Applesauce Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel

September 29, 2026

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This applesauce coffee cake has a soft, moist vanilla cake made with applesauce and sour cream, a brown sugar-almond layer in the middle, fresh apple and a buttery cinnamon streusel topping.

What I especially like about this cake is all the different layers and textures without it feeling like an overly complicated dessert. You get thick layers of soft vanilla cake, a little gooeyness from the brown sugar filling, tender pieces of apple and plenty of crunchy streusel on top.

There’s a good amount of cinnamon, but the apples and vanilla cake keep it from becoming overpowering. Even the testers who aren’t huge cinnamon fans found it nicely balanced. It’s definitely a cozy fall cake, but the flavor isn’t so heavily spiced that I’d only make it in the fall.

The texture also turned out exactly how I wanted it. The cake is very soft without being so delicate that it falls apart, and the streusel is buttery and crisp rather than hard, dry or sandy.

applesauce coffee cake slice being lifted on cake server

Ingredients

Please scroll down for the full recipe. These are just notes on select ingredients.

Flour – you can use all-purpose flour, but I also tested this cake with King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour, and it worked great.
Unsweetened applesauce – use 100% pure, unsweetened applesauce rather than a sweetened or flavored variety. Do not use more applesauce in place of the butter! The applesauce isn’t intended as a healthier replacement for fat. Its role, together with the sour cream, is that of delivering an incredibly moist cake. Fully replacing the butter with applesauce would completely throw off the cake’s ratios. If you want a healthier apple treat, try my Healthy Cinnamon Apple Muffins or Healthier Apple Cream Cheese Bundt Cake.
Apple – Gala was our favorite apple in this cake. It softens without becoming mushy, and leaving the peel on adds a little texture (if you don’t like extra texture in your cakes, then peel it). A peeled Honeycrisp also works well and gives you a sweeter result. If you’d prefer the cake a little less sweet, a more tart Pink Lady is another option. I also tested the cake without the fresh apple and found that the applesauce contributed much more to the cake’s moisture and texture than to its apple flavor, so the chopped apple on top is important for a more distinct apple flavor.
Sour cream – use full-fat sour cream for the best result. Along with the applesauce, it helps give the cake its soft, moist crumb.
Dark brown sugar – dark brown sugar gives the filling and streusel more caramel and molasses flavor. Light brown sugar can be substituted 1:1, but the color and flavor will be a little lighter.
Almonds – finely chopped almonds add texture to the middle layer. Hazelnuts are the best alternative. Walnuts and pecans are oilier, so they’re not the first choice here. If you do use one of them, keep the pieces somewhat larger rather than finely chopping them. You can also omit them.

ingredients laid out to make applesauce coffee cake on a white table

How to Make It

First, make the cinnamon streusel and refrigerate it while you prepare the rest of the cake. Toss the chopped apple with flour, then mix the dry ingredients for the cake separately.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and airy, then add the eggs, vanilla, applesauce and sour cream. Fold in the dry ingredients just until combined. The finished batter should be thick and spreadable rather than pourable.

collage showing the mixing together of the batter and spreading it in the pan

Layer half of the batter in a 9×9-inch (23×23 cm) pan with some of the streusel, the almonds and brown sugar. Gently spread the remaining batter over the filling, then top with the apples and remaining streusel before baking. Be gentle with the second layer of batter so the brown sugar filling stays distinct.

For another fruit-filled coffee cake, try my Blueberry Coffee Cake.

collage showing the assembly of the applesauce coffee cake

Tips for Success

Keep the streusel cold – cold butter is important for getting distinct crumbs, so don’t overwork the mixture. If the butter starts getting too soft, refrigerate the streusel for about 10 minutes. In a very warm kitchen, you can also chill the cubed butter before starting or use a fork or pastry cutter instead of your hands.
Measure the flour carefully – spoon and level the flour rather than scooping directly from the bag. The cake was also tested with a little too much flour to see how forgiving it was. It still stayed moist thanks to the applesauce and sour cream, but the crumb wasn’t quite as soft.
Don’t reduce the cake-batter sugar – you can play around with the sugar filling and/or the streusel topping. Do not change the batter ingredients as the vanilla cake recipe has been created and tested only to work with those ratios. To keep the cake lighter, you can altogether skip the middle sugar layer or halve the streusel quantity, letting the apples become more evident in the top layer. You could also use a less-sweet type of apple. Pink Ladies, for instance, have much more tang than Galas or Honeycrisps.

