RHC: Apple-Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake

I think I spent the entire Fourth of July weekend cooking and baking...which suits me, as it's a great way for me to de-stress. Pity I didn't get any of my other tasks done...

In my pondering on what cake to bake for my birthday the Apple-Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake was right at the top of the list, only losing out at the end because it was a coffee cake. But it stuck in my head, and I ended up baking it Sunday morning. With its long baking and cooling time, that meant I had some for breakfast Monday morning.

The cake is a sour cream-butter cake, mixed in the style used in RHC of adding the butter and most of the sour cream to the dry ingredients (instead of creaming butter and sugar together first), then adding the wet ingredients in stages, beating well in between. Two-thirds of the batter goes in the pan, then on goes some walnut/brown sugar/cinnamon mixture reserved from the crumb topping, then a layer of thinly sliced apples, and the rest of the batter. The cake is then partially baked before the crumb topping goes on, to keep the topping from sinking in or browning too much. And that's it--this cake is not on the easy list, but probably could be.

I really like the results. This cake definitely has no dryness problem, with the layer of apples in the middle. The cake itself has a very nice flavor, and the crunch from the topping finishes it off perfectly. I'd probably add more nuts next time I make it, being of the school that believes "just a few more nuts" are always a good thing, but it's still great just as the recipe is written.