Name: Apple Olive Oil Cake: Greek Milopita Coffee Cake
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; zest of an orange; 3/4 cup light olive oil; 3 eggs; 1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar; 1/2 cup plain yogurt; 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract; 3/4 cup ground walnuts; 2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced; 1/2 cup all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup packed brown sugar; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 4 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 apple, cored and thinly sliced

Jump to Recipe

A fall twist on a delicious Greek apple dessert!

Watch the Video:

I’m turning traditional Greek Milopita into an apple olive oil coffee cake! Even though it’s still super-hot summer weather in Texas, I have all the vibes of fall in September, and this screams fall to me. Milopita is the Greek version of apple pie. In Greece, sometimes it’s served as a pie and sometimes as a cake. I changed up a few of the ingredients and added a buttery streusel topping to this version to get the best of both worlds. To customize it, you can leave the streusel off or make it completely vegan. Let me know how you make it!

Your new favorite fall dessert

Warm cinnamon and clove spice
Slight walnut crunch
Buttery, sweet streusel topping
Soft, moist spice cake
Tender spiced apples
Warm fall baklava-flavored apple coffee cake that’s versatile and easy to make!

Piece of fresh homemade apple and cinnamon crumb coffee cake

The flavors of fall

For the Cake:

All-purpose flour
Ground cinnamon –I like to do heaping teaspoons for this recipe
Ground cloves –Not too much extra to avoid bitterness
Baking powder
Baking soda –add to the wet ingredients to evenly distribute throughout the batter
zest of an orange –substitute lemon if you don’t have an orange
Light olive oil –or your favorite light vegetable oil
Eggs
Granulated sugar
Plain yogurt –Greek or regular yogurt
Pure vanilla extract
Ground walnuts –or your favorite nut of choice
Apples –peeled, cored, and diced

The Topping:

All-purpose flour
Packed brown sugar
Ground cinnamon
Unsalted butter –your favorite brand or vegan
Salt
Apple –cored and thinly sliced

Make it vegan!

Just a few substitutes, and this milopita becomes a vegan apple coffee cake. Use an egg replacement or make flax “egg” –one tablespoon of ground flaxseeds combined with three tablespoons of water and rested for 10 minutes. There are lovely vegan butter and yogurt options on the market now. So, choose your favorite and let me in on your secret. If you don’t have a favorite vegan yogurt, substitute almond milk or even orange juice would work.

Substitutes

As I said, feel free to use what you love! Substitute the walnuts in the topping with pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, or almonds. I like to keep it just about the apples, but if you’d like to add a chewy bite, add cranberries or raisins. Apples aren’t everyone’s favorite fall fruit, so try ripe pears as a substitute.

How to make Apple Olive Oil Cake: Greek Milopita Coffee Cake

Start with the batter

Preheat the oven to 350 °F, 180 °C.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, and orange zest, and set aside.
In another large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, baking soda, vanilla, and yogurt until smooth.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet in 2-3 batches while whisking together until just combined.
In a small bowl, toss together the apples, walnuts, and two tablespoons of flour, and then fold them into the batter.

Make the Topping

Whisk together the flour, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes and mix it into the flour. Press it together using your fingers.

Assemble the Coffee cake

Grease a 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan with baking spray or olive oil.
Add the batter to the pan and top with the crumb topping.
Nestle the apple slices into the topping in the pattern you prefer.
Place the pan over a baking tray and bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 80-90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.
Allow the cake to cool for 20 minutes, and then transfer it to a serving platter.

Individual serving sizes

You can make smaller versions of this coffee cake just by swapping out the springform pan for cupcake pans. Use cupcake liners filled with batter about ¾ of the way up and topped with streusel and apple slices. Bake at 350 °F, 180 °C for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.

Greek Milopita: Apple Olive Oil Crumb Cake

Freezer

Yes! Save some for later. The individual cupcake version or single cake slices can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or stored in freezer-safe bags for up to two months. When you need a cake fix, pull one out and lightly toast it before eating.

Serving

I always put this cake on a beautiful serving plate or pedestal. You can serve it just as it is or dust it with powdered sugar. You could even make a sweet maple glaze to drizzle over it with maple syrup, powdered sugar, and a splash of vanilla extract. No matter how you serve it, be sure to have the hot coffee ready because I don’t think you can eat coffee cake without coffee… ok, tea or mild would do. 😀 Kali Orexi!

Apple Olive Oil Cake: Greek Milopita Coffee Cake

Yield: 8-10 servings