The first time I made coffee cake was in my apartment in New York, at 2 AM on a Saturday night…Sunday morning? Because I decided I needed to wake up to a huge piece of crumbly coffee cake, with a powdered sugar topping, and a big cup of coffee. And I think I decided at 2 AM that EVERY Sunday should start with a homemade baked good. I’m my own personal Betty Crocker with NO ONE TO FEED. But really my roomie came home drunk while it was baking and was all “that smells sooo good…drunkmumbles” and I was like “uhm….pleasedon’tdie.” (end rant)

That’s what Sunday is supposed to be about. I guess if I was an actual adult, I would read the newspaper and learn something or scowl about the economy or something else that I should pay attention to but do not because…like, what? I’m sure I read blogs, Twitter, Tumblr, and Postsecret and inundated myself with unimportant information while enjoying the ‘quietness’ of a Sunday with coffee and sugar.

Anyway- make this. This weekend. And eat it with coffee. And pretend you’re in a New York diner. Not like an actual diner where no one speaks English and most food comes out of a can/box/freezer, but the 1950s, shiny, glossy, version. I think I like to pretend all of life is the shiny glossy version

This cake part of this recipe is from Vegan Brunch. I’ve used this basic cake as a base for a ton of other things before. It’s perfect.

Apple Pie Coffee Cake
*One 9 inch round cake

Cake:
3/4 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Make your vegan buttermilk by combining the almond milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
3. Combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together.
4. Add vanilla, oil, and buttermilk.
5. Grease your cake pan- I used a 9 inch pan- and pour batter in.
6. Top with apple pie filling and crumb topping mixture.
7. Bake for 30-32 minutes.
8. Let cool before slicing or you’ll have a sloppy cake…it’s DELICIOUS warm though so if you don’t care, dig in.

Apple Pie Filling
*You can buy a canned version? Or even use cherries or blueberries! Or strawberries..or or or

2 apples, sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons agave
1/2 cup water
cinnamon, nutmeg
1 tablespoon corn starch (+2 tablespoons water)

1. Combine apples, sugar, agave, water, and cinnamon/spices. Add to a pan. Heat up, let simmer and get soft.
2. Add your corn starch to 2 tablespoons of water and whisk so there are no clumps. This is a slurry! Add your slurry to the apples. They should start to get thick and gooey while you cook them.
3. Let them cool, place over the batter. Don’t mix them into the batter or press them down into it. Just layer them.

Crumb Topping
*This is my go-to crumb topping for muffins and other..crumbly things.

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
canola oil
cinnamon- to taste

1. Combine brown sugar and flour and cinnamon, if you’re using it. You can also add nutmeg or any other fragrant spice. 
2. Slowly add canola oil and use your fingers to mix it into the brown sugar and flour and cinnamon. When your dry mixture starts to form clumps and starts to ball up, that’s when you’ve made crumb topping! It should feel like sand, almost, but a little more wet because it should stick to itself. If it becomes too wet- add more brown sugar and flour!
3. Spread this on top of the apple pie mixture. I like to just crumble it on top until the apples can’t be seen. Then, I press into it lightly with my hand to make sure it’s packed in.