With full-fat goat yogurt. Mmm…
I like making square cakes with muffin batter. But most muffin recipes involve milk. So I use one cup of milk for this cake, 1/2 cup for crêpes and the rest of the milk dies in the fridge. Goat yogurt, on the other hand, I can finish. It’s creamy with a tasty tang and easier to digest. Plus, it makes great crêpes when mixed with water to make “kind-of-milk”.
Well, this week I discovered that there are lots of apple coffee cake recipes that use yogurt or sour cream. I found two similar recipes which looked tasty, Yogurt Apple Coffee Cake by Lemon Savory and Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping on Food.com , and based my recipe on them. I almost opted out of making the crumble topping but I’m so glad I did. It covered the top completely and resulted in a crunchy, sugary, buttery crust. Mmm!
Pan size: 8″ x 8″ (or 7″ x 9″)
Baking temperature: 350°F
Baking time: 55-65 minutes (until knife inserted in centre comes out clean)
INGREDIENTS
DRY
2 cups flour (I used 1 1/4 cup spelt and 3/4 cup unbleached white (a.k.a. all purpose))
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
WET 1
1/2 cup soft unsalted butter
1/4 cup white sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used dark brown)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond essence (or use an extra 1/2 tsp vanilla)
2 large eggs
WET 2
1 cup goat yogurt (I used 10%)
a few tablespoons of water (if cake mixture seems too thick)
WET 3
3 cups chopped apples (I used 3 medium sized McIntosh apples)
CRUMBLE TOPPING
2 tbsp soft butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour (I used half spelt, half all-purpose)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 handful chopped almonds
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put 1/2 cup butter in a large mixing bowl and 2 tbsp butter in small mixing bowl; let butter soften to room temperature (1-3 hours). I also like to let my eggs come to room temperature (leave out 1-2 hours or put them in a lukewarm bowl of water for 10 minutes).
- Measure 1 cup of yogurt into Pyrex cup. I wanted mine room-temperature-ish, so I warmed it up a bit in the oven (about ten minutes at 170°F).
- Make crumble topping. Cream butter and sugar. Then mix in flour and cinnamon until you get a crumbly mixture. Mix in almonds. Put mixture in fridge.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a bowl, mix together dry ingredients – flour, baking soda (sift), cinnamon and salt.
- In another, larger bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla and almond essence.
- Take crumble mixture out of fridge.
- Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, alternating with yogurt. Start and end with flour. I did flour in fourths and yogurt in thirds. I added a few tablespoons of water with my last addition of yogurt as the mixture seemed quite thick. Mix gently until there are no more white streaks of flour.
- Fold in apples.
- Pour batter into butter-greased pan. Spread it out evenly.
- Sprinkle crumble topping over batter.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes, until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.
