Apple Streusel Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze
This cake was something I whipped up in a flash because we were invited over to dinner at a friends’ house. Can you believe it? We made friends in Portland! Groundbreaking news, right? I thought so…and let’s not let the cat out of the bag about me being slightly insane, ok? It’s too soon…
Anyways, I needed something to take and this is the dessert I came up with from what I had on hand. It’s a pretty simple cake, but looks much fancier then that, don’t you think? As I was photographing the finished product I was thinking to myself how easy this cake was to make, but how semi-upscale it looked! Then I deconstructed the cake in my head and established the reasons why this plain jane dessert takes the cake.
*nudge nudge*
get it?
takes the…..never mind.
{1} the glaze {2} the streusel {3} it’s on a cake plate {4} it’s round and not in it’s baking pan still {5} the glaze {6} the streusel. I’m all about the glaze and the streusel. Clearly.
So, moral of the story– if you have a very plain recipe for something, try adding a glaze and/or a streusel. That will jazz it right up and make people want you to be their live in chef.
Shall we make some cake?
PS-I didn’t cut into this cake because I had to take it to a dinner party. Pretend you’ve seen the inside and you want to make this.
PPS- Whenever I say cake, it makes me think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding when the mother says “there’s a hole in this cake” {you know the part I’m talking about…} except she says cake like “keh-ke”. It makes me want to say keh-ke all the live long day.
Here’s how you make it: start with some dry ingredients in a bowl. I had everything for this cake on hand! My favorite kind of cake 
Whisk all the ingredients together and make a cute little well in the center. {PS- I love this bowl. I have 4 more of them in different colors that I {technically ‘we’ but does Gord use them? Ya right…} got as a wedding gift. They are seriously my favorites! My sister-in-law said they were from Costco. Keep your eyes peeled for these!}
Pour your oil into the center of the well along with…..
these other four ingredients! Please note that they are all ‘wet’ ingredients. Also, if you don’t have buttermilk or sour cream, just use regular milk for both!
Stir the batter up and take a big whiff. That cinnamon and nutmeg get me every time.
Find an apple in your fridge, peel it, core it and dice it up. I almost grated my apple because I despise huge chunks of fruit in my cakes, but then changed my mind at the last minute and cubed mine up into tiny little pieces…because I can. That’s why.
Now pour in the apple cubes and stir it up. Voila! Cake batter.
Pour that bowl of goodness into a spring form pan and smooth the top.
Now onto the streusel. Warning: I made a huge amount of streusel. I mean HUGE. I recommend halving the recipe. If you are abnormal like myself and feel the need to make a huge crust o’ streusel on your cake then be my guest. But, for you normal folk, start with half! Now, streusel is super simple to make and makes everything it comes in contact with taste better. I heart streusel. To make this beautiful thing, pour in your ingredients into a small bowl…like so:
Throw in a few hunks of butter…
and mush it all together. Basically, you want to disperse the butter through the dry ingredients so that when it bakes, it becomes a crusty hot mess over the apple cake. Not a powdery hot mess. There is a huge difference between the two.
Sprinkle the streusel over the top and bake.
Pull it out after 45 minutes or so, drool, wipe your face and drool again. Let this cool and pretend there are photos here of me showing you how to make the cream cheese glaze.
*Insert photos here*
Once you have your glaze all made, drizzle it over the top and you have yourself one purdy lookin’ and tastin’ cake.
Happy baking
Apple Streusel Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze
yield: 8 servings
Print This Recipe
Ingredients:
for the cake-
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup peeled, diced apple (1/4 inch pieces)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup low fat buttermilk
1/4 cup low fat sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
for the streusel-
3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts
for the glaze-
3 oz. softened cream cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons softened margarine or butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk, or enough to make it a glazing consistency
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 9-inch spring form pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk all dry ingredients together. Make a well in the center and pour all wet ingredients in. Slowly start mixing the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Toss in apple pieces and stir. Pour batter into prepared pan. In a small bowl, stir all ingredients for streusel together until butter pieces are small chunks found throughout mixture. Sprinkle over top of cake and bake 45-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Remove from oven and cool.
Before serving, whip cream cheese and margarine together until smooth. Stir in powdered sugar, vanilla and milk until smooth and runny. Add the milk slowly until desired drizzling consistency is reached. Un-hinge spring form pan and place cake on serving platter. Drizzle with glaze and serve.
Related Posts
44 Responses to “Apple Streusel Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
-
Pingback: GLUTEN FREE APPLE STREUSEL CAKE WITH LEMON YOGURT CREAM « Gluten-Free Delightfully Delicious
-
Pingback: Yogurt Coffee Cake | Cinnamon Coffee Cake Recipe | Two Peas & Their Pod
Leave a Comment
Pingback: GLUTEN FREE APPLE STREUSEL CAKE WITH LEMON YOGURT CREAM « Gluten-Free Delightfully Delicious
Pingback: Yogurt Coffee Cake | Cinnamon Coffee Cake Recipe | Two Peas & Their Pod
This looks amazing but I am holding out hope that you can nail down a Cinnabon recipe!!
I will love you forever & ever!
Reply
Lauren this looks so lovely and perfect. Cream cheese glaze and apples and streusel. Nice.
Saw your last cookie pics all over Tastespotting, FG, etc..congrats. They are gorgeous!
