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
Best Apple Cake Ever
This Best Apple Cake Ever is super moist and delicious with the perfect amount of sweetness and spice!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 10–12 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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.
I have been making this apple cake for a long time and finally getting around to making comment. This is absolutely the best apple cake recipe you can find and I have made it many many times. It’s always a huge hit and people continue to ask me for the recipe. I give this as gifts, make for dessert when we have company and it’s always on the dessert table at Christmastime. It’s a winner!! I make it exactly as written except I use only 2 apples. Sometimes I only put 3 cups of chopped apples in it and it is perfect no matter what. The glaze is wonderful and I’ve added rum a couple of times as suggested by one reviewer. You will love this apple cake!!
Thank you for writing to us Barbara! So glad you are enjoying the cake as much as we do!
Hi Martha and Jack,
We found your blog a short time ago and have already made this cake and the bubble and squeak and enjoyed them both.
We agree this is the best apple cake ever, not too sweet and delectable moist. I made the cake exactly as directed and it was easy and turned out perfectly.
I am enjoying your blog and look forward to making more of your recipes. Thanks for sharing your recipes with us.
We’re so glad you found us Jean! 🙂
I have made this cake several times and always get rave reviews!! I add 3 tsp of Meyer’s Rum to my glaze – O la, la!
Thanks Diana! (Love the idea of adding rum to the glaze!) 🙂
Great suggestion Christine! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Made this delicious cake this afternoon. I only had 1 lg apple soI used that and 4 small ones. Seemed like dough was thick, and too many apples, but I went with it. just ate it. SOOOO yummy! I think next time I’d either double the glaze or serve it with whipped cream. but it is going into my recipe box TY Martha
PS wouldn’t print for me either good thing I knew how to write it by hand lol
Hi Sharry – Glad you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for letting me know about the issue. Would you let me know which browser you were using? (I find that Firefox is most problem free…) That information will help us continue to troubleshoot the issue!
I am baking this for my Book Club this coming Thursday and will make it Weds. evening and let the glaze sink in overnight. I may even try poking holes in the cake with a skewer and letting it really sink in or would that be too much?
After reading comments below about various outcomes from baking times I thought I’d stick in my 2-cents. My “old” oven cooked like a slow cooker. I even had a family member walk out one Thanksgiving because the turkey took hours and hours to bake. My “new” (7 year old) oven is the exact opposite – a microwave in comparison and I’m never exactly sure how long to bake items, especially cakes and cookies so I have to do lots of checking. Kind of a pain because every time you open the oven door the temperature drops. Both have been gas ovens and they are notorious for uneven baking. I miss the electric oven I had way back when.
Hi Kathy – You can definitely poke holes in the cake to let the glaze sink in even more. 🙂 And you are correct – every oven seems to be different and cooks/bakes differently. We do try to calibrate our oven as best as we can using an additional thermometer so our recipes are accurate but there may be differences from house to house! We hope you enjoy the recipe!
Made this for my boys’ teacher school function after reading the mouth watering comments. The boys received raving reviews. I glazed the cake while it was still slightly warm, kept a bit of the glaze as it thickened and spooned it on top after for an icing effect. I cubed the apples too rather than using chunks. Now, will be making this for today to taste for myself.
So glad everyone enjoyed the cake Joy! I hope you do too!
This is really the best cake I have ever tasted! Thank you so much!
You’re very welcome Mayte – so glad you enjoy the recipe too!
Can I use a cup applesauce and a half cup oil
Hi Leona – I haven’t tried it with applesauce replacing the oil but I think it should work. Please let us know how it comes out!
This was a wonderful recipe! I followed it precisely. Did not cut it until the next day and it cut beautifully with serrated knife. My family loved this cake. I was worried when it was a hard job mixing the apples and nuts into the batter but it was ok and turned out beautifully. You must put the sauce on top…what a treat! Thank you, everyone wants this cake again!
Thank you for taking the time to write to us Irene! So glad you enjoyed the cake as much as we do!