven.
- Make the cake: Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on high speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Add the eggs, sour cream, and the vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. The mixture will look curdled; that’s ok. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients until smooth. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick.
- Toss the chopped apples and cinnamon together.
- Spread the batter evenly into prepared baking pan. Top evenly with cinnamon-coated apples. Top with crumb topping. Using a silicone spatula or the back of a large spoon, press the crumb topping tightly down into the cake so it sticks.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the top or edges of the cake is/are browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
- Remove the cake from the oven and set on a cooling rack. Allow to slightly cool for at least 30-45 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Drizzle with optional icing, if desired.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Prepare cake through step 8. Cover the cake tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature, add icing if desired, and serve.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-inch Baking Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Apple Peeler | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Sour Cream: Sour cream is a key ingredient in this cake. I don’t suggest subbing the sour cream with a liquid—plain full-fat yogurt would work though. But don’t remove the fat from this cake by using a lower fat yogurt or sour cream alternative.
- Apples: For depth of flavor, it’s best to bake with a mix of sweet and tart apples. For this cake, I usually use about 2 large Honeycrisp apples and 1/2 of a large Granny Smith apple. For slicing, it’s best to chop the apple into thin pieces. Slice the apple, then cut each of those slices in half so you have smaller, thinner, easy-to-eat pieces. See photo above.
- Room Temperature: All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read more about the importance of room temperature ingredients.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I want to say I am a bit of a baker so I not only read recipes but I read reviews before I decide to make something. Your recipes however, are just divine so I just read the reviews to avoid any issues. When you mixed the strudel I saw right away that if not done just right it would be a disaster.
A few things that would absolutely help anyone would be to one, have a wide enough bowl. This would let you see more of whats going on and prevent over mixing. Two, after just a few seconds of mixing that is all that should be needed. Any more would not produce a chunky crumble. Three, dump the contents onto a rimmed cookie sheet and using just a fork in a stabbing manner, break up the chunks to even them out. four, place into the freezer for 5 minutes. Long enough for you to place the cake batter and apples into the pan.
Doing this yield a perfect crumble. Best I have ever made too. It was somewhat hard and I was able to break it up to even smaller pieces.
Perfect.
Thank you Sally. My daughter dreams of being a baker. Shes just changed her major in college to help her be like you someday.
This apple crumb cake is fantastic. Easy to make, and absolutely amazing. The house smelled so good while it was cooking, too. I will definitely make this again.
Can i make this in a couple of loaf pans?
Hi Rosanne, this recipe could work in loaf pans, but you’d need to divide it between 2 or 3 loaf pans – we’re unsure! Let us know if you give it a try.
Your recipes are amazing!!!!
Oh my!! This breakfast cake is amazing. Every recipe of yours that I have tried has been wonderful. Thank you, Sally!!
Made as written. Easy to prepare and just delicious. A definite keeper!
Absolutely delicious!
I made this last weekend and it was amazing, everyone loved it so will definitely be making it again. Made 2/3 of recipe in a square 9 inch tin.
Next time, I might sprinkle the crumb toward the end of the bake as it kind of clumped together but was still scrumptious.
This would also be perfect for cupcakes.
Thank you for this lovey, autumnal recipe. ☺️
Can you make this into a bundt cake?
Hi Lorie, We haven’t tested this specific one in a Bundt or tube pan, but you may enjoy our apple Bundt cake instead!
My friends love when I make your apple cinnamon crumb muffins so I was hoping to modify this recipe to be more similar than that. Do you think the texture of the cake will be affected much if I swap the white for brown? I’m hoping the extra moisture can be offset by a teaspoon or two of cinnamon but I’m not the most experienced baker so I’d love your opinion.
Hi S! You can swap the white sugar for brown, but it will make the cake a bit denser since brown sugar adds extra moisture. Cinnamon won’t balance that out; it just adds flavor. If you want to keep the texture closer to the original, try using half brown, half white sugar instead.
I made this a couple weeks ago and it was delicious! There is almost a 1:1 crumb to cake ratio, but my family loves the crumb part, so we were happy. I will definitely make it again with the following edits:
1) This cake was enormous. It filled a 15 x 9 in (2.75 qt) casserole dish. If you’re having a party, by all means! For my family, I will likely cut the recipe in half (or 2/3rds) because we were eating cake every single day (sometimes multiple times a day) for about 2 weeks…and it was too good and plentiful to pass up! We probably could have frozen it, but where’s the fun in that?!
2) I used macintosh apples which were totally fine but got mushy and blended into the boundary between the cake and the crumb almost like an applesauce layer. I liked it, but you may want to use a firmer baking apple
3) I will definitely use more apples next time! I would have liked this with a thick apple layer because the flavor is like apple pie…If your audience is not as into apples, keep the recipe as is.
Overall, very worth the time to make. A crowd pleaser all around! Like a homemade apple version of those little, individually wrapped Drake’s coffee cakes.
My sister made this a few weeks ago and insisted it was worth the work (lots of bowls, prep time longer than 25 minutes for her, etc)… and omg was she right! Absolutely delicious! I like the hints for the thinly sliced apples/cut in half and putting the crumb topping in the fridge. Soooo good! I will definitely reheat from storing in the fridge; served warm is a perfect fall recipe! I didn’t use any drizzle on top.
Maybe I didn’t mix the crumb topping enough but I have another recipe that includes a layer of apples in the middle instead of all at the top. It is moist and full of apple flavor
I think your ingredients for the crumb mixture and the cake are mixed up. You have 2.5 c of flour under your crumb mixture and more butter. Is this correct?
