Apple Crumb Coffee Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I will stop short of saying it's the best apple cake ever, but this crumb cake is awfully good and will give all the others you've tried a run for their money. The cake was developed by Rose Levy Beranbaum and the version I'm sharing with you tonight is an adaption that comes from the blog Big Girls Small Kitchen. A layer of fresh apples gives the cake a wonderful moist quality, and the substitution of applesauce for sour cream heightens the cake's apple flavor. This is not a difficult cake to make, but it is a bit more involved than most and you'll want to read the directions carefully before you undertake it. For starters, the crumb topping is actually refrigerated before it is used and the cake is baked in a two step process.The cake gains flavor if  the apples and nut topping are given the opportunity to ripen. I like to make this cake early on the day I plan to serve it, but others like to serve it  warm from the oven. I do hope you'll give this cake a try. It is a marvelous fall dessert and I know your families will love it. Here is how the cake is made.

Apple Crumb Coffee Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Rose Levy Beranbaum and the blog Big Girls Small Kitchen

Ingredients:
Crumb Topping
1 cup pecans
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup flour
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Cake
1 apple, peeled and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 eggs
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at soft room temperature

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9-inch round cake pan with high sides. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper and butter it.
2) To make crumb topping: Combine nuts, sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse to coarsely chop, then remove about 1/2 cup and set aside. Add 1/2 cup flour and 4 tablespoons butter to processor and pulse until it resembles crumbs. Refrigerate while making cake batter.
3) To make cake: Combine apple and lemon juice. Toss to coat and set aside. Whisk together eggs, 3 tablespoons of applesauce, and vanilla until combined. Set aside. Using a handheld or stand mixer, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add both softened butter and remainder of applesauce and mix for about a minute and a half, until dry ingredients are really well absorbed. Add egg mixture in two parts, beating for a minute in between. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix once more.
Scrape about 2/3 of batter into prepared cake pan. Sprinkle batter with the 1/2 cup of reserved nut/sugar mixture. Top with overlapping apple slices. Spread remaining batter on top of apple layer.
4) To bake cake: Transfer cake to oven and for 35 minutes. Remove crumb topping from refrigerator and sprinkle it over top of cake. Bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen sides, invert cake and let cool cool completely on a rack. Yield: 10 servings.

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