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This Best Apple Cake Ever is super moist and delicious with the perfect amount of sweetness and spice!
If you’re still looking for an easy – and really delicious – dessert to serve over the holidays, have we got the recipe for you! My sister-in-law Pam shared this recipe with us over email with the subject line: “Best Apple Cake Ever!”
Pam celebrated her birthday last month, and a friend of hers showed up with this cake – the best apple cake ever. In fact – the cake was so good, the three of them ate the entire cake in about 24 hours.
Pam then made this apple cake for us for Thanksgiving – and it was so good, Jack and I immediately looked at each other and said, “We’re making this for our blog!”
This apple cake is moist and delicious with the perfect amount of sweetness and spice – plus large chunks of apple and chopped walnuts add great flavor and texture to the cake too. Once this apple cake comes out of the oven, a wonderful sweet buttery vanilla glaze is poured over the top which soaks in to make the cake even more delicious.
Not only is this apple cake really delicious – but it’s also very easy to prepare.
Can I make this cake in a 9×13-inch pan?
Yes – and this easy apple cake comes out just as moist and delicious. Click here to see the instructions for baking this apple cake in a 9×13-inch pan.
You may enjoy these other Bundt Cakes:
- Spiced Eggnog Chocolate Chip Cake
- Kathy’s Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake
- Toffee Pecan Bundt Cake with Caramel Drizzle
- Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Cake
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Best Apple Cake Ever
This Best Apple Cake Ever is super moist and delicious with the perfect amount of sweetness and spice!
Ingredients
Baking spray with flour, or shortening and flour to grease the pan
For the Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 large apples, peeled and cut into large pieces (Note: The original recipe calls for tart green apples, but we used some red Cortland apples we had on hand and it was delicious!)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
For the Glaze
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Sift two additional times and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine oil and both sugars, and mix until well blended.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and mix again.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients to the batter and mix thoroughly. By hand, fold in apples and walnuts and mix until evenly combined.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove cake from the oven and allow to cool in the bundt pan for 20 minutes.
- While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine all of the glaze ingredients. Bring to a boil and allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute.
- Remove the cake from the pan, onto a serving plate. Spoon the glaze over the warm cake.
- Cool for a little longer before serving.
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I made this recipe and OMG. So delicious. I can see why it is called Best apple Cake ever.
Thank you Fidelis!
On my yes, this is an amazing recipe and I’ll agree with ‘the best apple cake.’ My search is over! I used unpeeled Granny Smiths. Outstanding!
Thanks Mary Ann!
Very good cake. It was not difficult and everyone loved it. (Do add nuts – I would consider them essential, not optional.). However the glaze is super sweet and there is WAY too much of it. I soaked the cake and still has some left over. Next time I will halve the glaze recipe.
Thank you Pamela. Please feel free to adapt our recipes any way you see fit. Different people have different tastes.
I plan on making this over the weekend. Do you think I could put it in 2 loaf pans? Would you adjust cooking time? Thanks so much for your help! Can’t wait to try this!
Hi Beth – It’s a very dense batter – depending on the size of your pans, it might even fill three loaf pans. We’ve only made the recipe as written, and in a 9×13 pan, so I’d only be guessing that baking temperature and time. Let us know how it works out for you!
I made this recipe as a house warming gift and it almost didn’t make it to the person it was intended for! Absolutely delicious!
LOL – Thanks James!
I made this tonight and it was AMAZING!!! So glad I found this recipe, thank you for posting.
You’re very welcome Danielle!
I made this cake today and the only thing I did different was instead of using nutmeg and cinnamon I used ground cloves and cinnamon. It is absolutely one of the best cakes I’ve ever made! Turned out so moist. I will definitely be making it again in the future.
Great suggestion Carly! Glad you enjoyed the cake!
Help….Im not sure if it was my oven, to many apples or the cheap bundt pan. The cake stuck in the pan and what did come out wasnt cooked through. The flavor was spot on though, I know because what was edible my husband goobled up! He even asked if he could have the rest. LOL
I ended up spooning it all into a gresed 9×12 pan, cooked for another twnrty minutes and called it an Apple Cumble… still have rave revues. I do wnat to make this again and have it turn out right. Any tips?
Hi Kay – Sorry to hear that – My guess would be the bundt pan as the culprit. Years ago, I had a cheaper, very lightweight bundt pan myself and my cakes always stuck or burned on the outside before the inside was baked through. This is a fairly dense batter so it does take the full baking time (or maybe even a little longer) to bake through. If you are uncertain about buying a new bundt pan (we’re fans of the Nordic Ware brand), we do have a variation of this cake in a 9×13 inch pan here: https://www.afamilyfeast.com/apple-dapple-cake/ – Hope this helps!
I’m about to make this marvelous looking cake this weekend. I’ll be using mini bundt cake pans (out of respect for limiting sharing same cake in COVID times). How much does this cake rise? In other words, how full should I fill my mini cake pans?
Thanks!
Hi Michelle – It’s a fairly dense batter that only rises a little. I’d say filling 2/3rds of the way would be a safe bet.
This recipe looks awesome!! It certainly has received great reviews. For the occasion I want to make it, the family doesn’t like a lot of sugar. Would I be able to cut back just a little and have it turn out just as good. Thanks
Hi Susan – We’ve only made it as written, but I believe other readers have successfully cut back on the sugar.