the baked applesauce coffee cake on a white plate

Variations

Add nutmeg – I’ve also tried this recipe with a mix of cinnamon and nutmeg. More specifically, swapping the 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon in the streusel with 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon + 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. The result was delicious but definitely stronger than the original flavor profile. This is a good variation if you want a more pronounced warm-spice flavor.
Don’t use an 8×8-inch (20×20 cm) pan – I tested this cake in an 8×8-inch pan, and there is too much batter for that size. The outside of the cake was already overbaked by the time the very center finished baking. Use a 9×9-inch (23×23 cm) pan as written.
A 9×13-inch (23×33 cm) pan works – the cake will be thinner and the streusel more spread out, so start checking for doneness at about 30 minutes. If you’re using a ceramic baking dish, remove the cake from the dish after about 10 minutes of cooling because ceramic retains heat longer and can continue cooking the edges and bottom.

close-up of a pplesauce coffee cake on a white plate

Troubleshooting

All of these recipes can be made traditionally or gluten-free.

If the cake is dense – the batter was most likely overmixed. Cream the butter and sugar until light and airy, but once the eggs, applesauce and sour cream are added, mix only as much as needed. Fold in the dry ingredients gently and stop as soon as the dry streaks disappear.
If the middle layer disappears into the batter – be especially gentle when adding the second half of the batter. Dollop it over the filling first, then lightly guide it toward the edges instead of pressing and dragging it across the brown sugar layer.
If the apples sink too far – don’t skip tossing the chopped apple with flour. The flour helps keep the pieces toward the top so the apple layer remains separate from the brown sugar filling.
If the streusel gets soft while you’re making it – put the entire bowl back in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. Once the butter firms up again, it will be easier to form crumbs and clumps.

Make Ahead & Storage

This applesauce coffee cake works well as a make-ahead cake because the applesauce and sour cream help it stay moist. You can bake it the day before serving and store it tightly covered at room temperature once it has cooled completely.

Room temperature – store the cooled cake in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days. The cake stays moist, although the streusel starts to soften after about the second day.
Refrigerator – if you need to keep it for up to 5 days, store it airtight in the refrigerator. Refrigeration will make the cake somewhat denser and drier. Let a piece sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Freezer – let the cake cool completely before freezing. You can freeze the whole cake for up to 3 months, but individual squares or a few larger sections are more convenient because you can thaw only what you need. Wrap the cake well before placing it in a freezer-safe airtight container to help protect it from freezer burn.
Thawing – thaw the cake while still covered in the refrigerator overnight, then bring it to room temperature. If you’re in a hurry, individual pieces can also be warmed briefly in the microwave.

cut up applesauce coffee cake with one piece on its side

More Apple Desserts

Some of these recipes are naturally gluten-free, but the ones that aren’t can be made with all-purpose or gluten-free flour.

My Swedish Apple Pie is an easy oat-based dessert that’s somewhere between a pie and a crumble, with vegan and dairy-free options.
This French Apple Pie pairs fresh apples with creamy vanilla custard and a crisp, flaky crust. It’s like an Alsatian apple tart!
These Apple Tartlets have a buttery crust and cinnamon apple filling and can be baked in either tartlet pans or a regular cupcake pan.
My Apple Crumble for Two has cinnamon-spiced apples and a buttery oat topping and is baked in individual ramekins when you only need a couple of servings.
For a larger crumble, try my Gluten-Free Apple Crumble, with a generous oat and oat flour topping and vegan and dairy-free options.