Chai Apple Crumb Cake

Made this cake yesterday and I thought it turned out pretty good but could use some tweaks. I might want to make it again some day, so I thought I would record the recipe here with my suggestions. Enjoy!

Chai Apple Crumb Cake

Ingredients:

Chai Apples

• 3 small apples peeled & thinly sliced (I used green Granny Smith)
• 40 g light brown sugar (3 tbsp.)
• 1 tbsp. chai spice (recipe below)

Chai Streusel

• 60 g unsalted butter (¼ c.)
• 90 g light brown sugar (⅓ c. + 1 tbsp.)
• 120 g all purpose flour (1 c.)
• 1 ½ tsp. chai spice

Butter Cake

• 210 g all purpose flour (1 ¾ c.)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 125 g unsalted butter (½ c. + 1 tbsp.) room temperature
• 175 g granulated sugar (¾ c. + 2 tbsp.)
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 135 g whole milk room temperature (½ c. + 2 tbsp.)
• 75 g sour cream room temperature (5 tbsp.)
• 180 g apple butter (⅔ c.) optional

Chai Glaze (optional)

• 90 g powdered sugar
• 1-2 tbsp. macerated chai apple juice

Chai Spice Blend

• 2 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. each of the following: ground allspice, ground cardamom, ground cloves, ground ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. 
• I found that it took too long for the cake to cook at this temperature in my convection oven so the bottom was getting overdone while the middle was still doughy. I would drop the temp to 325 next time and see if I get better results cooking it lower and slower.)
2. Generously butter a 9" cake pan. Crumple up some parchment paper, then un-crumple it and place it into the buttered cake pan, making sure it sticks to the bottom and sides. Set aside.
• Instead of using crumpled parchment, I had a 9" silicone mat that I put in the bottom of my 9" springform pan, and that worked perfectly.

Chai Apples

1. Wash, peel, and thinly slice the apples. 
• I found that "sliced" apples made it difficult to get a cake-tester through the top layer to check and see if the batter was all cooked through beneath, so next time, I would dice my apples instead of slicing.
2. Mix the apples with the brown sugar and chai spice well, making sure the mixture is evenly dispersed throughout each apple slice. Set aside.

Chai Streusel

1. In a medium sized bowl, melt the butter. 
2. To the butter, add the sugar, flour, and chai spice. 
3. Use a fork to mix the ingredients together until you have formed clumps of dough. Set aside.

Butter Cake

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer, in a large bowl) beat together the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
3. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in both eggs and the vanilla. Beat until well combined (~1 min.)
4. Add in half of the flour mixture, and mix by hand just until the flour is incorporated. Add in all of the sour cream and milk and mix until combined. Add in the rest of the flour, and lightly fold the mixture together just until all of the flour is incorporated.
5. Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth out the top. Place dollops of the apple butter on top of the cake, then carefully smooth it into an even layer.
• Instead of apple butter, this would also be delicious with a butter, brown sugar, cinnamon mixture, more like a cinnamon roll.
6. Pour the remaining cake batter into the pan and smooth it out into an even layer. 
7. Place the apples on top of the batter, making sure to leave out the juice from the apples. (Be sure to keep the leftover juice for the glaze!)
8. Top the apples with the streusel. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.
• The first time I made this, even at 50 minutes at 350 degrees my cake tester was coming out with raw batter on it, but when I cooked it for more like 60-70 minutes, the cake was finally done but the bottom and sides were a touch overcooked and the streusel topping had gotten really crunchy and hard. Next time, I think I will drop the temperature to cook it lower and slower so the middle has a chance to get done before the outside is over cooked and see how it goes. You can also use "baking strips" that wrap around the outside of your pan to help insulate the sides from the heat to give the middle a better chance to cook evenly.
9. Let the cake cool in the pan until no longer too hot to touch, then use the parchment to lift the cake out of the pan.
• Because I used a springform and my silicone mat instead, and because my cake seemed a touch overdone on the edges, I removed it immediately from the springform to prevent further baking. First, I ran a small spatula around the edge of the pan to make sure the cake wasn't sticking to the sides before removing the collar of the springform. Then I used my biggest oversized pancake turner to get the cake off from the bottom of the pan, then off from the silicone mat.

Chai Glaze (optional)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and leftover juice from the apples. If the mixture is too thick, add some more juice, or milk if none is left. If the mixture is too thin, add more powdered sugar.
2. Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, drizzle the glaze over the top. Serve and enjoy! This is also delicious topped with whipped cream or caramel sauce.