Apple Cider Coffee Cake

It is hard to beat a good coffee cake. They are tender and delicious and the perfect baked good to serve with your coffee or tea. This Apple Cider Coffee Cake is a great seasonal flavor that I know you will love! It is even made with whole wheat flour, making it a better option for a baked good!

What Makes This Coffee Cake So Good?

The flavors are the first thing! I love that apple/cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger combo for a fall bake. This cake uses apple cider, but also fresh apples as well, creating the perfect flavor profile.

This can work as a baked good for breakfast, snacking, or even dessert. My apple cider coffee cake is versatile!

It is simple to make. The recipe takes time to bake, but really the hands-on time is minimal.

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour- I use a blend of all-purpose flour and whole wheat in this recipe.
• Whole Wheat Pastry flour- if you are not familiar with whole wheat pastry flour, it is my preferred flour for cakes and cookies. It is a lower-protein flour, so it keeps the cake nice and tender.
• Baking powder and baking soda- I use both as a leavener.
• Salt- it only takes a touch, but it matters.
• Cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger- This is my favorite combo for fall flavors.
• Butter- Everything is better with butter, right?
• Canola oil- you can use all butter if you prefer, but I really like to use a mix of both. That will give you the butter flavor, but the tenderness of using oil.
• Brown Sugar- you can also use granulated, but I prefer the brown in my fall bakes.
• Eggs
• Sour Cream- You can also use Greek yogurt. This also helps keep the cake tender.
• Vanilla- kind of like the salt. It does not take much but is really important.
• Apple Cider- Remember this is not apple juice or sparkling cider, but plain apple cider.
• Apples- I like to use granny smith, but if you have another you prefer, you can use that.

How To Make

1. Start by mixing your dry ingredients in a bowl and setting it aside. Also, mix all the ingredients for the crumb topping and set that aside as well. Grease or spray your pan and set it aside as well.
2. Then combine the butter, oil, and brown sugar. Mix well. Then add in the eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and apple cider. Once the eggs are added it is really important not to overmix. At this point, you only mix enough to blend. The batter will look really soupy, don't stress, it all comes together with the dry ingredients.
3. Add in your dry ingredients and mix. Again, only mix to combine. Last up is the apples, I like to fold these in with a spatula.
4. Pour into your prepared pan, then top with the crumb topping. The crumb topping will be a little stiff, just break it apart with your fingers and sprinkle it on the top.
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes. Then remove and let it cool just slightly before removing it from the pan. If you have greased your pan, it should be removed easily.

How To Bake With Whole Wheat Flour

If you do not have experience baking with whole wheat flour, let me share a few tips I have learned over the years. It isn't hard to do, but there are a few things to know to get you started. These will help you to get a great bake the first time and every time.

First, make sure you are using the right flour for the right bake. What I mean by this is all flours have different protein levels. This is really important in baking. Just like with refined flours, think about the difference between bread flour and cake flour, it can affect the outcome.

For almost all my cookies and cakes, I like to use whole wheat pastry flour. It is a lower protein flour that is perfect for baking a tender baked good. In fact, most of the time I use it in my baked goods, no one even knows they are wheat!

Another thing, start in moderation. My recipes are designed with the beginner in mind. If you are new to whole wheat and decide to go all in, you might not have the success you are looking for, and your family might revolt. Ease yourself into it.

I like to use equal parts (or close to equal) of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour.

Also, do not overmix. This is important with any cake, but especially when you are using whole wheat flour. It can get really tough, really quick.

The last piece of advice, make sure not to overbake. Again, this is always important but really important when you are using whole wheat flour which will absorb more moisture than white flour.

The standard bit of advice for baking with whole wheat is to add more moisture, I think it is MORE important to not overbake as that will absorb more moisture than anything else.

What's the secret to baking? Underbake it slightly. All foods will continue to cook or bake when they are removed from the heat source, this is called carry-over cooking.

If you pull it out when it is slightly underbaked, it will continue to bake to perfection after you remove it.

Other Whole Wheat Baked Goods

• Whole Wheat Thumbprint Cookies
• Cranberry Brioche Star Bread
• Whole Wheat Pretzels
• Whole wheat Challah
• Simple Snickerdoodle Bars
• Spritz Cookies with Jam

• Cakes
• Whole Wheat Pastry Flour