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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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Could I use pears instead of apples in this recipe?
Hi Maureen – We haven’t tried it ourselves, but I think pears would work.
Very Nice! Planning my Fall and Halloween baking and wanted to give it a go. Enjoyed it a lot. I love the big chunks of apple. Not to sweet at all. I will add it to my baking menu this year. Thank you!
You’re very welcome Laurel – glad you enjoyed the cake!
I made this for my mother-in-law several times she loves this cake. Tomorrow is her birthday and this is what I’m making.
So glad you are enjoying the recipe Jeffrey! Happy Birthday to your mother-in-law! 🙂
Great recipe, I love your site.
Thanks so much Donna – We’re glad you found us!
Could you use almond flour instead of all purpose flour?
Hi Pat – Probably not without some other adjustments to the recipe as almond flour has more moisture than all-purpose flour. I just did a quick google search – you might find this article helpful in figuring out how the recipe can be adapted: https://www.natureseats.com/blog/recipe-blog/item/almond-flour-flour-conversion
Hope this helps!
Martha
I love this cake, it’s an old timey recipe. I know it as Apple Dapple Cake. It’s one of my favorite cakes to make as it’s always a hit.
Thanks Barbara!
Thanks for the recipe. I had a jar of peaches in the fridge that I wanted to use up so I replaced two of the apples with those. I also rubbed the zest of one lemon into the sugar and used almond extract instead of vanilla to complement the peaches. Finally, feeling a little adventurous I subbed half a cup of olive oil (it had floral notes) for some of the oil. I kept all this to myself and, holding my breath, just served the cake. My family LOVED it!
Susan asked about brown sugar. I used only brown sugar and reduced total amount of sugar by half a cup. The flavour was still sweet enough. I find that too much sugar can dampen the flavours of everything else.
Just a note on preparation, because this can be a heavy cake, after I added the flour I only mixed it until just blended. The cake rose beautifully.
Again, thanks for the recipe. I’ll definitely be making this again and again 🙂
Sounds likes some great adaptations! Thanks for letting us know!
Best Apple Cake Ever!!! Yes, it was! I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out perfect. I took it to a dinner and it was a big hit.
So glad the recipe was a hit Diane!
Over the top!
Glad you liked the cake Denuta!
OMG! This cake is amazing! I didn’t have any nutmeg and it was still great. Thank you so much for this recipe.
You’re welcome Karen – so glad you enjoyed the cake!