Cakes & biscuits
Apple streusel cake with a crisp butter topping
A shallow apple cake with tender pastry, tart apple pieces and generous buttery crumbs.
- Total time
- 100 min
- Servings / pieces
- 12
- Topic
- Cakes & biscuits
Apples take centre stage in this cake, sitting in a modest layer between a short pastry base and loose buttery crumbs. Firm, tart varieties such as Boskoop or Elstar provide a useful balance to the sweet topping. Briefly baking the base before adding the fruit helps it cope with the juices. The streusel is mixed separately and kept cold until needed, so you can handle the pastry and topping differently without making a complicated dough. Allow roughly an hour for cooling after baking: the cake is much more fragile while the apple layer is still warm.
Method
Step by step
- 01
Prepare the tin and pastry
Line the base of the springform tin and lightly butter its sides. Quickly bring the flour, butter, sugar, egg and salt together into a cohesive dough. Stop as soon as it holds together. Press it into the tin, forming a rim about 2 cm high. Chill for 20 minutes.
- 02
Chill the crumbs
Combine the topping flour and sugar. Rub in the cold butter with your fingertips until the mixture contains both small crumbs and larger pieces. Gently squeeze a few crumbs together to give the finished topping texture. Refrigerate the bowl. Heat the oven to 180 °C conventional heat.
- 03
Cut the fruit
Peel and core the apples, then cut into roughly 1 cm pieces. Toss with the lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and cornflour. Very thin slices break down more quickly; evenly sized pieces leave a distinct apple layer in the finished cake.
- 04
Prebake the base
Prick the chilled pastry several times with a fork. Bake on a shelf just below the centre for 12 minutes. The surface should look dry but remain fairly pale. Place the hot tin on a heatproof surface while you add the filling.
- 05
Fill and finish baking
Spread the apples and their coating evenly over the pastry. Scatter the cold crumbs loosely on top. Bake for another 40–45 minutes, until golden and a small knife slips into an apple piece without firm resistance. Cover loosely if the top browns too quickly after 30 minutes.
- 06
Cool before cutting
Leave the cake in its tin for 20 minutes, then carefully release the ring. Cool fully on a rack. Cut into twelve portions with a sharp knife only once the filling has settled, avoiding pressure that would push the apples out of the slice.
Times are a guide. Your hob, oven and ingredients affect the result; use the cooking cues as well as the clock.
Managing apple juice
Different apples release different amounts of liquid. A little cornflour catches the juice without turning the filling into a firm pudding. If your apples are unusually juicy, let the chopped fruit stand for five minutes and leave behind only the loose juice that visibly pools in the bowl.
Keeping the topping crisp
Cover the cooled cake and store somewhere cool. Fruit moisture gradually softens the crumbs in the refrigerator. Refresh individual portions in a 150 °C conventional oven for about 8 minutes before serving. Offer cream separately so that it does not soak the surface in advance.
Kitchen questions
One more question?
Can I leave the apple skins on?
Yes, with thin-skinned apples. The peel will remain noticeable as a firmer edge, so peeling gives a more uniformly tender filling.
Why has my streusel become a paste?
The butter has warmed up or the mixture was worked for too long. Chill it for 15 minutes, then use two forks to break it into rough pieces.
