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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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Made this last night and it is delicious. I didn’t have any heavy cream on hand so I made the glaze today. I did triple the glaze recipe. I put some on right off the stove but then put on another layer after the glaze cooled. The cake got rave reviews by everyone who tried it. This recipe is a keeper! I used about 3 1/2 cups of apples and no nuts. I feel the recipe would be more helpful if the apples were measured in cups not “3 large apples”
Thanks for your feedback Lisa!
can you use a side of caramel with this cake? instead of a glaze?
Sure Lisa – you can do that if you’d like.
This truly is the best Apple Cake EVER! I can’t say enough about it especially because I didn’t use all the white sugar called for (Only 1 cup), substituted one cup of whole wheat white flour for one of the 3 cups of all purpose, and didn’t glaze the cake, just sprinkled a bit of powdered sugar for looks. Even with those changes it is fantastic. My reason for the substitutions is husband does not like really sweet Cakes and I like to sneak whole wheat flour in whenever I can. This must be decadent when made to recipe. Thank you for sharing👍🏻
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Fredrica – it’s always helpful to know about successful, healthier swaps. Thanks for sharing!
I love spicey apply cakes and plan to try this recipe today. I’m sure it will be delicious.
I have only one question: if I make it in 13 x 9 pan, how does that change the cooking time?
Hi Barbara – We actually discussed that in the post just before the recipe! Here is the link to the 9×13″ pan version of the cake: https://www.afamilyfeast.com/apple-dapple-cake/
What a phenomenal recipe! Thank you so much for sharing this! I didn’t have oil on hand, so, hesitantly, used butter. That’s right, 3 sticks. The cake came out beautifully – right out of my fluted Bundt pan. The edges of this cake have the most amazing crispness. And the flavor combination is spot on PERFECTION. It’s been a long time since I’ve found a recipe to add to my beloved collection that I’ll make again and again. Your recipe definitely deserves to be saved and shared.
I think next time I’ll cube most of the apples instead of just the large chunks. The chunks make it a bit difficult to slice the cake, and just personal taste for preference of smaller pieces of apple. I also highly recommend an apple mixture as opposed to just Granny Smith. (Your suggestion of red and green is great!) The different apples make for a more interesting, developed flavor and texture. I’d also double the glaze – poke holes in the bottom of the cake and allow one batch to absorb completely into the cake, flip over, cool, and use the second batch for the top glaze. Thank you again for this wonderful recipe!
You’re welcome Katie – so glad you enjoyed the cake!
Hello 👋 I was wondering is my batter supposed to be thick , I’m worried I’ve over mixed it .
Hi Allie – Sorry for the delay in responding – it’s a very thick batter. While I don’t know for sure, you probably didn’t over mix it. (Hopefully it baked up nicely for you!)
Excellent results..yummy yummy
Thanks Vera!
I made mini bundts from this recipe and they are DELICIOUS!! Obviously, needed to cut baking time WAY down to about 16 minutes but they turned out PERFECT!! I plan to give as gifts this holiday season!! Thank you for sharing!!
Great idea Kim!
Can this cake be made in a loaf pan?
We haven’t tried doing so Sharon – just as written and in a 9×13 pan. This recipe fills a bundt pan so you could probably make two or three loafs depending on the size of your loaf pans. Please let us know how it comes out!
This recipe is seriously AMAZING! I use it for cupcakes with a recipe I found for cinnamon cream cheese frosting and I get RAVE REVIEWS! It is honestly, the best recipe for a dessert I’ve ever found. Super moist and delicious. I diced up Honey Crisp apples and they are perfect for this. I highly recommend this recipe!
Thanks Lucas!