Have you been apple picking yet? This new peanut butter apple coffee cake is the best thing to happen this fall. Breakfast will never be the same. You now have an excuse to slow down and enjoy the crispy cool fall morning, with a hot cup of coffee and a slice of crumbly sweet apple coffee cake.
Growing up, coffee cake was used for entertaining guests, always served as post-dinner dessert with coffee. I’m here to tell you that you can have cake whenever you want to have cake, rules are meant to be broken, I mean, look at the donut. This apple coffee cake is the perfect example of a “coffee cake” made for breakfast, snack, lunch or dessert.
It is perfectly dense and airy at the same time. The cake crumb is soft and moist with a crunchy peanut butter frosting that is not too sweet. Truly a match made in heaven with the soft sweet apples.
Peanut Butter Apple Coffee Cake
Choosing your apples. You can use anything you like. I only buy gala apples from the grocery store. I love the way they taste, they are sweet, mild and soft. They are usually smaller in size than the other options which makes them ideal for little kids to handle.
The only apple I would stay away from would the green granny smiths, they are tart and pucker-y and I don’t think that it will go well with the other flavors of the cake.
If you read nothing else.
Read this for a successful peanut butter apple coffee cake.
In culinary school, we made a few cakes. We used this one technique that I loved. I use it for this recipe to achieve the “coffee cake” texture. I highly recommend reading this step by step instruction first.
In the recipe below you will use two bowls and a liquid measuring cup. In the first bowl will be your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, apple pie spice). The second bowl will have your wet ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract). The measuring cup will have a 1/2 cup of milk at room temperature.
The goal is to fold the flour and milk into the wet ingredients. This technique allows the ingredients to combine without over mixing, using a spatula, scoop up from the bottom rather than stirring around vigorously.
You will need to eye-ball-divide your flour mixture into thirds. You will alternate folding in your flour and milk, back and forth, ending with flour.
With that in mind:
Step 1: Add 1/3 of your flour mixture into the bowl with the wet ingredients, and fold with a spatula.
Step 2: Add 1/2 of your room temperature milk (1/4 cup) just-before the flour is completely combined to avoid over mixing.
Step 3: Fold in another 1/3 of your flour.
Step 4: Fold in the remaining of your milk.
Step 5:Fold in the remaining of your flour. It should be thick.
Step 6: Then dump in your apples and fold one last time.
Apple Pie Spice
Use apple pie spice to help elevate and activate the apple flavor. It smells like home.
You can buy this or make it homemade, there are a lot of recipes online.
Peanut Butter Apple Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Apple Pie Spice see blog notes
- ½ cup Butter (at room temperature) (1 stick)
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Milk (at room temperature)
- 2 cups Apples - peeled and diced into mini cubes 3-4 small apples
Peanut Butter Frosting
- 1 cup Chunky Peanut Butter
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 cup Milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F. Spray and dust your 9 inch cake pan with flour.
- Peel and dice your apples and set aside. In a bowl measure your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, apple pie spice) whisk to combine and set aside.
- Using a mixer, cream together your butter and sugars. Add in your egg and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Divide your flour mixture into thirds and the milk into half. You will want to alternate folding in your flour and milk into the butter and sugar mixture, ending with flour. See blog notes for more explanation if needed.
- It will be thick when you're done.
- Carefully fold in the diced apples, try not to over mix the batter.
- Pour into your prepared cake pan, spread around to be even.
- Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool on a rack.
Peanut Butter Frosting
- Once the cake is cool, make your frosting. Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, combine your crunchy peanut butter, powdered sugar and ½ cup of milk. Keep adding milk a tbsp at a time until the frosting is smooth and the perfect consistency, it may take the full 1 cup of milk.
