Vegan Apple Crumb Cake

It's starting to cool down here slightly, the days are getting shorter and I can tell fall is knocking on the door.  Apple season is here and I couldn't be more excited!  I love fall and all of the goodies that come with it involving apple, pear and pumpkin!  I picked up some apples last weekend because I wanted to kick off fall baking season with something delicious!  I was craving a cake with streusel, so what I decided on was this Vegan Apple Crumb Cake!

I started off with my vanilla cake batter, and added in some warming spices along with the vanilla.  Some cinnamon and nutmeg.  I love them so much with apples!  This cake batter is really easy to make, and it uses flax eggs which I always have the ingredients on hand for.  I used whole wheat pastry flour in this but if you wanted to use all purpose flour or even a gluten free all purpose flour like Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour (which I have used before with success) you can use those instead if you prefer. I used a granulated sugar in this, but maple sugar could be used as well if you prefer that.

I stirred plenty of chopped apples into the cake batter to make for a moist, flavorful and delicious cake!  I wanted it to have plenty of struesel too, so I made a delicious crunchy oat streusel.  This is a streusel that I use on top of other goodies like crisps, pies and in this instance cakes and I always love it so much!  Its sweet, crunchy, a little salty and I could eat it by itself but it it amazing with fruit!

This cake smelled amazing while baking and I could not wait to try it!  It was soft and delicious, moist with sweet apples, scented with cinnamon and vanilla and the crunchy struesel made it perfect!  It is so good served warm with some coconut milk ice cream!  If you are in the mood for a delicious apple treat, definitely give this Vegan Apple Crumb Cake a try this fall!

Vegan Apple Crumb Cake

Makes 1 9x9 inch cake

Streusel:

• 3/4 cup organic rolled oats
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 5 Tbsp coconut oil

Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder (1/2 tsp plus 1/4 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 2 flax eggs (2 Tbsp golden ground flax seed mixed with 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp filtered water, allowed to sit 15 minutes)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp avocado oil or other neutral oil
• 1/2 cup plant based milk (I used Oatly but you can use what you prefer)
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped apples

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees, and line a 9x9 inch square cake pan with parchment on the bottom and oil the sides.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, sea salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk to blend.
3. Add the flax eggs, avocado oil, oat milk, vanilla, and beat with an electric mixer for about a minute (or 3 minutes if doing it by hand with a whisk).  Add the apples and mix until evenly distributed.
4. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan.
5. Place the cake in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is done in the center (you are able to insert a toothpick into the center and it comes out almost clean with a few moist crumbs).
6. Remove from the oven and let cool 20 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan by cutting around the sides, placing a plate on top then inverting it and tapping on it.  You can enjoy warm, or let cool and serve later.