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This Salted Bourbon Apple Crumble Coffee Cake is fall baked up into a sweet little cake, infused with warming autumn spices, bourbon, and swirled with crisp autumn apples. This cake is no fuss, easy to mix up, and SO DELICIOUS! Every bite is layered with sweet cinnamon streusel, apples, and bourbon-vanilla coffee cake crumbs. Finish with a light drizzle of sweet glaze for a cake that no one can turn down…breakfast or dessert.
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I’m taking a pause from all the pumpkin recipes to bring back an autumn apple recipe! Once October hits I feel like we can all get sidetracked by baking (and cooking) with so much pumpkin. It’s easy to do, something about baking with pumpkin just feels so quintessentially perfect in October.
But, I’m here to remind us all that it’s still very much apple season. And we can’t forget about baking with fall apples too!
Enter this cake. It’s honestly one of the more delicious recipes I’ve baked up all month.
Here are the details
There are three steps to this cake…the batter, the streusel, and the glaze. The batter is pretty simple but has a few special ingredients: apple butter, apple cider, bourbon, apples, and a bit of sour cream to give the cake a perfect moist crumble.
Simply mix together the wet ingredients in a large bowl, then add in the dry…very simple, nothing fancy.
For the middle of the cake, you’ll need to make a streusel. You’ll also need some Honeycrisp apples. For this cake, I opted out of any creamy cheese, as I wanted the flavors of the apples and bourbon to really shine through.
I swirled the middle of the cake with chopped apples and then added a layer of streusel mixture.
For the very top of the cake, I like to arrange a few apple slices around the cake. Then I finish it off with streusel. It’s so delicious and perfect atop this apple cake.
Now on to that glaze
I don’t love a straight powdered sugar glaze. I find it to be pretty bland, and really, it’s just too sugary for my taste.
With this glaze, I wanted it to be exciting, but not overpowering. I wanted the flavors within the glaze to help highlight the flavors in the cake. Apples pair so well with maple. They help to make this my favorite buttery glaze. The bourbon adds a warmth and richness to the glaze, and the small pinch of salt ties it all together.
Not too strong, not too sweet, but just right. Especially when drizzled over this warm cake.
Insanely delish.
When everything is combined into one cake, you have a truly special fall apple cake. Make it today for something sweet tonight. But don’t forget about it when Thanksgiving rolls around next month as well.
It makes for a great brunch cake too!
We all really loved this. Especially my dad, who highly agreed that the apples really do make this cake.
Looking for other apple fall recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Apple Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Maple Icing
Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts with Cinnamon Maple Glaze
Chewy Brown Sugar Maple Cookies
Lastly, if you make this Salted Bourbon Apple Crumble Coffee Cake, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Salted Bourbon Apple Crumble Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) salted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1/3 cup apple butter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup apple cider
- 1/4 cup bourbon, (or more cider)
Streusel
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons cold butter, grated
- 1 1/2 cups chopped apples, plus 1 small apple, thinly sliced
Glaze
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon bourbon
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch bundt pan.2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar until combined. Add the sour cream, apple butter, and vanilla, beating until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly mix in the apple cider and bourbon until just combined, being careful not to overmix.3. To make the streusel. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add the butter and use your fingers to mix the butter into the flour until a crumble forms.4. Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the apples over the batter, sprinkle half the crumble over the apples. Spoon the remaining batter over in an even layer. Evenly layer on the apple slices, then top with the remaining streusel mix.5. Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool 30 minutes and then invert the cake onto a plate, flipping it back upright onto a serving plate.6. To make the glaze, add the butter and maple to a small pot set over medium heat to melt. Whisk in the powdered sugar, bourbon, and salt. Drizzle the glaze over the cake and let set 10 minutes. Serve the cake slightly warm or at room temperature. Keep cake stored, covered in the fridge.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Tieghan, another winner! Made this yesterday afternoon and had with coffee this am! I love adding the apples to the recipe! Great idea to cover and put in the refrigerator. Just put it in the microwave for 40 seconds and nice and warm and so very moist! Made our morning! Everyone needs to make this because it is so delicious and moist and like you said, good for breakfast or dessert!
Hey! This is awesome, I’m so happy to hear this recipe turned out the way you’d hoped! 🙂 xTieghan
Wow! This is a delicious apple dessert. Easy to make and easy to follow directions. Thanks Tie-in.
Awesome! Thanks a bunch for trying out the recipe, love to hear that it was enjoyed!! xTieghan
Can you add a correction on the site about putting the streusel on the bottom of the Bundt pan? Will make today but glad I read the comments.
Hi Susan, sorry for the confusion, hope the recipe was still enjoyed! xTieghan
Made this today to take to a gathering and it turned out wonderfully! Great fall recipe – flavorful, moist, and delicious!
Hi Theresa! I really appreciate you taking the time to give this recipe a try! I hope you loved it 🙂 xTieghan
Where does the coffee come in?
Hi Nancy, there’s actually no coffee in this recipe, it’s just the type of cake 🙂 xTieghan
Make the Salted Bourbon Apple Crumble Coffee cake today. Wow, what a flavorful blast each bite provides. Here is what I did different:
-Used an angel food cake pan
-Used 1/2 bourbon and 1/2 apple cider whenever it called for bourbon because I was using a really high proof bourbon and serving single digit aged children too!
-I had made Pumpkin Butter for a previous recipe and so I used that in place of apple butter. I think that might have elevated the flavor.
-Used 2 small Honey Crisps to layer all the way across the top of the cake.
Hi there! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I hope you enjoyed it! Happy Weekend 🙂 xTieghan
I made this cake today and it’s simply delicious! Great recipe!
The recipe says to use a Bundt pan…which puts the streusel on the bottom! Please correct to a spring form or angel food cake pan.
I was wondering about that. Mine is in the oven now in a bundt pan. I’ll figure it out.
Mine just came out. Leaving it with the streusel on bottom bc no way to fix it now. But definitely seemed odd!
Mine actually came out great too. The pan was fine and actually was a good guide for slicing.
This was a delicious cake. The bourbon is the perfect amount to add a nice flavor. Absolutely a hit at my gathering. Easy to make. The bundt cake pan turned out to be just fine.
Hi there I’m so sorry for the confusion! You can use any of those pans 🙂 xTieghan
The cake was so delicious. Perfect amount of cinnamon and apples and super moist. But the glaze is what took this to another level of deliciousness!!!! Do not skip the glaze!!!
Hi Melissa! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I hope you enjoyed it! Happy Weekend 🙂 xTieghan
What kind of bourbon do you recommend to use in this cake?
Any bourbon is great! 🙂 xTieghan
This recipe says to use a bundt pan but the photo looks to be what my mother called a tube pan. Are they interchangeable for the amount of batter?
Hi Ann! Yes, you can use either pan for this recipe 🙂 xTieghan
I made this yesterday it was soooo good! Made it for a friends get together and totally forgot to take a picture before we cut into it. Perfect fall dessert.
Hi there! I’m so happy you loved this recipe, I hope it was delish! xTieghan
I made this today and absolutely loved it. So moist and delicious!
Hi Natalie! Thanks so much for trying out this recipe, so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 xTieghan
In my country, we don’t have apple butter… How can I do?
A thick homemade applesauce could work to sun or make your own apple butter using a recipe you find on the internet.
You can make the apple butter.
Hi there! I would use apple sauce 🙂 xTieghan
Do you think this would work in cupcake form? With a reduced baking time.
Hi Claire! Yes, that should work just fine 🙂 xTieghan
They turned out great in a muffin tin! I was able to make 18 and I baked them for 20 mins!