9/12/2025
Apple Pistachio Coffee Cake
My grandma had a sour cream coffee cake that she would frequently have made for the family if we went to visit them on a Sunday. I LOVED that coffee cake.
This is our apple take on my Grandma Joanie's coffee cake - we've added an apple filling to the middle and swapped in pistachios for the walnuts. A slice of this with a cup of coffee or tea is just a happy way to start a morning!
- Apple Filling:
- 2 honeycrisp apples, chopped (peeled is your choice, I don't peel mine)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground Korintje Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Pistachio Crumble:
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios
- 1/2 tsp ground Kortinje Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 4 tbsp light brown sugar
- Cake:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup Vanilla Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups cake flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Apple Filling:
In a medium saucepan, combine apples, brown sugar, cardamom, cinnamon and salt. Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until apples have softened. Add in flour and lemon juice, stirring until apples are coated evenly. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until mixture has thickened slightly. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract. Let cool for 5-10 minutes, then either refrigerate until making cake or use immediately. You will not necessarily need all the filling for the cake but you can use it all if you like!
Pistachio Crumble:
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, set aside until ready to use.
Coffee Cake:
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13" baking dish with cooking spray or grease with butter; set aside.
In a mixer, cream together butter, Vanilla EVOO, sugar and eggs. Using a spatula, fold in the sour cream and vanilla extract. In a medium bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring until mixed.
In prepared pan, spoon half the batter and spread evenly across the bottom. Add anywhere from half the apples to all the apples (depending on preference), evenly spooning across the cake batter. Top this with half of the pistachio crumble. Over top of these layers, add the rest of the cake batter - it's ok if some of the areas are just lightly covered, the cake will rise. Once evenly spread out, cover the top evenly with the rest of the pistachio crumble.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out with light crumbs. Let cool completely before eating - it's even better waiting until the next day to make it, which makes it a perfect make ahead dish!
If you aren't a fan of pistachios, replace it with any nut you'd like! Walnuts or Pecans would also go really well in this cake.
