Description

This deliciously moist and tender apple crumb cake features a layer of the easiest vanilla cake with a layer dairy free brown sugar cream cheese, caramelized cinnamon apples, and a crunchy cinnamon topping! The best fall coffee cake of the season!

Ingredients

Scale

Cinnamon Crumble Topping:

1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour*
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
5 tbsp (70 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp sea salt

Cream cheese filling:

8 ounces vegan cream cheese, room temperature
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch

Apple filling:

1 tbsp ground cinnamon or pumpkin spice blend
2 cups chopped apples, skin removed (about 2 large apples)

Vanilla Cake Layer:

3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour*
1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch*
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cup (250 g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (113 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup (170 g) dairy free yogurt or unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
2/3 cup (180 g) vegan buttermilk, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
1/4 tsp sea salt
Optional topping: 1 cup powdered sugar with 1 tbsp dairy free milk

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Instructions

Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly grease and line a 9″ or 10″ springform pan with parchment paper.
Cinnamon crumble topping: In medium bowl, prepare the cinnamon crumble. Whisk together the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Use a fork to mix in the melted vegan butter into the mixture until it resembles a crumble. Set aside.
Make the apple filling: In another medium bowl, toss the chopped apples with the ground cinnamon. Set aside.
Make the cream cheese filling: In a separate bowl, cream together the vegan cream cheese, brown sugar, and cornstarch until fluffy and consistently smooth. Then set aside. You’ll be assembling the cake in layers.
Make the vegan cake batter: Prepare the main cake layer. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted vegan butter, sugar, dairy free yogurt, and vanilla. Then add in the salt, baking powder, and baking soda and whisk to combined. Then add in the flour, along with the vegan buttermilk, whisking just until the flour is fully incorporated.
Assemble the apple crumb cake: Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared pan, and spread the batter to touch the edges of the pan. Then spoon in the cream cheese filling, and use an offset spatula to spread the cream cheese to the edges of the pan, followed by the remainder of the cake batter (spreading once more until the edges of the pan. Then add on the apples, and spread them out in an even layer on top of the cake batter. Finally, sprinkle the crumble topping on top evenly over the apples.
Bake: Place the pan into the oven to bake for 75-85 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean. It’s a LONG bake with this one, but don’t worry- everything still stays moist. If your crumble top is starting to brown too fast (happens with some ovens if your top rack is very close to top), cover the cake with tinfoil. Remove from the oven, and allow the coffee cake to cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes.
Serve: When ready to serve, it’s best served slightly warm. Drizzle with the powdered sugar glaze if desired, and slice. Enjoy! Store any leftovers covered in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, in the fridge for up to 6 days, or in the freezer for up to a month.

Notes

Gluten free flour: I recommend using King Arthur Measure for Measure flour here (as pictured). You can also use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 baking flour.

Arrowroot in the cake: This is optional, but can make a softer cake- your cake will still be soft without it, but the flour will feel more like cake flour then! You would whisk it into the flour before adding the flour into the wet ingredients.

Not gluten free? Swap in all purpose flour in an equal amount.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 square
Calories: 303
Sugar: 28.8 g
Sodium: 230.7 mg
Fat: 6.6 g
Saturated Fat: 1.2 g
Carbohydrates: 57.7 g
Fiber: 2.6 g
Protein: 3.8 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg