Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping

It's been a long time since I last baked apple crumble cake for my family. As far as I can remember, the only recipe that I've tried is by Donna Hay which I shared before. I thought it's time to try a different recipe.... & I decided to use one with yogurt in it as I had some leftover after baking the marble cake. 

I'm glad I chose this awesome recipe.... All my tasters (family and colleagues) gave their thumbs up! The cake is delicious, fragrant, soft & moist and the apples also gave some texture to an otherwise fine crumb. The crumble topping just completes the cake to produce an excellent dessert! Just make sure that you use the best quality ingredients for that unbeatable flavour.

Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping

CAKE
Ingredients:
1 stick (125g) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups packed (300g) light brown sugar (I used only 200g.)
2 large eggs
2 cups (240g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (240g) sour cream - I used Greek yogurt.
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apples - I used 3 Granny Smith apples.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 deg C). Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with butter. (see note below)
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating after the addition of each. 
3. In a separate bowl or on a piece of parchment, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. 
4. Add to the wet ingredients, alternating with the sour cream and vanilla. Fold in the apples. Pour into the prepared baking dish, spreading out to the edges.
5. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the cake and bake until golden brown and set, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. 

CRUMBLE TOPPING
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar - I used demerara sugar instead & reduced the weight to 80g.

1/2 cup (60g) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons (56g) cold unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
In a bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter.  Then mix until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Recipe by Emeril Lagasse. 

Source: foodnetwork.com.

Notes & modifications:

1. I've decided to do away with the glaze which is included in the original recipe.
2. The cake is still soft & moist even though I reduce the sugar by a third. I'm glad I reduce the sugar as the cake would otherwise be too sweet. I used demerara sugar (which is quite coarse) for the crumble topping & that creates an added crunch to the topping.
3. I used a 6-cup bundt pan & filled it with the batter & crumble to the brim. The cake overflowed  as it was baking and as a result, I had a lot of difficulty removing the cake out of the pan. A big part of the crumble topping broke into small pieces like what you see in the picture. So if you wish to use a bundt pan, I would  suggest an 8-cup pan. However if I were to bake the cake again, I would use a rectangular pan so that I can cut it into squares.