Apple Spice Snack Cake
Small but mighty, this 8x8-inch apple snacking cake is filled with cozy fall flavors and a lot of apple. It's moist, tender, and completed with a streusel topping.
Servings: 16 2-inch square
Calories: 260kcal
Ingredients
For the apple cake
- 2 medium red apples see note #1
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup neutral oil such as canola or vegetable
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 240 g flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
Crumb topping & glaze
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter coconut oil also works
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8-inch metal baking pan. Place a square of parchment paper in the base of the pan for easy cake removal (optional.)
- Dice the apple. To do this, I cut the apple into wedges, thinly slice those wedges, then cut the slices into smaller pieces. Measure out roughly 3 cups of diced apple.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, and eggs. Stir in the diced apple.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and cloves. Using a sifter or a fine mesh sieve, sift about half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring until combined.
- Sift in the remaining dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. It should be a relatively thick batter. Scoop the batter into the prepared 8x8-inch baking pan. Spread into an even layer.
- Make the streusel topping in a small bowl by whisking together all-purpose flour, brown sugar, melted butter, and a pinch of salt. Crumble this across the apple cake.
- Bake the cake on the middle oven rack at 350F for 40-50 minutes, or until the cake is pulling away from the edges of the pan and the center of the cake is firm and golden.
- Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk until smooth. It should be easy to drizzle. Add extra milk 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed.
- Drizzle the cooled apple cake with the powdered sugar glaze. Slice and enjoy!
Notes
- Apples: Choose a sweet variety like Fuji, Ambrosia, or Honeycrisp. I leave the peel on the apple but you can remove it if you prefer. Two apples yields roughly 3 cups diced apple or 1 pound of diced apple. It's okay if you're slightly under 1# or 3 cups.
- Storage: The cake keeps best in the fridge for 3-4 days. Because it's such a moist cake, it doesn't dry out too much in the fridge.
- Freezing: Apple cake freezes well. Freeze the entire cake or freeze it in slices. Let thaw at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.
Nutrition
Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 163mg | Potassium: 60mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 92IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg
