Perfect for Fall: warm drinks, soft sweaters and my caramel apple spice cake! This cake is so simple to make and decorate but incredibly delicious.
If you find cake decorating to be a bit intimidating then check out my How to Decorate a Cake post, it has lots of helpful tips and a full how to video.
Pro Tips for an AMAZING Apple Spice Cake
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- You can save some time and skip browning the butter. You’ll still love the cake BUT definitely try that brown butter sometime!
- If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans.
- You can substitute sour cream for the yogurt if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
- To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
PRO TIPS FOR MAKING CARAMEL
- Don’t stir! After the sugar has dissolved you don’t need to stir as it can cause crystals to form and ruin that silky consistency.
- DO brush the side of the pot down with a wet pastry brush. This will help prevent those pesky crystals from forming.
- Watch the color carefully taking the sugar to a deep amber color gives a wonderful flavor but going too dark will make a bitter caramel and that sugar will go from perfect to burnt in an instant!
- Use room temperature butter and cream.
- Caramel keeps for a while in the fridge so you can make this part ahead of time or make a big batch and save some for ice cream, coffee drinks and snacking!
- When adding salt dip your a spoon in, let the caramel cool a bit then taste and add more salt if needed. Be careful that sugar is HOT. You can also sprinkle more salt on at the end for a finishing touch!
How to Make Apple Spice Cake
1. Add 3/4 cup of butter to a pot and cook over medium low heat stirring occasionally until the milk solids in the butter caramelize and darken. Be careful of splatters! Once the butter has darkened transfer to a bowl and chill until almost solid. The brown butter will be slow to cool and thicken back up so make sure to do this step in advance. Follow the tips above for perfect caramel that won’t crystalize.
2. To make the caramel add brown sugar, cream, butter and salt to a small pot over medium-low heat and whisk until the mixture almost dissolves, leave it alone until it bubbles and thickens, although you can wash the side down with a wet pastry brush. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, transfer so a bowl and set aside to cool completely.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices into a large bowl. Whisk together and set aside.
4. Add the yogurt, eggs, melted coconut oil, vegetable oil, and vanilla into a medium bowl and whisk together.
5. Peel, core and chop enough apples to have about 2 cups. Set aside and if desired squeeze the juice of half a lemon onto the apple pieces. It won’t matter if the apples brown while exposed to the air but I like the acid from the lemon juice for some contrast.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix to combine using a spatula to fold the very thick mixture together.
7. Add the apples into the batter and fold to incorporate. Your batter will seem quite thick but don’t worry!
8. Distribute the batter between 3 six inch pans and Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes. I’ve also made this same recipe with 4 six inch pans and it works nicely as well.
9. While the cake bakes it’s time to make the buttercream. Add the room temp (partially solidified) brown butter you made in step 1 to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add salt and half the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low for about a minute.
10. Add the remaining powdered sugar, and vanilla then mix on low. Drizzle in cream until desired consistency is reached. Transfer buttercream and caramel from step 2 to piping bags and snip the tips off.
11. Pipe buttercream onto the first layer. Drizzle caramel, then add the second layer on top.
12. Pipe buttercream and caramel onto the second layer, add the third and cover in a thin layer of buttercream.
13. Smooth the buttercream out using a bench scraper, and or an offset spatula. I scraped away most of the buttercream for a semi-naked look but you can leave more on if you’re a frosting person.
14. Pipe caramel onto the top and give a quick smooth with a knife or offset spatula. Don’t pipe to much as the caramel drips will slowly descend down the cake for a while.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this cake then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Apple Spice Cake
Video
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour 360g
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon 4.6g
- 1/2 tsp ginger 0.9g
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1g
- 1/2 tsp allspice 1g
- 1 Pinch ground cloves
- 1 tsp vanilla 4.9mL
- 1 tsp baking soda 4.6g
- 1 tsp salt 6.3g
- 1/2 cup coconut oil 118.2mL melted
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil 59mL
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt 59mL
- 1.5 cups sugar 192g
- 3 large eggs
- 3 to 4 apples about 2 cups cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups) I prefer honey crisp but many varieties are great.
For the Buttercream:
- 1 pound confectioner's sugar 453.5g
- 3/4 cup room temperature Butter 170g
- 1/3 cup cream 79mL
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 14.7g
For the Caramel:
- 1 cup brown sugar 200g
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 71g
- 1/2 cup cream or half and half 118.2mL
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 14.7mL
- 1 Pinch of salt
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Sift and whisk together the dry ingredients
- Mix together the wet ingredients until well combined in a large bowl or stand mixer
- Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until just combined
- Fold in the apples
- Divide the mixture evenly into four 6" pans, which have been buttered and floured. (I always use cake strips too)
- Bake at 350F for approximately 40 minutes or until centers are done.
For the Buttercream:
- Add 3/4 cup of butter to a pot and cook over medium low heat stirring occasionally until the milk solids in the butter caramelize and darken. Be careful of splatters! Once the butter has darkened transfer to a bowl and chill until almost solid. The brown butter will be slow to cool and thicken back up so make sure to do this step in advance.
