Apple crumble coffee cake

If there where only one apple cake recipe I’d have to choose it would be this apple crumble coffee cake! It’s super moist, chock-full of walnuts and apple chunks, and generously finished with lovely crunchy oat crumble. And it’s a baking hack!

You see, when I was growing up in Poland, my grandmother used to bake this apple cake called “Sharlotka” or Charlotte, that would look and taste exactly like this cake here. Except that it would take her much more time to prepare!

And if you now me a bit, then you know that I really enjoy baking from scratch. It’s just that sometimes life, aka kids and work get between me and my hobby, and turn me towards a box cake!

Yes, I used a box cake to whip up this amazing cake, and I’m not afraid to admit it! And you too can prepare this cake in less than 10 minutes!

What you’ll need:

For the cake layer:

– 1 yellow box cake ( replace oil for melted butter and water for milk, quantities like on the box)

For the apple layer:

– 3 big apples cut in chunks
– 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
– 1 tablespoon brown sugar
– 1 tablespoon cinnamon

For the crumble:

– 1 cup quick oats
– 1/2 cup flour
– 1/2 cup brown sugar
– 1 table-spoon melted butter or margarine
– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare the cake layer as on the package, just remember to replace the water by milk and the oil by butter.

Pour the batter in to the pan. ( But don’t pour all of your cake batter, since there needs to be place left for apples and crumble. I used one round cake pan and two mini ones for this recipe.)

Mix apple pieces (no need for perfect cubes) with walnuts, cinnamon and brown sugar. Pour the apple filing over the cake batter.

Mix the quick oats with flour, brown sugar, butter and vanilla extract, and sprinkle the apples with the crumble.

Bake as indicated on the box! ( Unless you’re using mini pans, then cut the time in half.)

Serve warm or cooled down. You can even add some vanilla ice cream on top, I promise it’s simply amazing together!

Enjoy!