Caramel Apple Coffee Cake
Fall comfort in a single bake: a tender, grain-free coconut flour cake topped with cinnamon-sautéed apples, a salted maple caramel, and a crunchy nut crumb. It's at its best on the day it's baked, served slightly warm with an extra drizzle of caramel.
Yield: One 9-inch cake, serves 8–10 · Active: 30 min · Total: 2 hr 15 min, including cooling · Best in North America in fall, during apple season · Best eaten: late morning or afternoon
Ingredients
Cake
1 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
8 large pasture-raised eggs, at room temperature
½ cup raw whole-milk yogurt (or coconut yogurt)
5 tbsp grass-fed butter (or coconut oil), melted
½ cup raw honey (or maple syrup)
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
Sautéed apples
4 medium firm apples (like Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, or Granny Smith), peeled and thinly sliced
2 tbsp coconut oil or grass-fed butter
½ tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
Salted maple caramel
¼ cup grass-fed butter
½ cup maple syrup
¾ cup grass-fed heavy cream
⅛ tsp flaky sea salt
Nut crumb topping
1 cup pecans or almonds (or a mix), roughly chopped
½ cup blanched almond flour
2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
3 tbsp cold grass-fed butter (or coconut oil), cubed
Method
Sauté the apples. Heat the coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat, and add the apples and cinnamon. Cook 12–15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly caramelized. Let them cool.
Make the caramel. Bring the butter, maple syrup, and cream to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer 10–15 minutes, stirring often, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the salt, and let it cool 10 minutes. (It thickens more as it cools.)
Make the crumb. Pulse the crumb ingredients in a food processor until moist clumps form, then freeze 15 minutes.
Prep. Heat the oven to 325°F, and generously butter a 9-inch springform pan.
Make the batter. Blend all the cake ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth, then let it rest 5 minutes, since coconut flour thickens as it absorbs the liquid.
Assemble. Pour the batter into the pan, and arrange the apples over the top. Drizzle about half the caramel over the apples (save the rest for serving), then scatter the crumb over everything.
Bake 25 minutes, loosely covered with foil, then uncover and bake 20 minutes more, until golden and a toothpick inserted into the cake (not the apples) comes out clean.
Cool 1½ hours in the pan, so the caramel can set, before slicing.
Serve each slice with a drizzle of the remaining caramel, warmed if you like.
Storage
The cake is best the day it's baked. It keeps refrigerated, covered, up to 3 days; warm slices in a 300°F oven to refresh the topping. The extra caramel keeps refrigerated up to 1 week; rewarm it gently. The whole cake freezes, well wrapped, up to 1 month, though the topping softens.
A note on honey: Baked honey is no longer raw, so any good local honey works. Honey shouldn't be given to babies under 12 months.
Nourishment Notes
This is fall comfort in a single bake: a grain-free coffee cake with sautéed apples and a salted maple caramel made from just three whole foods: grass-fed butter, pure maple syrup, and cream. Firm cooking apples hold their shape through the sauté and the bake without turning to mush, and since conventional apples are among the most heavily sprayed fruits, organic ones are worth seeking out.
Coconut flour is very high in fiber (about 40% by weight), which helps slow the absorption of the cake's natural sugars, so a smaller slice is satisfying. It also absorbs a lot of liquid, which is why the cake needs eight eggs to hold together. Those eggs bring protein, choline, and fat-soluble vitamins to every slice.
Apples — pectin, a soluble fiber that feeds beneficial gut bacteria, plus quercetin and vitamin C.
Ceylon cinnamon — polyphenols that help moderate blood sugar, and a classic partner for apples.
Pasture-raised eggs — complete protein, choline, and vitamins A, D, E, and K2.
Coconut flour — fiber, about 40% by weight.
Yogurt — protein, calcium, and a gentle acidity that helps the baking soda lift the cake.
Grass-fed butter and cream — vitamins A and K2, CLA, and butyrate.
Maple syrup — manganese, zinc, and polyphenols.
Pecans and almonds — vitamin E, manganese, copper, and monounsaturated fats.
As a seasonal food, this cake belongs to the fall apple harvest, when varieties like Honeycrisp, Northern Spy, and Gravenstein are at their peak. As a circadian food, it's best in the late morning or afternoon, when your body handles sweets most gracefully: a slice at 10 a.m. with strong coffee, or at 3 p.m. with a cup of chai.
For your cycle: The warming cinnamon and the nuts' magnesium make this a cozy luteal-phase treat, and the eggs' protein helps keep blood sugar steadier than a typical coffee cake would.
Sourcing
Apples — organic, from a local orchard or farmers' market in fall
Coconut flour and almond flour — organic and finely ground (keep the almond flour in the fridge)
Eggs — organic and pasture-raised, ideally from a local farm
Yogurt — raw whole-milk yogurt from a farmer you know and trust, or organic, grass-fed, full-fat yogurt, with no gums
Grass-fed butter and cream — organic, cultured butter from 100% grass-fed cows; raw or organic, grass-fed cream that isn't ultra-pasteurized
Honey and maple syrup — organic, local, unfiltered honey; organic Grade A dark maple syrup
Coconut sugar and coconut oil — organic coconut sugar; organic, virgin coconut oil
Pecans and almonds — organic: raw pecans, kept in the fridge; unpasteurized Spanish almonds, like Terrasoul's
Ceylon cinnamon — organic and non-irradiated, from Sri Lanka
Vanilla — organic pure vanilla extract
Baking soda — aluminum-free
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt; Maldon for finishing
— Anna aka Food Marshall