Hi Liz, thank you so much for checking. The amounts are correct. This is a very generous amount of crumb topping.
What can I do for no chunks? Chop apple finely, do applesauce instead?
Hi Kayla, For a recipe without apple chunks, you can follow this New York Stye Crumb Cake recipe.
This cake is amazing. I made it for a function I was going to and it was a huge hit. There isn’t anything I could suggest that would improve this recipe. Definitely use parchment paper to line your pan if you have it. Also, cut your paper a bit longer so it can hang over the long sides of your 9×13 pan. It provides a nice sling to lift the cake out of when it’s fully cooled. It makes slicing it much easier/neater for presentation.
Has anyone ever substituted other fruits for the apples? Possibly using a layer of blueberry compote?
Hi B, we’re so glad you enjoyed it! Other fresh fruits should work well here, like fresh blueberries. We wouldn’t use a compote as it could add too much moisture to the bread and require other tweaks to the recipe. Let us know what you try!
WOW. This was the best crumb cake I’ve ever eaten and all my coworkers loved it too! Took me a while to make but absolutely worth it. I will definitely be making this again and again.
Best Ever! Everyone absolutely raved and I’m already being asked to repeat!
I found there was too much crumb topping and it didn’t stick. I think more butter. It was loose topping on top. I was thinking it would be a bit softer. Not sweet at all and I think added the glaze will give it a more dessert feel. Taste is very good. I might add more apples.. they get lost under the crumb.
First time user trying to get to the recipe someone sent me?!?!
Hi Barbara! In the post above, you can find details behind the recipe, photos, a video tutorial as well as the full written recipe. At the top of the page you can use the “jump to recipe” button to jump straight to the written recipe. Happy baking!
This cake is much too sweet
Once I used about 2/3 of the topping (because I didn’t have enough butter), and I thought it was a better proportion of sweetness than the full amount. The cake itself isn’t overly sweet, so adjusting the crumble amount makes a big difference.
I made it again and just up the Apple. I still feel less topping. But the cake is great. Soft and most. I also think I stirred the topping better because there wasn’t any dry bits. It was a hit with my parents. I think I use some of the topping on muffins next time. It was good bake though.
This is not a sweet cake. The crumble is sweet for sure.
In one place , you say the leftover cake can be refrigerated for five days .. another place , it says cover well and refrigerate for two days .. if I make the cake today ) Monday ) and want to serve on Thursday. Does that work ? Cake sounds delicious and want to make early for a big crowd .Thanks !!!
Hi Sarah, If you don’t want to freeze the apple crumb cake, you can make it up to two days in advance. Prepare the cake through step 8, cover the cake tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days (or freeze up to 3 months). Bring to room temperature, add icing if desired, and serve.
This is such a delicious cake! I accidentally folded the apples into the batter because I didn’t read closely enough but luckily I mixed some flour in with the cinnamon so they didn’t sink. I’ll have to try it your way next time! also used your caramel icing as a base recipe but replaced the caramel with biscoff cookie butter and it came out truly delicious on top. I love all your recipes!
Hello,
Has anyone tried adding walnuts to the crumb topping? I thought they might add a nice flavor and a bit more crunch.
Thank you!
Hi Laura! You can try mixing walnuts right in with the crumbs.
This Apple Crumb Cake was phenomenal and so much fun to bake! My sister-in-law and I may or may not have snuck a piece for breakfast to have with our morning coffee… I will definitely be using this specific crumb topping in other fall baked goods this season!
how would the recipe change if i only used salted butter
Hi Madison, if using salted butter you can leave the salt out of the crumb topping and reduce the added salt in the cake to 1/4 tsp.
I was wondering if this recipe could be cut in half. If so, how many eggs since it calls for 3 and could I use a 9 x 9 square pan. What would bake time be? Thank you!
Hi Susan, you can use a 9-inch square baking pan for a half batch. Same temperature, but we’re unsure of the exact bake time. To halve an egg, you can crack it in a bowl, whisk to combine the yolk and white, measure it, then use half. Should be a couple Tablespoons. Enjoy!
This is a GREAT recipe! My family loved it.
Great, great dessert or breakfast cake! Perfect to bring to heavy potluck. It’s like the perfect dessert bite of pound cake, apple pie, and cookie topping. Success using non-dairy alternative 1-1 for butter and sour cream. Took as gift for dinner, two 8×4 pans to fit in 8×8 bakery box. (So small family could freeze if too much. Recipe baked in 3, 8×4 pans, same oven time.)
Hey Sally,
This recipe looks amazing! I was wondering if it can be made in a mini loaf pan? (About how many would it fill?)
Thank you!
Hi Alexandria! You can definitely make mini loaves from this recipe. Mini loaf pan sizes vary, so we’re unsure of the exact bake time. The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Thank you so much!
Wow this turned out gorgeous and hugh. I didn’t have a 9×13 inch so I used a 23 inch spring form. Oven as close to 177 degrees centigrade as I could get and filled the pan. At 55 minutes baking time a tooth pick inserted came out wet. I added another 10 minutes and when checked the tooth pick was dry. When tasted the cake which had risen beautifully was dry.
I definitely will try this again
Should I buy a new pan with the recipes measurements or use a bigger spring form say 24 cm? I am going to make some fresh apple sauce with nutmeg and cinnamon to accompany my beautiful but dry cake and add a bit of. Whipped cream. Any suggestions are welcome.
Hi Patricia, if you don’t have a 9×13-inch pan, a 10-inch springform would be ideal. We’re glad you enjoyed it!