Apple Coffee Cake

You can serve this cake warm with a dollop of applesauce or lightly sweetened sour cream.

Crumb Topping:
¼ cup (½ stick) cold butter, cut into pieces
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup pecans, toasted and chopped
¼ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. coarse sea salt

Coffee Cake:
½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2 cups flour, unbleached (spooned and leveled)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. coarse sea salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 Winesap or Granny Smith apples (1 lb), peeled, cored, and diced medium
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make the Topping:
 In a medium bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, pecans, oats, cinnamon, and salt. With a pastry cutter or your hands, blend until butter is incorporated and mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Make the Coffee Cake:
Butter and flour an angel-food cake pan or 14 cup Bundt cake pan. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In another large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on high, scraping down bowl as needed, until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl after each addition. Add sour cream and beat to combine. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat just until combined. With a rubber spatula, fold in apples and pecans; transfer batter to pan.

Top with crumb topping and, with a butter knife, gently fold some of topping into batter.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean, 60-70 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes, then turn out onto rack and let cool.

Makes 8-10 servings.