- Cream the butter in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Add in the salt and powdered sugar gradually and beat together.
- Add vanilla and cream until desired consistency is achieved.
For the Caramel:
- Combine ingredients in small pot and stir together so they're mostly dissolved.
- Place over medium-low heat and cook for 7-8 minutes leaving it alone until it bubbles and thickens, although you can wash the side down with a wet pastry brush.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla then transfer to a bowl to cool.
Notes
- If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans.
- You can substitute sour cream for the yogurt if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
- To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
Nutrition
Lindsay B says
I really loved this cake. I love all of the steps – as an amateur baker, it makes me feel excited to learn new skills like making caramel and browning butter. I also struggle with smoothing my buttercream so I opted for a more naked cake. I also learned my apple pieces were too big so not ever bite has apple. 🙁 Either way – I love your blog and Instagram! Your videos are always so enjoyable and I love your personality!
John K. says
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks so much!
It’s so exciting learning new baking skills like browning butter! Practicing and getting it perfect is part of the fun I think. I’m so happy you enjoy preppy kitchen!
What will you bake next??
Best,
John
Annie says
I just made it and ate a slice. I’ve never made browned butter before and I threw out the first batch because I mistakenly thought the crispy solids meant that I overdid it! Oops! Anyway, it turned out delicious. The only thing I had trouble with was that the buttercream squished out from between the layers. They were pretty heavy. I may do a thicker buttercream next time. I will be making it again for sure!! Thank you for sharing your scrumptious recipes with us 🙂
John K. says
Hi Annie,
It’s funny how browned butter tricks you like that! It is one of my favorite things!
With the buttercream, there is typically a lot of scraping extra buttercream off and being delicate with the cake by not applying pressure to it. But of course you can make your buttercream a bit thicker if you please!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake!
Best,
John
Nate Herrington says
This cake turned out perfectly! It was my second cake I have made. It really impressed my friends and family.
John K. says
Hey Nate,
That’s so good to hear! I’m happy you, your friends and family enjoyed it!! What will you bake next?
Best,
John
Kara says
This cake was just amazing and beautiful too! I dressed up the top by slicing apples thin and baking at 200 for 2 hours. (I posted the pic of it on Pinterest)
John K. says
Hi Kara,
What a great idea! That sound amazing and so creative!! I’m so happy you enjoyed it! What will you spruce up next?? :b
Best,
John
Jodie says
Delicious! And not difficult to bake (though I simplified the decorating to suit my skill level). I browned butter successfully – first time! And my husband and teenage son loved it. Definitely one for the regular rotation.
John K. says
Hi Jodie,
Im so happy to hear the cake was a success, and that you had your first browned butter experience!! How exciting! What will you bake next with browned butter? 🙂
Best,
John
Anna says
I made this cake and it was so delish! I burned the butter and messed up the caramel so I threw that all away. I made regular vanilla buttercream instead and it was still great! I’ll try it again with the caramel and browned butter next time and try harder not to mess everything up.
John K. says
Hi Anna,
Thanks for your feedback!
I’m happy the cake still tasted good, thats what matters most!! Also, practice always makes perfect.
Happy baking!
John
Lucy says
I’m in the process of making this right now- cakes are out of the oven and looking gorgeous! I used two 8 or 9 inch pans and baked for only 36 minutes as I wasn’t using cake strips so it didn’t take as long to bake. Caramel came out well, too, and I’ve vegan-ized everything as well so I’m very pleased.
My only complaint is the icing. In the recipe here it says to use 1 pound of icing sugar and 1/3 cup cream and so I followed that, but I wished I’d followed the video (little less than two pounds sugar, little bit of cream) or simply not used all of the cream, because the icing isn’t firm enough and I’m not sure it will spread very well on the cake (I’d put in more icing sugar to firm it up if I had any more, and I know that the recipe said “until desired consistency”).
So if you’re reading this DON’T PUT IN THE FULL 1/3 CUP OF CREAM.
jkanell says
Thanks! Should I add an extra note about the cream in the ingredients?
Erin says
I also did not use all of the cream, just added until it looked right. This entire recipe is DELICIOUS!
John K. says
Well done Erin! I’m so happy it was a success!!
Lisa says
Hi there. Love all your IG posts!! So, sorry for being one of THOSE people, but you have two grammatical errors in Step 5. Judging by all of your beautiful posts, you’re probably a perfectionist too! Hee hee. Can’t wait to try this!
Blessings,
Lisa
(Admirer of your Pumpkin Badassery) ?
jkanell says
Thanks Lisa! I’m the WORST at copy. Just fixed it!
Kathi Campbell says
For the browned butter the video you say in pound of butter but the recipe says 3/4 cup. That’s quite a difference isn’t it. What is the correct amount?
John K. says
Hi Kathi,
Yes, it is! I used a pound of butter for a larger batch. You can use 3/4 of a cup. Sorry for the confusion!
Best,
John
Jenifer says
Can you substitute the coconut oil with something else? I am allergic to coconuts so can’t use coconut oil.
John K. says
Hi Jenifer,
You can substitute coconut oil with vegetable oil. I hope you enjoy the cake!
Best,
John