Crunchy Apple Streusel Cake - With Streusel Topping

;-) Heyyy SlurpBurp, here I am, back again with a much more fabulous recipe !!! You see, I have been busy and I know I kind of alienated you for so many years.. Never again, trust me !!! :-)

Did I tell you that this is the first ever cake that I have baked with Apple as the main ingredient? The fruit stall near my home was vibrant and colorful with blushing red apples... ;-) How can I ignore and not take away a few along? Once back home, without giving my overexcited brain much time, I started hunting for my kitchen sweethearts - butter, sugar, all-purpose flour, my not-so-favorite walnuts, and the 1 lonely egg left after the "overly-eggy" tutti-fruity cake that I baked a couple of days ago. And not to forget my dusky beauty, the WANKANAI tightly packed brown sugar, which my friend has dearly gifted me a month ago. All put together, I got this gorgeous, brown beauty for my dear buddy who visited us today with her kiddo!!! I couldn' wait for it to cool down to gorge on it. It was just too delicious to resist and I finished half the portion with generous dollops of yummy Vanilla Ice-cream... ;-)
 
The simplicity of this recipe and the amazing result it gave me reminded me of my slurpburp and my foodie friends... So here you go... ;-)

For Streusel Topping:

1. All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
2. Cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces - 3 tablespoons
3. Ground cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon
4. Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
5. Walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped  - 1/4 cup

For Cake Batter:

1. All purpose flour - 1 cup
2. Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
3. Salt - 1 pinch
4. Unsalted butter (room temperature) - 1/4 cup
5. Granulated white sugar - 1/2 cup
6. Large egg - 1
7. Milk - 1/3 cup
8. Vanilla extract - 1/2 teaspoon
9. Large apples (peeled, cored, and thinly sliced) - 2

Method
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).  Grease an 8 inch cake pan with butter and dust it with plain flour.

Streusel Topping

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour and ground cinnamon. 
2. Add the chopped, cold butter with fork until it resembles coarse crumbs. 
3. Stir in the brown sugar and chopped walnuts. Set this mix aside.

Cake Batter 

1. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 
2. In a separate bowl, beat the butter until creamy and smooth. 
3. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated.
5. Add the flour mixture, alternately with the milk. Continue to alternate between the milk and flour mixture and end it with flour mixture and beat until combined. 
6. Spread the batter into the the prepared cake pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
7.  Evenly arrange the apple slices on top of the cake batter (do not press it) and then sprinkle with the streusel topping.
8. Bake for about 45 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. 
9. Remove the cake from oven and let it cool.

Slice it and indulge... It tastes the best when it is warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or softly whipped cream.

Makes 9 - 10 servings.

Happy Baking !!! :-)