Apple Cinnamon Spice Cake with Streusel Topping
This Apple Cinnamon Spice Sheet Cake is a breeze to make and full of sweet, cozy fall-inspired flavors. The Apple Spice Cake features a moist crumb that is spiced with cloves and cinnamon, and has that deep caramel sweetness from the dark brown sugar. No need for frosting with this Apple Cinnamon Spice Sheet Cake because the cake is topped with a buttery, crumbly streusel topping and a very lightly spiked bourbon vanilla glaze! Perfect for any occasion!
How to Make the Apple Cinnamon Spice Sheet Cake
1.Cream the sugar and butter together: Add the brown sugar and room-temperature butter to your stand mixer that is fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat these two together until they have become fluffy, lighter in color, and almost tripled in volume – about 3 minutes.
2. Add eggs, vanilla and apple butter: Scrape down the sides of the stand mixer, then add your eggs in one at a time. It is important to ensure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next because we don’t want any unmixed eggy-bits in the cake! Then add vanilla and apple butter, and mix again.
3. Mix dry ingredients together: In a separate bowl, add all your dry ingredients, including the spices, and whisk them to combine.
4. Add dry ingredients and buttermilk: Add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer in 3 additions, while alternating with the buttermilk.
5. Fold in apples: Pour the chopped apples into the stand mixer, then fold them into the batter with a spatula.
6. Add batter to pan and top with streusel: Pour the batter into a prepared 9×13” cake pan, then top the Apple Cinnamon Spice Cake with streusel, then throw into the oven to bake! Wait until the cake is fully cooled before glazing.
What is Streusel?
A streusel topping is a pastry topping that is made from sugar, flour, and butter! Other spices, such as cinnamon for example, can be added to enhance flavor, but at it’s core essence, a good streusel only needs those 3 main ingredients. Streusel toppings are slightly crunchy, buttery, and sweet in flavor. If you’ve never enjoyed a cake with streusel, then boy are you in for a treat! I actually prefer streusel toppings to frosting most of the time, as they add just the right amount of sweetness to the cake, without being overbearing!
Making the Streusel for this Apple Cinnamon Spice Cake is a piece of cake! Simply throw the flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon into a bowl and whisk together to combine. Then pour the melted butter over top and mix well with a fork until the mixture resembles wet-sand – easy-peasy!
The Bourbon Cinnamon Glaze
If you haven’t noticed by now, I quite enjoy adding bourbon to anything and everything that will take it! Adding spirits to food, such as this glaze, adds a phenomenal amount of flavor and dimension to whatever you’re making. Bourbon, is a oak-aged spirit that is distinctively sweet in flavor, and has vanilla, oak, and caramel notes. All those beautiful warm, cozy flavors that bourbon provides pair wonderfully with something like this Apple Cinnamon Sheet Cake. However, if you do not have bourbon, feel free to use whisky, or you can leave it out all together!
My personal favorite Bourbon is Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon.
What Kind of Apples
Finding the right apples for baking can be ultra-confusing, but is so incredibly crucial as well. Apples come in a range of flavors and sweetness, ranging from tart and sour to very sweet. The other thing to consider is the texture when baked. Some apples hold their shape extremely well when baked, while others will disintegrate into almost nothing. For a recipe like this Apple Cinnamon Spice Cake, you want an apple that is Sweet-Tart and one that holds it’s shape rather well when baked. My preferred apples for this recipe are Pink Lady, Braeburn, or Honey Crisp.
Get the Recipe: Apple Cinnamon Spice Cake with Streusel Topping
Ingredients
Streusel Topping
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 2/3 cup White Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- Pinch of Salt
- 6 tbsp Unsalted Butter,, melted
Apple Cinnamon Spice Sheet Cake
- 1½ cups Unsalted Butter,, at room temperature
- 1½ cups Brown Sugar
- 4 Large Eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla
- 1/4 cup Apple Butter
- 2 ⅔ cups All Purpose Flour,, measured correctly †
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Cloves
- 3/4 cup Full-Fat Buttermilk
- 1 Sweet-Tart Apple,, such as Braeburn or Pink Lady, peeled and cut into ½” cubes
Vanilla Bourbon Glaze
- 1 cup Confectioners Sugar
- 2 tbsp Heavy Cream
- 1 tbsp Bourbon
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla
Equipment
- Stand mixer
Instructions
Streusel Topping
- In a medium mixing bowl, add sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk to combine well.
- Pour the melted butter into the dry mixture and mix with a fork until well combined, and the mixture resembles sand. Set aside for later.
Apple Cinnamon Spice Sheet Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9×13” cake pan with cooking spray and parchment.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add butter and brown sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy looking, about 3-4 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl. Next, add vanilla and apple butter, beat until combined.
- In a separate medium sized bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Whisk together to combine.
- Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the stand mixer, mix on low until combined. Add ½ of the buttermilk and mix on low until combined. Continue alternating the flour and the buttermilk, until both have been completely added (finishing with the flour mixture). Then, fold in the apple pieces.
- Add the batter to the cake pan, evenly sprinkle streusel topping over the top, and place the cake into the oven to bake for 35 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before glazing.
Vanilla Bourbon Glaze
- Add all ingredients to a medium sized bowl and whisk together to combine, then drizzle over the cooled cake.
@hucksdesserts I looooved this cake. I used a Granny Smith apple and added1/4 teaspoon of cardamom. Thanks for sharing Food Duchess.
Thank you!!