Apple Crumb Cake Recipe
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This is a simple and scrumptious country apple cake. Tanya, one of the ladies I sit next to in choir, shared this recipe with me. It’s also known as “Domashny” which translates loosely to “from home.” It sure is homey and so easy to put together. It reminds me of the Russian sharlotka cake, but this one is more exciting. It’s perfect with tea or coffee and can be completed in 1 hour start to finish; no fancy frostings or frills required.
The sour cream cake layers have just the right amount of sweetness complementing the sweet tart apples and plump raisins. And that crumbly topping adds just a hint of crunch – you will clean your plate, you’ll see!
Apple Crumb Cake Ingredients:
3 Eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups (10 oz) sour cream (I used regular, not low fat)
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1 tsp baking powder
2 large (about 1 lb) granny smith apples
3/4 cup raisins
Crumb Topping Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter, softened (20g butter)
4 Tbsp all-purpose flour *measured correctly
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
Apple Crumb Cake Prep:
Preheat Oven to 350˚F.
1. Butter and flour a 9″ springform mold. Peel and core apples, then cut into 6 wedges and slice into 1/4″ thick pieces. (P.S. We love this steel apple slicer). 
2. Soak raisins in hot water for 5 minutes then drain and pat them dry with paper towel.
How to make the Apple Crumb Cake:
1. Beat 3 eggs with 1 cup sugar with the whisk attachment on high speed until foamy and thick (5 min).
2. Reduce mixer to medium speed and add 1 1/4 cups sour cream, 4 Tbsp melted butter, and 1 tsp vanilla.
3.Whisk together 2 cups flour and 1 tsp baking powder and add them to your batter. Continue mixing until well combined.
4. Fill prepared baking pan with half of the batter. Place apple slices and raisins evenly over the top of the mixture. Fill baking pan with the remaining batter. Bake at 350˚F for 20 minutes. While cake is in the oven, make the crumble topping.
5. For the Topping: Use your hands to rub together 2 Tbsp butter and 4 Tbsp of flour, rolling between your fingers until small crumbles form. Add 3 Tbsp of sugar and mix until incorporated. Remove cake from the oven after the first 20 min and sprinkle topping evenly over cake.
6. Immediately place the cake back into the oven for an additional 20 minutes. When it’s done baking, remove the ring and let it cool. If you want the top to turn a little golden, set oven to broil and keep in the oven an additional 2 minutes.
Apple Crumb Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
- 3 Eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups 10 oz sour cream (I used regular, not low fat)
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, *see notes
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 large, about 1 lb granny smith apples
- 3/4 cup raisins
Topping Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
Prep: Preheat Oven to 350˚F.
- Butter and flour a 9" springform mold.
- Peel and core apples, then cut into 6 wedges and slice into 1/4" thick pieces. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Soak raisins in hot water for 5 minutes then drain and pat them dry with paper towel.
How to make the Apple Cake:
- Beat 3 eggs with 1 cup sugar with the whisk attachment on high speed until foamy and thick (5 minutes).
- Reduce mixer to medium speed and add 1 1/4 cups sour cream, 4 Tbsp melted butter, and 1 tsp vanilla.
- Whisk together 2 cups flour and 1 tsp baking powder and add them to your batter. Continue mixing until well combined.
- Fill prepared baking pan with half of the batter. Place apple slices and raisins evenly over the top of the mixture. Fill baking pan with the remaining batter. Bake at 350˚F for 20 minutes. While cake is in the oven, make the crumble topping.
- For the Topping: Use your hands to rub together 2 Tbsp butter and 4 Tbsp of flour, rolling between your fingers until small crumbles form. Add 3 Tbsp of sugar and mix until incorporated. Remove cake from the oven and sprinkle topping evenly over cake.
- Immediately place the cake back into the oven for an additional 20 minutes. When it's done baking, remove the ring and let it cool. If you want the top to turn a little golden, set oven to broil an additional 2 minutes.
Notes
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
CAN I SUB CRUSH PINEAPPLE INSTEAD OF RAISEN? TO THIS APPLE CRUMBLE CAKE…
Hi Lita, I honestly haven’t tested that yet to advise. If you do an experiment and try that, please share with us how it goes.
I love this recipe. I am using it for my friends all the time. they love it too.
That’s so great! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Aida!
I made this for desert today and it was delicious! I love your recipes. Thanks for sharing!
