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Apple Cake with Walnut Crunch Topping

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Donna Urso

This Sour Cream Apple Cake will make your taste buds sing!  Fall is all about the apples, and this sweet and tender apple cake recipe delivers the seasonal apple flavor you crave.

Sour Cream Apple Cake Recipe

This post contains affiliate links.
A slice of applecake on a white plate showing layers of apples.

Just look at the layers of sliced apples in this moist, flavorful cake!  The crunchy, walnut topping is the icing on the cake.  Literally!

Why You'll Love This Apple Cake

The Seasonal Flavors:  This apple cake has it all!  You'll love the fresh apple flavor, the hint of cinnamon, and the crunchy goodness of walnuts.  Choose the apples you love, but choose a variety that will hold its shape when baked.

Easy Preparation:  The preparation steps for this apple cake are straightforward.  

The Moist Texture:  The sour cream and apples work together to create a moist, yet tender, cake that gets better the next day.

A Crunchy Topping:  The walnut and cinnamon topping adds crunch and additional flavor.  This topping is literally, the icing on the cake! Feel free to substitute pecans in the topping.

Versatile Serving Options:  This cake is delicious as a coffee cake, a sweet addition to your holiday breakfast buffet, a snack cake, or a fall dessert. 

A baked apple sour cream cake with crumble topping.

How to Bake an Apple Sour Cream Cake

You Will Need

For the Topping
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, divided
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
For the Cake
  • 2 medium apples, peeled and sliced thinly
  • 1- 3/4 cups flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup sour cream

The Steps

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
  2. For the topping: Combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut the 1/4 cup butter into the flour mixture until crumbly. You can use your fingers to do this. Then add 3/4 cup of the nut mixture to the crumbs to make the topping. Set aside the rest of the nut mixture.
    A woman mixing a crumb topping in a clear bowl using here hands.

  3. To make the cake: combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  4. In the bowl of your mixer beat the butter to soften. Add the sugar and the vanilla, beating to combine.
  5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  6. Alternately add the flour mixture and the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat on low, just to combine.
  7. Spread one-third of the batter in your prepared pan. Top with half of the apple slices. Sprinkle the reserved nut mixture over the batter. Spread the next third of the batter on top.
  8. Distribute the remaining apples in the pan. Spread the remaining batter over the apples and then sprinkle on the topping mixture.
    A woman shwing how the apples are distributed in the apple cake.

  9. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove the side of the pan to completely cool for at least one hour.
Feel free to make this cake ahead.  It gets better as it sits. 

This cake will last, covered in your refrigerator, for up to a week.  For longer storage, you can wrap the cake in plastic wrap and place it in a freezer bag for up to two months.

Kitchen Essentials for Apple Cake


Apple Sour Cream Cake Recipe

apple cake, apple coffee cake, fall breakfast cake
dessert, snack
American
Yield: 12
Author: Donna Urso
Apple Sour Cream Cake

Apple Sour Cream Cake

A moist and delicious apple cake perfect for fall. Serve as a coffee cake, snack cake, or anytime cake.
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 55 MinTotal time: 1 H & 10 M

Ingredients

For the Topping
For the Cake

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
  2. Combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut the 1/4 cup butter into the flour mixture until crumbly. You can use your fingers to do this. Then add 3/4 cup of the nut mixture to the crumbs to make the topping. Set aside the rest of the nut mixture.
  3. To make the cake, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  4. In the bowl of your mixer beat the butter to soften. Add the sugar and the vanilla, beating to combine.
  5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  6. Alternately add the flour mixture and the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat on low, just to combine.
  7. Spread one-third of the batter in your prepared pan. Top with half of the apple slices. Sprinkle the reserved nut mixture over the batter. Spread the next third of the batter on top.
  8. Distribute the remaining apples in the pan. Spread the remaining batter on top of the apples and then sprinkle on the topping mixture.
  9. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove the side of the pan to completely cool for at least one hour.

Recommended Products

9" Springform Pan
Baking Racks
Silicone Spatula Set

Nutrition Facts

Calories

352

Fat (grams)

23 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

10 g

Carbs (grams)

36 g

Fiber (grams)

2 g

Net carbs

34 g

Sugar (grams)

27 g

Protein (grams)

4 g

Sodium (milligrams)

232 mg

Cholesterol (grams)

73 mg

Nutritional information is approximate.

Similar Recipes

Apple-Cranberry Muffins

Apple Crisp-A Classic Fall Dessert

Homemade Traditional Apple Pie

©Just One Donna

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