Apple Pie Coffee Cake
This Apple Pie Coffee Cake features a thick, tall, rich, tender, classic sour cream coffee cake, swirled with sweet, syrupy, spiced apple pie filling, and smattered with a generous layer of buttery, brown sugar & pecan streusel. If you're not already sold on this Apple Pie Coffee Cake, it's topped off with a drizzle of cinnamon glaze!
Servings 12
Ingredients
For apple pie filling:
- 2 large Granny Smith apples peeled, cored, and chopped
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 4 tbsp. butter divided
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/3 cup water, apple cider, or apple juice
- 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. apple pie spice
For coffee cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 8 oz. sour cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
For streusel:
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 cup butter melted
For glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp. heavy cream or milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
For apple pie filling:
- In a large stock pot over medium heat, combine the apples, brown sugar, and 2 tbsp. butter.
- Cook for 7-8 minutes, or until apples begin to soften and become tender.
- Reduce heat to low, and add the granulated sugar, flour, salt, water, and apple cider vinegar.
- Stirring frequently, cook until the mixture is thick, bubbly, and syrupy, 4-5 minutes. It should coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat, and stir in remaining 2 tbsp. butter, as well as vanilla, cinnamon, and apple pie spice.
- Allow to cool.
- Meanwhile, prepare coffee cake.
For coffee cake:
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla, beating until blended.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixing bowl, and beat until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil or parchment paper, allowing the excess to hang over the edges of the pan.
- Lightly spray with non-stick spray.
- Spread half the coffee cake batter into the prepared pan.
- Spread 3/4 of the apple pie filling over the batter in the pan, leaving 1/2-inch border around the edges.
- Spread/spoon remaining coffee cake batter over the apple pie filling. This will need a bit of finesse-ing to make sure the apple pie filling doesn't get moved around a lot. I like to drop the coffee cake batter by spoonfuls evenly over the filling, then carefully spread them out.
- Spread remaining apple pie filling over the batter.
- Prepare streusel.
For streusel:
- In a medium bowl, toss together pecans, flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon until thoroughly combined.
- Drizzle the mixture with melted butter, tossing to stir, until pea-sized crumbles form.
- You may need to add a touch more flour if the mixture is too loose, or a touch more butter if it's too dry. This ratio of ingredients is the sweet-spot for me, but occasionally streusel can be finicky, so know that you may need to slightly adjust.
- Sprinkle streusel evenly over coffee cake, working from the edges toward the middle.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until edges are golden brown, and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool.
- Run a knife around any edges that are in contact with the pan.
- Carefully lift the coffee cake out by the edges of the foil or parchment paper, and transfer to a serving platter.
For glaze:
- In a small bowl, whisk together all glaze ingredients.
- Drizzle evenly over coffee cake.
- Cut and serve.