Caramel Apple Coffee Cake made with tender and buttery Granny Smith apples that are topped with a crunchy brown sugar crumb topping. Salted caramel sauce is drizzled on top of the streusel topping and the tart apples.

Coffee cake is versatile and is perfect for breakfast and dessert!

What is Coffee Cake with Caramel Apples?

To start with the basics, a coffee cake is a butter-based cake that is dense and full of buttery flavor. This coffee cake is made into a caramel apple coffee cake that is filled with tart Granny Smith apples that are drizzled with a homemade salted caramel sauce.

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Ingredients in this Caramel Apple Coffee Cake

• Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• Unsalted butter - for the apples and the coffee cake
• All-purpose flour
• Eggs
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Milk
• Vanilla extract
• Pecans - optional!
• Light brown sugar
• Granulated sugar
• Ground cinnamon
• Salted caramel sauce - the recipe for homemade can be found here

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How to Make Coffee Cake

This buttery delicious coffee cake with tart apples and salted caramel sauce is easy enough to make and perfect for breakfast or for dessert.

Prepare the apples- Peel and thinly slice the apples and add them to a skillet that is heated with two tablespoons of butter. Saute the prepared apples in the skillet for two to three minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Make the streusel topping- Combine the all-purpose flour, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl. Using a fork, cut in the softened butter until the mixture is moist and crumbly. Set aside for later use.

Prepare the salted caramel sauce - Prepare the salted caramel sauce by following the directions found here. Alternately, bottled salted caramel sauce can be purchased and used.

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Make the coffee cake- Prepare a 9-inch springform pan by greasing and flouring it to prevent any sticking. I like to do this even though the pan is nonstick because of the use of the sauce.

In a large mixing bowl and with either the use of a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the softened butter together with the granulated sugar. Once the ingredients are combined, add the eggs one at a time.

In a separate bowl, combine the baking powder, salt, and all-purpose flour together in a bowl. Combine half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Add half of the milk and stir until just combined.

Repeat the mixing with the remaining dry ingredients and milk in that order. After the batter is made, gently fold in three-quarters of the prepared apples into the batter.

Pour the coffee cake batter into the springform pan and then top with the remaining apples. Drizzle those apples with half of the salted caramel sauce. Sprinkle the streusel topping on top of the apples and sauce.

Bake the coffee cake- Bake for forty-five to fifty minutes.

Cover the springform pan with aluminum foil to prevent the top of the cake from browning too quickly and burning.

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Bake for an additional 25 minutes. Check the center of the cake with a toothpick, it should come out dry. If it is wet, continue baking for a few minutes at a time. Oven times vary and this can cause a longer or shorter bake time.

Remove the apple caramel coffee cake from the oven and allow it to cool completely before removing the springform pan from the sides of the cake and drizzling the coffee cake with the remaining caramel sauce.