You’re so welcome, Dawn. Glad you enjoyed it!
So yummy….thank you very much.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Natasha! Our family love this cake. I made it a few times and it always come out delicious. Thank you for the recipe. I use your site a lot and there are some of your recipes I am going to try
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Svetlana. Thank you for the wonderful review!
Can I freeze it ?
Hi Yuliya, I haven’t tested that to advise. If you experiment please let me know how you like that.
The only reason this gets four and not five stars is because two minutes under the broiler meant a totally burnt and inedible crumb topping for me! But, I scraped it off, and the rest of the cake is so delicious that I ate a slice even though we just returned from a hearty dinner.
Adjustments I made – sub one flax egg for a regular egg as I didn’t have three of the latter. Didn’t quite use a full cup of sugar. And added cinnamon to the topping…although we won’t get to eat that.
My cake cooked in the amount of time listed (I checked the temp with a thermometer to ensure it was at 210F). My only question is how to keep the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the cake…ideas?
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Hi, Natasha is long time you not add new recipes? or miss something. I check every day ??
Thanks you
Hi Marimar, we have been posting two new recipes every week like clockwork. The best way to check is to go to our homepage and see what is new under the section titled “Most Recent”
One of my favorite go to cakes when apples are in season! Thank you, always turns out great!
My pleasure, Marina!
Hi Natasha! I don’t have a springform pan. Can I make this in a rectangular metal pan? Or a rectangular glass pan? Thanks!
Hi Elaine, a springform is just the easiest to remove the cake from but a 9″ rectangular pan would work (square would be even better!). Keep in mind if the pan you use has greater surface area, like a 9×13, the cake would not be very tall. Also, if using a larger rectangular pan, you may need to bake for less time so it doesn’t end up dry.
Hi Natasha. I baked this cake twice and it turned out too dense. Yours looks fluffy like sponge in the middle
Hi Kim, I am always happy to help troubleshoot. The top two things that come to mind are: was the flour measured correctly? Spooning the flour into the measuring cup and then leveling off the top will give you the proper measure, while pushing the measuring cup into the flour bin will get you 20-25% more by weight (I have tested this theory). Also, using too much apple could cause it to be more dense.
Good evening Natasha darlin made this cake yesterday morning had a piece today after breakfast with a cuppa hazelnut coffee subbed chocolate chips in place of the raisins and wow the sour cream and butter crumb mixture is totally divine mmmmm thanx for always posting sweetheart keep it up cheers
I’m glad you loved it! Thank you for following !! 🙂
Hey might wanna make this cake tomorrow morning sometime looks really way good and yummmm am wondering if I can sub dried apricots or walnuts in place of the raisins also I’m a little confused with the amount of sour cream do I use the whole container thanx like always darlin gnite and cheers
Hi Tzivia, I used 1 1/4 cups of sour cream which equates to 10 oz. I think the substitution could work, but I would suggest toasting the walnuts on a dry skillet, coarsely chop (and fully cool them to room temperature). If I were to add dried apricots, I would probably soak them in boiling hot water for 10-15 minutes to soften them up then drain well and pat dry. I haven’t tried those substitutions but they sound like they would work. Let me know if you test it out 🙂
wow this looks so delicious
First time making it and I really like this recipe. Only instead of raisins I put dry blueberries and it taste really good!
I’m so happy you liked it and thanks for sharing your tip about dried blueberries 🙂
Wow cake looks really way good tho I’m the only one in my family who likes raisins would a substitution of poppy seeds cinnamon and ground walnuts work also I don’t have a mixer with a paddle attachment looks like it can be done by hand or is it better with another type of mixer @ usual u don’t disappoint with ur recipes gurl love u always keep us all up to date so very cool of you
Do you have an electric hand mixer? This cake works best if you beat the eggs with a mixer first, otherwise you will be beating the eggs a really long time. Those add ins sound like they would work. If you test it out, let me know how it goes.
Yes I have a hand held electric mixer cool so I can use that when I g willing make this I will let ya know another question do I need to toast the walnuts first and also would I have to soak the poppy seeds like the raisins thanx soooo much luv @ usual cheers
Toasted walnuts always taste better, just let them cool before adding them. Soaking poppy seeds doesn’t really enhance them. They are only changed if they are cooked which probably isn’t necessary in this case.
