Contrary to my deep love for a salty breakfast (two eggs over very easy on a piece of toast every single morning of my life), I found this recipe for a ‘big crumb’ coffee cake and I fell in love.

Now we all have to admit: everybody loves the packaged Little Debbie or Hostess coffee cakes. They’re not necessarily something you’d go out and buy, but if they were in front of you you’d attack with a vengeance. Not only are they delicious, but they remind me of when I was a kid. Heck, they’re so good maybe you still DO go out and buy them. I wouldn’t think of you any differently.

There are a thousand and one coffee cake recipes out there, but I have to say this one is remarkably similar to the little cakes we all grew up with and loved. It literally is, dare I say, perfect. After making the cake, I found myself dreaming of it instead of the beloved egg feast I had relied on for so long…

Filling:
1 apple, cored and sliced
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. fresh grated ginger
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbs. flour

Crumbs:
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. fresh grated ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick of butter, melted
1 3/4 c. flour

Cake:
1/3 c. sour cream (or yogurt, whatever you have)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla
6 tbs. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients for the filling, then pour over apples and stir until everything is coated. Set aside. Mix all ingredients for the crumbs. The mixture will be very thick like a dough. Once everything is incorporated fully, press to the bottom of the bowl. You can see in the picture below I used my knuckles and it worked very well. Set aside to rest.

For the cake, mix all wet ingredients (the first six on the list) in one bowl, and the rest of the dry ingredients into another. Combine dry ingredients into wet slowly, in batches. Spoon 1/2 of mixture into a small (I used a 9×9x2) buttered baking dish. Line apples over the top of batter, then spoon the rest of the cake mixture over the top.

Once the pan is filled with both the cake and apples, break off big chunks of your crumble mixture and place evenly on top. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until toothpick comes clean from the center.

Note for making great coffee cake:You should be scraping the bowl when you’re pouring the cake into the pan, because there’s very little batter in this recipe. It scared me at first, but it’s actually awesome because there are more tasty crumbles in it than actual cake! Like I said, this is an awesome recipe. It would be fun to experiment with any fruits in the center. I think I’m going to try strawberries next time…