Anyone else love eating leftover birthday cake for breakfast? No…? Oh. Right. Not me either. While I love a good coffee cake, I’ve had some trouble perfecting them. They’re so buttery and a little crumbly, which I can’t seem to recreated without adding a ton of butter. Never one to let that get me down, I’ve moved on with my life and to this delicious apple breakfast cake.
It incorporates many of the same qualities of a coffee cake (streusel layers, for one!, but there’s enough differences that I’m hesitant to call it a coffee cake. It’s delicious (and maybe even better than a lot of fatty coffee cakes I’ve tried!) but as soon as something isn’t *exactly* what you’re looking for with a certain word, it crushes your dreams and just doesn’t taste right. So, tasty apple breakfast cake it is!
When I made the cake in the pictures, I did a poor job of spacing out my apples, oops! If you want more on top, do a better job spacing out your streusel (or make extra!:) My official recommendation for next time I make this). Because there’s fresh fruit involved, I also recommend storing in the fridge and microwaving for 10 – 15 seconds before enjoying left overs.
1 tsp butter extract (or other extract, but you’ll lose the buttery flavor)
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ c unsweetened almond milk (or other milk choice. Can use buttermilk and omit lemon juice)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 apples, peeled if desired and diced
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp flour of choice
½ tbsp cinnamon
¼ c pecans, optional
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a 9”x9” baking pan with nonstick spray.
Whisk pastry flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
In a second bowl, whisk the sugar, apple sauce, syrup, flax, water, and extracts.
Stir milk and lemon juice in a third bowl and let sit for a few minutes (this creates a “buttermilk” like mixture)
In yet another bowl, toss the diced apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon and pecans (if using).
Add the flour mixture and milk mixture to the sugar mixture, alternating between the two (starting and ending with the flour mixture). Stir until just combined.
Pour ~half of the batter into the pan. Cover in half of the apple mixture, top with remaining batter and finish with the last of the apple mixture.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
Nutritional info includes optional nuts, ~ 165 calories without.
Just reading your recipe. What types of flour are used? Is that a typo error? 1Tbsp flower, 1/2Tbsp flour. Looking for recipes ideas to incorporate fruit and veggies, to family members who are picky about vegetable eating, ( not children) who need to eat healthier!!
Ha, that’s kind of a funny typo. Please don’t add flowers to this breakfast cake 🙂 I updated the recipe to include the correct ingredients (the first one should be flour, the second should be cinnamon) and I also re-worked the instructions so that the recipe is all around more clear. Thanks for pointing this out 🙂
This looks like the perfect cake for breakfast. I just adore streusel on anything. I especially love the calories. It will fit nicely in my calorie count for the day.
Oh, this cake sounds so good. I love that you can prepare it ahead of time and wake up on a relaxing weekend morning to it. Something about apples and cinnamon is so relaxing. Okay, I’m hungry now. 🙂
While I would love to wake up to leftover birthday cake every morning, I think this cake would be even better. I am a sucker for apple cakes! Love that it’s made with whole wheat flour too.
Sounds close enough to call it coffee cake to me, but breakfast cake certainly works! Whatever you want to call it, it looks delicious and like something I wish I had had this morning! Yum!
Breakfast cake should be more of a thing, I think. Move over cereal, breakfast cake’s coming in! Your apple breakfast cake looks awesome…I’d definitely be snacking on it all day long!
I love leftover sweets for breakfast (although I usually try to control myself and wait until not breakfast lol)–this apple breakfast cake is the perfect solution!
Wow! That apple breakfast cake and a cup of coffee sounds perfect for breakfast (like everyday!) How did you come up with that recipe??? Looks fantastic!
I’m not sure where this recipe came from, it popped into my head last Friday and I sat at my desk alllll day thinking about how I needed to make it ASAP 🙂
Just reading your recipe. What types of flour are used? Is that a typo error? 1Tbsp flower, 1/2Tbsp flour. Looking for recipes ideas to incorporate fruit and veggies, to family members who are picky about vegetable eating, ( not children) who need to eat healthier!!
Ha, that’s kind of a funny typo. Please don’t add flowers to this breakfast cake 🙂 I updated the recipe to include the correct ingredients (the first one should be flour, the second should be cinnamon) and I also re-worked the instructions so that the recipe is all around more clear. Thanks for pointing this out 🙂
[…] on my Apple Breakfast Cake recipe.For a vegan breakfast, use chocolate peanut butter or melted chocolate chips instead of the […]
Cake for breakfast is pretty much my life you know… I need to try an apple version ASAP.
This looks like the perfect cake for breakfast. I just adore streusel on anything. I especially love the calories. It will fit nicely in my calorie count for the day.
Cake for breakfast is the best! Especially one with streusel! Nothing goes better with big mug of tea!
I love that this is not full of butter…so I can eat more of it!
Ha! That’s my exact reasoning for making it this way 🙂 Thanks!
Yummy, that looks fantastic! I am always looking for apple cake/bread/muffin recipes. Thanks for sharing this!
Cake? Breakfast? All in the same sentence? Yes please! Great recipe 🙂
Cake for breakfast makes any day brighter but I have a weakness for apple cakes! I think because it reminds me of fall, my favorite season.
Oh, this cake sounds so good. I love that you can prepare it ahead of time and wake up on a relaxing weekend morning to it. Something about apples and cinnamon is so relaxing. Okay, I’m hungry now. 🙂
While I would love to wake up to leftover birthday cake every morning, I think this cake would be even better. I am a sucker for apple cakes! Love that it’s made with whole wheat flour too.
Cake for breakfast makes any day a good day! Love the apply addition to “coffee cake”!
Cake for breakfast is one of the perks of being an adult 😉
Agreed!
Sounds close enough to call it coffee cake to me, but breakfast cake certainly works! Whatever you want to call it, it looks delicious and like something I wish I had had this morning! Yum!
Breakfast cake should be more of a thing, I think. Move over cereal, breakfast cake’s coming in! Your apple breakfast cake looks awesome…I’d definitely be snacking on it all day long!
I love leftover sweets for breakfast (although I usually try to control myself and wait until not breakfast lol)–this apple breakfast cake is the perfect solution!
I’m glad you have the self control, I definitely don’t! 😉
Wow! That apple breakfast cake and a cup of coffee sounds perfect for breakfast (like everyday!) How did you come up with that recipe??? Looks fantastic!
I’m not sure where this recipe came from, it popped into my head last Friday and I sat at my desk alllll day thinking about how I needed to make it ASAP 🙂