Caramel Apple Cake – Erren’s Kitchen

Indulge yourself with this recipe for Caramel Apple Cake – moist, delicious cake packed with apples & covered in an indulgent caramel glaze.

I have to say that my heart beats a little faster when I talk about this cake. The tender, spiced apple cake and the thick, caramel glaze that marries the two together – What could be better?

Cakes that include the addition of fruit tend to be wonderfully moist and delicious, and this recipe definitely fits the bill!  Combining apples and caramel not only creates an amazing flavor, but this cake comes out so incredibly tender and moist.

Easy Apple Cake

The best part about this recipe is how easy it is to prepare. The batter only needs a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon.  No special equipment is required!

The caramel glaze doesn’t need a candy thermometer or special skills you just throw everything together in the pot and cook until it melts together and thickens.  It’s that simple!

What apples for apple cake

Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apples are good choices as they tend to hold up best under heat. Use granny smith if you like a tart flavor and Golden delicious for a sweeter choice.

Many recipes use artificial flavors or jarred applesauce for flavoring cakes.  This apple cake recipe is made with fresh apples for the perfect flavor!

The Caramel Glaze

This glaze is insanely delicious.  I’ve uses it for my Brown Sugar Cake and my Sticky Toffee Ginger Cakes.  It’s so good I’m sure I’ll be making it in many more recipes to come.

The key to the glaze is allowing it to cool enough to thicken, but still, be pouring consistency.  See the tips section at the bottom of the post for more details.

How To Make Caramel Apple Cake:

In a large mixing bowl mix the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Add the grated apples and melted butter

Mix to combine.  You want a thick batter that’s easily mixed. If the mixture is too thick, you can loosen it with some milk.

Add the batter evenly to a well-greased pan.

Bake and allow to cool on a baking rack while you prepare the glaze.

To prepare the caramel glaze, combine the butter, brown sugar, and milk in a medium saucepan.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer to thicken for 1-2 minutes.  Off the heat, stir in the vanilla and set aside to cool. 

Place a piece of baking paper under the cooling rack your cake is on. Pour the glaze over the cake.

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Let’s Make
Caramel Apple Cake

This cake has all the flavors of Fall. Moist spiced apple cake topped with a sticky, caramel glaze. It’s pure bliss!

Prep20 minutes minutes

Cook1 hour hour

Total1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For the cake:

• Preheat oven to 350F/175C and Grease a 10-cup capacity Bundt Cake

• In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave, and let cool.

• In a large mixing bowl mix together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt, baking soda, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.

• Add the cooled butter, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.  The batter should be easily stirred.  If too thick, mix in the milk.

• Fold in the apples and spoon the batter into the bundt pan.

• Bake 50-60 minutes until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

• After the cake cools in the pan for 10 minutes, invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the glaze:

• Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the brown sugar to the melted butter and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute (be sure the butter and sugar are completely combined and you can’t see any separated butter in the mixture). Bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue cooking, stirring, for 2 minutes.

• Add the milk and vanilla. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue cooking, stirring, for 2 minutes.

• Remove from heat and set aside to cool. The longer it cools, the thicker it becomes. When it’s at your desired consistency, drizzle over the cooled cake and serve.

Tips + Notes

• After shredding the apples, coat them with a bit of citrus juice to keep them from turning brown before using.  Lemon works best.
• Don’t have citrus juice?  No problem.  The batter is quite dark so brown apples won’t matter and it doesn’t affect the taste.
• The longer The Caramel Glaze cools, the thicker it becomes.  If you accidentally allow it to cool too much, heat it up again (until fluid) and start over.
• When glazing the cake, place the cake on a cooling rack with baking paper under it to catch any glaze that drips from the cake.  You can scrape it off the paper and glaze again.

Variations

• For a salted caramel glaze– Add a teaspoon of salt to the glaze.
• For a Caramel Pear Cake – swap out the apples for pears.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 366 (18%)| Carbohydrates: 54g (18%)| Protein: 4g (8%)| Fat: 15g (23%)| Saturated Fat: 9g (56%)| Cholesterol: 82mg (27%)| Sodium: 394mg (17%)| Potassium: 226mg (6%)| Fiber: 2g (8%)| Sugar: 38g (42%)| Vitamin A: 530IU (11%)| Vitamin C: 3mg (4%)| Calcium: 86mg (9%)| Iron: 1.4mg (8%)

Nutritional Data Disclaimer

Erren’s Kitchen is written and produced for informational intentions only. We are not certified nutritionists, and the nutritional information found on this site has not been assessed or authorized by a nutritionist or the FDA. The nutritional information found in our recipes is offered as an estimate and should not be considered a guarantee or fact. The estimated data is provided as a courtesy and calculated through a third-party online nutritional calculator, spoonacular API. Although we do our best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered rough estimates. Many factors, such as brands or products purchased and the nutritional fluctuations that naturally occur in fresh produce, can alter the effectiveness of the nutritional information in any recipe. Furthermore, various online calculators provide different results depending on their particular algorithms and nutrition fact sources.
To obtain the most precise nutritional information in a provided recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the exact ingredients you are using when preparing the recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

Course:Dessert

Cuisine:American

Keyword:apple cake, caramel apple cake, easy apple cake

This recipe was originally published in 2018 but was updated with new photos and tips in 2020.