Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Caramel Sauce

Last week our nephew got married in Hays, KS.  Hays is where my husband grew up and he is German-American, being almost purely of German heritage, as is most of the population in Hays.  The German roots are very strong and very prevalent there.  Some of the older residents still speak German.  Apples and cinnamon are very popular within the German culture and there was a lot of food items at the wedding that had either apples or cinnamon, or both.  The family cooked all the food, which means we brought home a lot of leftovers.  Some of the leftovers were two dishes filled with cinnamon butter.  I thought one of the best ways to re-use some of this delicious cinnamon butter was by making an apple cinnamon coffee cake.   Well, I made the coffee cake, and it came out delicious, but I did not use nearly as much of the cinnamon butter as I had hoped.  In fact, it seems as though I barely even made a dent in it.  So, I guess there will be more cinnamon recipes in our near future.  It’s a good thing we like cinnamon butter, because I still have A LOT leftover.

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Caramel Sauce

For the Streusel

1/4 cup apple cinnamon butter, cold

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Mix everything together using either a pastry blade or your hands.  I find crumbling everything together with my hands works better than a pastry blade, but that is just me.  You want the consistency to be light and crumbly.  When done mixing, set aside.

For the Cake

6 TBSP butter, softened

1/4 cup + 2 TBSP sugar

1/4 cup + 2 TBSP brown sugar, firmly packed

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 buttermilk

2 apples, peeled and diced

caramel sauce for topping

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C

Beat the butter and sugars together until soft and creamy, then add the egg and continue to mix.  Add the vanilla and mix everything together thoroughly.

Mix all the dry ingredients together then add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix at a medium speed.  Add about 1/2 of the buttermilk and mix.  I absolutely hate buttermilk to drink, so I buy the powdered buttermilk and mix it with regular milk when I need it for baking.  Repeat, alternating the flour and the buttermilk until both are completely incorporated into the mixture.

Once the batter is all mixed together, gently fold the apple chunks into the mixture.  I used a bundt pan, coated with cooking spray, but you can use a 9″ cake pan if you prefer.  I spread half the batter with the apples into the pan, then added a layer of streusel topping.  Repeat the process again, finishing up with streusel on top of the cake.

Once the pan is filled, place it into the oven and bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.  Let the cake cool completely before removing it from the baking pan and before topping it with the caramel sauce.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

4 TBSP butter

a pinch of salt

1 TBSP vanilla

Combine the heavy whipping cream, sugar, butter and salt and mix together well until all the sugar has melted and everything is incorporated together, for about 5-6 minutes.  Turn off the heat and add the vanilla and mix well.  let cool or chill until ready to use.  I drizzled it over the cake once the cake was completely cooled.

Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I have worked in the restaurant and catering industry for over 35 years. I attended 2 culinary schools in Southern California, and have a degree in culinary arts from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, as well as a few other degrees in other areas. I love to cook and I love to feed people. View all posts by ajeanneinthekitchen