Oh ok no problem I’ll know to toast the walnuts first and wow that’s cool that I don’t hafta soak the poppy seeds gr8 to know can’t wait
Thank you for this amazing recipe, do you think it will be ok to use dates instead of raisins?
To be honest, I haven’t tried it, but I imagine it would work if you chopped them up and added them. You may not have to soak them in water though.
The cake tasted really good! It was a little too dense so will try baking a little longer next time
You might try beating your eggs a little longer also if it was dense. I hope that helps 🙂
I absolutely love this recipe! Amazing:) I have used it several times already. My husband and my daughter love it including me of course:) Love the flavor you get especially when you use the Canadian style sour cream and for a change sometimes I use prunes instead of raisins!
I love your ideas for the Canadian style sour cream and prunes in leu of raisins. Mmmm 🙂
We made this today and 90% of it is good. Like another reviewer, the inner part is completely uncooked. I followed the directions precisely including the broiling part. I wonder if you have a hot oven. We are sticking it back in for an additional 20 minutes (so no worries) and look forward to enjoying it tonight. Overall, a great recipe, but the time possibly needs adjusting.
Hi David, thanks so much for the feedback. I’m surprised that it didn’t finish baking. Did you bake for a total of 40 minutes plus 2 minutes under the broiler? Did you add more apples possibly which would introduce more moisture to the cake? I guess not all ovens are created equal. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
I made this again tonight and modified the time and temperature; it came out perfectly. For those who might have the same issue of the apple crumb cake being undercooked, I adjusted the temperature to 360F and baked for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
David, thank you so much for sharing that! 🙂
just made this cake. Mine definitely needed more time in the oven but didn’t discover this until it had already cooled a bit and I cut into it. I usually test my cakes before taking them out of the oven but for some reason didn’t this time. So back into the oven it went (I’ve never done that before). We’ll see what happens.
Hi Olga, so you baked the cake for 20 minutes, then 20 more minutes then another 2 minutes under the broiler at the end and it still wasn’t done? Did you bake in the center of the oven?
Mine came out raw in the middle too. I followed the receipe exactly. As with the previous reviewer I didn’t check it when right out of oven just left it on the counter to cool down overnight and discovered the center was undercooked in the morning when sliced the whole cake. I guess I can’t fix it now, can I?
I would like to make this, but I only have 9×13 cake pans.. do you think I can double this recipe? Or maybe increase it by 50%?
Hmm…. I think increasing by 50% would be sufficient 🙂 Let me know how it goes.
Thank you Natasha for this recipe! The cake turned out delicious and I’m about to make it again ! I love your website!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it Oksana! Thank you so much for taking a moment to leave a great review. You. Are. Awesome! 🙂
Natasha, I have to say I Love your website. I am still learning and I am just so grateful that you post pictures of every step! 🙂
I also have a question. What is the consistency supposed to be for this cake?
Mine came out a little too mushy. I have an older oven and sometimes I have to add extra baking time but I wanted to know what I am looking for, so the next time I bake it I know how much longer to leave it for.
Thanks again for all your work!
I’m so glad you are enjoying the site. The consistency is kind of similar to a boxed cake but a little denser, especially the portions surrounding the apples since you’re getting moisture from the apples. It isn’t supposed to be mushy, so yes, do try a little longer baking time; it wouldn’t hurt 🙂 It gets more dense after refrigeration so it’s best the same day but still good the next day.
Natasha thank you so much for sharing this cake I have to say I’m not a big raisen person so I did it with wuluts and it turned out awesome thank you so much. I’m going to sharing it with my family Tommarow and for sure making it for thanksgiving!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you Lilly 🙂
I already made this cake twice with only a couple of days between the first and second one. My family loved it! It’s simple to make with all ingredients readily available, yet it’s very delicious. Thank you for posting the recipe. Please say thanks to Tanya who shared this recipe with you and with all of your readers.
I sure will and thank you so much for the great review! I sure appreciate it. It’s awesome that you like it enough to make it twice in two days! 🙂
Made it 🙂
Was amazing ! Easy and Delicious !
That’s so great! I’m happy you loved it 🙂
If I bake this cake the night before I would like to serve it, will it still be fresh the next day? Would I store it at room temperature or put it in the fridge?
We kept it in the fridge overnight, then let it sit for an hour or so at room temp before serving. It’s still good after being chilled, but it is best eaten the same day it’s made.
