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.
Hi Martha, About to make this for the 2nd time but need to make this one in advance. I would like to freeze it for a few days. Does the glaze freeze ok? And will I still have a super moist cake? Or should I apply the hot glaze after thawing? ( I only saw one comment about freezing so please forgive if I missed this somewhere in your text)
Hi Elizabeth – This cake should freeze nicely and still be moist as long as you wrap it well. For the glaze – I would still plan to glaze it while the cake is warm out of the oven so it seeps in a bite. Let the glaze harden before wrapping it up for freezing. Once it’s thawed, if you aren’t happy with how the glaze looks, I suppose you could always drizzle a little more glaze on top? Hope that helps!
We froze the glazed cake in slices. When thawed and slightly warmed in the microwave, they were just as moist and yummy as they were freshly baked.
Thanks Carol!
I used this recipe to make mini bundt cakes for a holiday treat for my coworkers! The single recipe made 12 mini cakes. I cooked them 6 at a time for 23 minutes. Love how they turned out! I used Granny Smith apples chopped pretty small, using a food processor, and substituted pumpkin pie spice for nutmeg.
Sounds delicious Kristi! Thank you for the suggestion!
This apple cake is awesome! I have another recipe that I have been making for years and this one exceeded my expectations! Flavor is perfect!
Wow – thank you Laura! So glad you enjoyed the cake!
Why is there no baking powder in your apple walnut cake
Hi Katie – There is baking soda in the recipe…I don’t know why they used that instead of baking powder/ The recipe we shared is written exactly as we received it.
Hi, this looks delicious! Has anyone tried substituting the oil with applesauce to lower fat content? I have done this with other baked baked goods with mixed success. Thanks!
Hi Derek – We haven’t tried doing so ourselves, but hopefully one of our readers will see your question and let you know!
We loved this cake! My son says he wants this for his birthday cake for now on. It did fall apart when I turned it over but was my fault. It smelled so good my husband and I wanted to taste it. It was so good!! Thank you for the recipe
You’re very welcome Terri – glad you all enjoyed the cake!
Can u leave out the orange juice
Hi Bonnie – I don’t recall there being orange juice in this apple cake recipe. Were you thinking of a different recipe perhaps?
My family loved this. I did have a problem with it falling apart when I tried to get it out of the bundt pan? Could this be made in a 13 x 9?
Hi Lisa – I think you could…the baking time will likely be different but otherwise, it should work!
Cake was delicious. The topping was not smooth. It was sugar grainy.
Was it supposed to be like that or where did I go wrong please
Hi Mary – It is a thicker glaze…the next time you could try heating it a little longer so ensure that the sugar crystals have fully dissolved. Hope that helps!
My family loves this cake and that includes our 6 year old granddaughter who is very fussy about food!
Yay Cheryl! As a mom of a very picky eater, I especially love hearing about kids trying new foods – and loving them! So glad you all enjoyed the recipe!