the girl with the baked goods: Apple Streusel Cake

As we know, apples aren't just fruits to be eaten as food. As the saying goes, it keeps the doctor away. And I often stuff my face with apples when I get hungry as they fill me up but have as little as 90 calories. Also, every apple tastes different - they vary in color, shape, texture and flavour. Their colors can range from deep red, light red, green, yellow to brown. Their flavours can be sweet, tart or mellow. And their textures can be soft, hard or my personal favourite, crunchy! There's a kind of apple for everyone!

So while I crunched into a delicious red apple on sunday night, I decided to look for a recipe to bake apples apart from an apple pie. And here I am, with a yummy apple streusel cake that I had for breakfast. You can also have this as dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Ooooohhhh...it's not sinful! It's apples!

Here's what you need for this yummy cake:

Streusel topping:

- 1/2 cup flour (do not sift)

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)

- 1/4 cup brown sugar

- 1/4 cup toasted chopped hazelnuts

Cake batter:

- 1 cup flour (do not sift)

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/8 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)

- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar

- 1 egg

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1/3 cup milk

- 2 large apples

And off we bake bake bake!!!

1. Peel and core the apples. Cut into thin slices. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, 177 degrees C. Butter an 8 inch spring form pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

3. Place the chopped hazelnuts on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 15 mins. After it's baked, place the toasted hazelnuts on a kitchen towl, roll it up and let it cool. After it's cooled, rubbed the hazelnuts in the kitchen towel gently. (Toasting the hazelnuts removes its bitter taste and brings out its buttery flavour).

4. For the streusel topping, mix together the flour and ground cinnamon. Then cut in the butter with a fork until it becomes coarse crumbs.

5. Stir in the brown sugar and toasted hazelnuts. Set aside.

6. Now for the cake batter, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

7. In another bowl, with the hand mixer, cream the butter. Then add the white sugar and beat until it is light.

8. Add in the egg and vanilla extract.

9. Add the flour mixture and alternate with milk. (Flour - milk - flour)

10. Spread the batter into the pan and smooth the top.

11. Evenly arrange the apple slices on top of the cake batter. Don't worry about having too much apples, but make sure you cover every inch of the cake batter.