I made this yesterday–it was delicious! I did what another commenter did–left out the raisins and put a little cinnamon in the crumb topping. Would definitely make it again.
Yep! I’m definitely doing cinnamon next time! Thanks Liza 🙂
I just love your website ! always the best recipes and step by step instructions that are easy to use! thank you so much! your website is the one I always use for breakfast lunch and dinner lol..no one else’s! thank you so much Natasha! keep up your hard work and god bless(:
That is just awesome! Thank you Alina. I guess the pressure is on for me! 😉
You have the best cooking blog ever! Easy to navigate and down to earth recipes:). I mean I actually know what it will turn out like!!! Thank you so much!!!
Mila, thank you so much for your great feedback! It means so much to me 🙂
I just tried that recipe. Delicious! The dough is really tasty. But my pie had to take 15 more minutes to bake through. I couldnt resist the temptation and tried a piece and as the Natasha promised – ate every tiny crumb on my plate. Thank you for sharing )))
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for a great review 🙂
Wow, Natasha, this is great! Quick and easy to put together and really tasty. I baked this last night and took it to work today, where it was a big hit. I was a little naughty and soaked my raisins in rum instead of water. It wasn’t overpowering, just added a hint of something extra. For those who don’t have a spring form pan, I used a 9 inch square pan and it worked great. I just greased and floured the pan, then lined it with a strip of parchment paper which was long enough to hang over 2 sides and greased and floured the paper. This made it easy to remove the cake when cooled. I really liked how the relatively short bake time left the apples with some nice texture (not mushy). This cake batter is so good, I’m already thinking of different combinations of filling to try. First up will be apples and dried cranberries, with some orange zest added to the cake batter. Thanks so much for sharing this stellar recipe! It is definitely a keeper, just like everything else I have tried from your site.
My goodness you are giving me so many great ideas! Apples and cranberries and orange zest. YUM!! Thanks so much for sharing your tips with the 9″ square baking pan. I’m sure that will be super helpful to others :). Also, rum raisins is brilliant! We need to buy another bottle of rum. I used mine up on a cake roll so I didn’t even think about it. Thank you!! 🙂
It was easy to make and is delicious! Thank you!
-I substituted the raisins for walnuts.
That sounds like a really good substitution! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Do you think that thick yogurt would work instead of sour cream? Thanks!
To be honest, I haven’t tried it. If you do substitute, I would use regular plain Greek Yogurt since that is almost the same in consistency, fat content and flavor.
Thank you Natasha for the nice recipe.
You’re welcome Liz :). It’s always so nice to hear from you.
This cakes looks great 🙂 i was wondering if you think it would be possible to make it with something other then apples ? i love apples but i have apple hater in he house who wouldn’t touch it haha
To be honest, I haven’t tried it with any other fruit. I would caution against using any fruit that is too juicy though since it might change the texture of the cake. Pears would probably work really well. 🙂
That might be an option, i might try that, i don’t think we have any pear haters in the house 😀
I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I was wondering can I use Gala’s or Macs instead of Granny Smith ???
Yes, ofcourse! Really any kind of apple would work in this cake. I like the slight tartness of granny smiths but you can use your favorite apple 🙂
I love apple cakes! This seems like a amazing recipe. Do you have to put raisins in it?
No, they aren’t necessary and can easily just be omitted. One of my readers even added cinnamon to the crumb topping and was raving about it. 🙂
I made this cake for my mother-in-law’s birthday and she loved it. Thank you Natasha for sharing this great recipe with all us.
Happy birthday to your mama-in-law! I’m so happy to hear that she liked it 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
This cake looks so lovely. I bet it was delicious.
Thank you Teresa :). It sure was! I’ve been working on an apple cake for awhile and this one was everything I wanted in an apple cake, plus it was easy to boot! 🙂
This is a delicious cake! I skipped the raisons and added cinnamon to the topping it turned out perfect and it was easy to put together. Thanks for posting
I love the cinnamon idea, thank you for sharing :). I’m so glad you like the cake.
Hi Natasha, I always love your recipes. The sponge has quickly become the main base for most of the cakes I bake and gets many compliments. Just wondering if one could leave out the sour cream in this recipe? Thanks!
Thank you! To be honest, I haven’t really tried that yet to advise. You can probably try to substitute it with regular plain Greek Yogurt since that is almost the same in consistency, fat content and flavor. Let us know how it goes!