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.
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!