Reply
Looks great. I guess you could use whatever fruit you had to hand as long as it wasn’t too juicy – pears, bananas, maybe even kiwi fruit or stone fruit. That would make it very convenient to make when you didn’t want to go shopping. Thanks for this.
Reply
Look at that glaze! Look at that crumbly topping! Look at the cake! All so delicious! I bet you made friends for life with this cake!
Reply
Looks amazing!
PS- your pics are incredible… what camera/lense do you use?!
Reply
Lauren — January 30th, 2012 @ 4:13 pm
Thanks! I use a Canon Rebel Xti and a 50mm 1.8f lens. And, I edit with iphoto.
Reply
I am also holding out hope for that Cinnabon recipe!! I have faith in you! Congrats on the new friends in Portland. There are many more out there
I was born and raised a Northwest girl, you’ll grow to love it. . . really! This cake looks amazing, btw.
Reply
you had some lucky friends at that dinner party! the cake looks so delicious and i love anything apple with streusel!!
Reply
It is TOTALLY all about the glaze and streusel. I could go with just the streusel most times, but that cake does look very yummy!
Reply
I know it’s titled cake, but can I have that for breakfast???
Pretty please?
Reply
Looks great! Definitely need to try this one! Also, I enjoy reading your blog and the great photos that come with. Always puts a smile on my face! Thanks!
Reply
this could totally be eaten for breakfast. Congrats on making new friends
Reply
My kind of cake! Love it!
Reply
A) That looks delicious!
B) That cake is the exact thing I’m trying to avoid.
C) I live just over the river from PDX.
Reply
Laura {happiness of rainy days} — February 1st, 2012 @ 4:16 am
Laurel, we’re just over the river from Portland, too… I think we’d all make very good friends for someone who would bring such a delicious cake over… {not-so-subtle hint, Lauren!}
Reply
Sorry to sound so stupid, but are you saying that if I don’t want a huge amount of streusel I should half your recipe (in other words 1/4 cup walnuts, etc.) or did you half the recipe already? I guess I am asking because the amount in the recipe doesn’t seem like a huge amount to me.
Reply
Lauren — January 30th, 2012 @ 4:51 pm
The streusel part of the recipe you should halve. It was a pretty thick layer over a 9-inch cake, but I really like it that way…it might be too much for some.
Reply
looks delicious! i love cinnabon, I’ve tried replicating it many times at home, but I’m working on a reduced fat recipe. I’ve failed twice so far.
Reply
Oh…mah gosh. Can we be real-life friends and not other-side-of-the-country-blog-friends so you can bring this to my house?!
Reply
I made this today! We can’t wait till dessert tonight
Reply
this looks absolutely wonderful! i’ve made a similar cake that has cream cheese in the batter and i imagine it tastes similar–yum!
Reply
I love all things cinnamon and apple! This looks amazing. Oh and I also love all this streusel and glaze. I bet your new friends were impressed ; )
Reply
Girl, don’t waste your time cloning cinnabon! Have you had one recently? I ate one last month, and I swear it tasted just like the Pillsbury ones from the tube. There are so many better cinnamon rolls out there! (i.e. PW’s. Have you had hers? Puts cinnabon to shame.)
Reply
Lauren — January 31st, 2012 @ 1:04 am
I have tried hers! They’re good, but I didn’t love the maple frosting. I guess I could make them again with cream cheese frosting or something. The cinnamon rolls I make are going to be comparable to the cinnabon but mine will be better because they won’t be full of preservatives.
Reply
P.S. I really want some of that cake.
Reply
Ohhh yes..everything is better with streusel!
Reply
This recipe makes me smile … the cake is amazing – - the streusel takes it over the moon and then if that’s not good enough – - the glaze!! Fantastic recipe.. I’m sure your friends loved the cake
Reply
Wow – look at the photos in this post!! Incredible! You should write a book!
Reply
You had me at streusel. This whole thing is awesome, love it!
Reply
I really love everything about this cake… apple… streusel.. cream cheese glaze… I need this immediately.
Reply
Oooh, this sounds fabulous! I bet the cream cheese glaze really brought it to the next level! Mmmm….
Reply
looks amazing! Haha now I want to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding…
Reply
Put streusel on anything, and I’m a happy girl!!
Reply
YUM!
Reply
Gorgeous! I pinned this one.
Reply
That looks so amazing, Lauren!! Love the streusel on top! Drool-worthy!!!!
Reply
I asked my best friend last week what she kind of birthday cake she wanted and she said “something like coffee cake, with apples in it”. I remembered this recipe and decided this would fit the bill. I made this over the weekend and it got rave reviews from everyone (especially the brithday girl!). I substituted pecans for walnuts (due to food allergies) and used the full streussel amount! The recipe makes a LOT of cream cheese icing, so we let everyone apply their own. Thanks for the recipe…
Reply
Hi Lauren. I made your Apple Streusel Cake Gluten Free…Wow – I was so impressed with the flavors! Thank you for the inspiration, my family was very happy with this lovely dessert! Ina
Reply
Oh, I forgot – I did do a link back to your original recipe!
Ina
Reply
THE BEST CAKE EVER,!
Reply
This looks so amazing! I included it in my apple recipe round up here: http://www.grandbaby-cakes.com/2012/10/apples-everywhere.html
Reply
Hi there, I made this cake today and my husband said that its the best cake he’s ever had. He loves coffee cake and the apples just keep it so moist.
Thank you! This recipe is a keeper.
Reply