Vegan Apple Crumb Cake

{Vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, peanut-free}

The hot days of summer are over and I’m ready for fall. It’s cool nights, pumpkin spiced lattes and lots of apples. Every fall we head over to our local farm to pick our own apples. There is so much variety to choose from and there’s something special about eating the fruit you just picked. Not to mention they are so juicy and sweet!

We always pick way too many apples to eat so that’s when we get down to baking! It is always apple pie for my husband, but my jam is a good apple crumb cake. I love the warm cinnamon apples in the cake paired with the cinnamon and brown sugar flavors from the crumb topping.

Our Vegan Apple Crumb Cake is so moist and delicious and full of those warm fall flavors you’ll love. The cake is light and fluffy, and the apples are not tart but sweet with a cinnamon and nutmeg flavor. The best part, though, is the crumb topping. Nothing can beat that sweet cinnamon sugar topping that you get with each bite!

Another bonus is the Vegan Apple Crumb Cake is not just for breakfast. It’s a dessert too! You can serve it with vanilla ice cream or just by itself. Either way your guest will be asking for more!

CRUMB CAKE INGREDIENTS:

Flour – We used all-purpose flour, but this recipe is easy to make gluten-free by swapping the regular flour with your 1:1 gluten-free flour of choice. We like Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose flour.

Granulated Sugar – Granulated sugar is used to add sweetness to the cake without changing the color.

Brown Sugar – Brown sugar is used in the filling and crumb topping. This works better than regular sugar with the melted vegan margarine and gives the crumb topping its nice brown color.

Baking Powder – Baking powder adds a leavening agent to baked goods. You will need to use 3 teaspoons of baking powder for leavening to replace the eggs in this recipe. The combination of the apple cider vinegar (in the buttermilk) and baking powder causes a chemical reaction which also adds to the leavening of this cake.

Cinnamon – Cinnamon is a great flavor combination with apples.

Nutmeg – Do you know what else works well with apple flavor? Nutmeg! We add this often to our cinnamon recipes because we like the flavor combination so much!

Salt – We always use fine sea salt in our baking because it has a stronger flavor. However, regular table salt would be okay to use as well.

Vegan (Non-dairy) Milk + Apple Cider Vinegar – Make the vegan buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of the apple cider vinegar to the non-dairy milk and let sit for 5 minutes. The apple cider vinegar causes a chemical reaction and turns the milk into buttermilk. Our non-dairy milk of choice is oat milk, but you can choose any alternative milk.

Vegan (Non-dairy) Margarine – We’ve always been a fan of Earth Balance and use this vegan margarine in all our recipes. Any vegan margarine works here so go ahead and substitute your favorite here.

We used melted vegan margarine in our cake to give it that buttery taste, just make sure it has cooled before adding to the other ingredients. Frozen vegan margarine was used for the crumb topping. Chop or grate the frozen margarine to incorporate into the margarine, brown sugar and cinnamon to form small pea-shaped crumbs. That’s how you get that nice crumb topping.

Vanilla – Pure vanilla makes everything taste better. We used the Whole Foods 365 vanilla.

Apples – You want to choose an apple variety that can stand up to the baking and not get too mushy. We like to use two different types of apples for a more diversified flavor. The best apple varieties for baking include:

Granny Smith

Honey Crisp

Golden Delicious

Rome

Jonagold

Braeburn

Be sure to dice your apples nice and small, so they become perfectly tender by the time your coffee cake is baked. Sliced apples don’t work as well in a cake recipe and are harder to cut.

HOW TO MAKE VEGAN APPLE CRUMB CAKE

Prepare the Pan – You can use either a springform pan or an 8×8 square pan. We love the look of our cakes in a springform pan so we use them more often than the square pan, but you can choose which one works best for you. Spray the pan with a non-stick spray and place parchment paper in the pan. Cut parchment paper into the form of the pan and place on the bottom.

Make the Buttermilk – We like the taste of buttermilk in our coffee cakes and in our scones and cakes for that matter. In this case we are making vegan buttermilk. Make the buttermilk by adding the apple cider vinegar to the non-dairy milk and set aside while you are making the dry ingredients.

Prepare the Apple Filling – Peel, slice and chop your two apple varieties. Mix the apples, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes to help soften the apples and intensify the apple flavor.

Make the Cake – Combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and last in a medium bowl and mix. Don’t over mix here or your cake will turn out flat. Pour the cake batter into the pan and smooth out.

 

Arrange Chopped Apples on Cake – Add the chopped apples to the top of the cake batter.

Prepare the Crumb Topping – Mix the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Grate or chop frozen vegan margarine and mix into the mixture. We always use of hands to make sure they are mixed properly and form large crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the apples.

Bake the Cake – Place the cake into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 50-55 minutes. We usually place foil around the springform pan to collect any juices. Let cool before slicing.

Enjoy!

Xo   -J&K

 

 

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