Apple Snack Cake
This moist, old fashioned Apple Snack Cake is simple to make and perfect for fall! If you love apple desserts, you will love this delicious cake, with diced apples, pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon.
This tender homemade apple snack cake has a texture that is a bit more dense, with a deliciously rich consistency that is somewhere between a bar and a cake. It doesn't rise quite as high as our other sheet cakes, but it is packed with fantastic flavor in every bite.
Tart granny smith apples pair perfectly with the pecans, cinnamon, and a hint of brown sugar in this fall cake.
We've made many cakes with apples over the years, including our Apple Dapple Cake, Apple Pecan Bundt Cake, and Applesauce Cake, and more. We are happy to have another to add to the collection!
Table of Contents
How to Make Apple Snack Cake
You can find our full, printable cake recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.
- In a medium bowl, combine peeled, chopped apples and white & brown sugar, stirring to combine. Set aside.
- Egg Mixture: In a medium bowl, add eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. Mix well to combine.
- Flour Mixture: In a large bowl, add the all purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk to blend.
- Alternately stir in the flour mixture and egg mixture to the apple/sugar mixture. Start and end with the flour mixture. (We did three additions of the flour mixture and two additions of the egg mixture). *Stir just until combined- be careful not to overmix.
- Finally, fold in the chopped pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared 9x13" pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before turning out. *If the cake begins to become more brown than you'd like, lightly cover pan with aluminum foil.
Frosting the Cake
This cake tastes great on it's own or with a drizzle of caramel, or dollop of whipped cream, but a simple frosting is a great option too!
Today, we frosted the top of the cake with our simple cream cheese frosting recipe.We just love this combination of flavors!
Once the cake had cooled completely, we piped rosettes over the top of the cake using a large 2D. (A 1M piping tip is great too!)
Thanks so much for stopping by today! We hope that you give this delicious apple sheet cake a try. Make sure to check out our other fall cakes as well. We have so many! Some of our favorites are Pumpkin Spice Cake, Sweet Potato Cake, Maple Pound Cake, and Carrot Cake.
Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!
Apple Snack Cake
Ingredients
- 4 cups Apples, peeled & chopped (We used Granny Smith Apples)
- 1½ cup white sugar (300g)
- ¼ cup light brown sugar (55g)
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (85g)(This is just over ½ cup)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
- 2 cups all purpose flour (250g)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda (12g)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (4g)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened (113g) (Should easily dent when pressed)
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature (brick style rather than tub)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
- 3 to 3 ½ cups powdered sugar (345g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.
- In a medium bowl, combine apples and sugar, stirring to combine. Set aside.
- Egg Mixture: In a medium bowl, add eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. Mix well to combine.
- Flour Mixture: In a large bowl, add the all purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk to blend.
- Alternately stir in the flour mixture and egg mixture to the apple/sugar mixture. Start and end with the flour mixture. (We did three additions of the flour mixture and two additions of the egg mixture). *Stir just until combined- be careful not to overmix.
- Finally, fold in the chopped pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared 9x13" pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before turning out. *If the cake begins to become more brown than you'd like, lightly cover pan with aluminum foil.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Add the softened butter to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is smooth.
- Cut the softened cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, along with the salt, mixing at low to medium speed until incorporated. If you are using a hand mixer you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
- Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar mixing on low speed until blended. Cover the bowl with a towel to keep down the cloud of powdered sugar.
- Increase mixing speed and beat until fluffy. Don't over beat or it will become too soft. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a short while to firm it up a bit.
- This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
Decorating
- Once the cake has cooled completely, you can frost with the cream cheese frosting. Decorate however you'd like. We used a 2D piping tip to pipe rosettes on top of the cake.
Storage
- Because of the cream cheese frosting, this cake needs to be refrigerated. When cakes are refrigerated, they become more firm because of the butter. For this reason, it is best to move the cake from the refrigerator to the kitchen counter 2-3 hours before serving.