Today we are sharing an AMAZING Apple Spice Doctored Cake Mix recipe! It’s the season for delicious spiced cakes and I have to say, this one’s a keeper!
We are slowly working our way through our Recipes Section so that we can have a scratch version and doctored cake mix version of our favorite recipes.
Of course, Apple Spice Cake is right up there at the top of the list! I love myself a good spice cake (especially in the fall….ahhhhh…).
How to Make Apple Spice Cake from a Cake Mix
This flavorful Apple Spice Cake may start with a cake mix, but nobody would ever guess, thanks to the delicious add-ins that this recipe calls for!
You can find the full, printable Apple Spice Cake Mix Recipe below, but here is a quick rundown of our process:
- In your mixing bowl, add the cake mix, brown sugar, spices, oil, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk.
- Mix for one minute (starting on low speed and then increasing to medium). Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Beat on medium speed for 1 more minute ( longer if using a hand mixer).
- Fold in the grated apples and pour into the prepared cake pans. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. You may need to cover pans with aluminum foil during the last five minutes of baking to prevent over browning the tops of the cakes.
Decorating the Apple Spice Cake
We decorated this Apple Cake with luscious Apple Spice Cream Cheese Frosting. We love cream cheese frostings, and especially love to pair them with spice cakes!
Of course you can decorate this cake however you like, but we piped around the sides of the cake with an up and down motion using a piping tip 2D (a 1M would work just as well). We then used the same piping tip to pipe large rosettes over the top of the cake.
To pipe rosettes with a large star tip, simply start in the center of your rosette and spiral outward clockwise until your rosette is as large as you’d like for it to be. I love this piping technique for it’s elegant look and it is SO easy to do!
Scratch Version of Apple Spice Cake
Apple Spice Cake is a classic fall recipe and we are so excited to have a doctored mix option to go along with our scratch version for Caramel Apple Spice Cake.
We adore both of these recipes, but sometimes you just need a fast, flavorful option for fall gatherings!
After making this moist and flavorful Apple Spice Cake doctored cake mix version this week, I find it to be every bit as delicious and addictive as the scratch version!
My family approves 100% and I could not believe how fast this cake disappeared! (I may have had something to do with this too, ha!)
Frostings to Pair with Apple Spice Cake
We’ve also added an Apple Spice Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe to our Recipe Section that is just heavenly with this cake! There’s nothing like silky smooth cream cheese frosting with spice cakes and cupcakes.
Stir a little spiced goodness into the cream cheese frosting and you have a home run every time. We have a similar version that we also love to whip up for our fall favorites: Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting! Yummmm.
Thanks for stopping by, we think you’re going to come back to this fall favorite again and again. Big thank you to BeBe for creating this Apple Spice Cake Recipe for us as well as the Apple Spice Cream Cheese Frosting!!
This one is a keeper for sure. Enjoy!!
Love Doctored Cake Mix Recipes? Try these other Favorites!
More Favorite Fall Cake Recipes!
We just love fall cake recipes, from apple cakes like this one to caramel cakes, pumpkin cakes, gingerbread cakes, spice cakes, and more!
For more delicious Fall Cake Recipes, look no further than our roundup of Favorite Fall Cake Recipes! You will find fall favorites like our Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake, Homemade Carrot Cake, Orange Spice Cake, Classic Spice Cake, Apple Cinnamon Cake, and so many others!
Apple Spice Cake- A Doctored Cake Mix Recipe
This moist and delicious Apple Spice Cake all starts with a simple cake mix! This is such a wonderful, easy recipe for fall, or whenever you're in the mood for apple spiced goodness.
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix (15.25g) plus 6 Tablespoons (45g) flour (we used Duncan Hines Classic Yellow cake mix)
- ½ cup (108g) light brown sugar (packed into cup)
- 2 teaspoons (5g) cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon (2g) nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon (1g) allspice
- ½ cup (l08g) vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup (302g) buttermilk
- 2 cups (204g) peeled and grated apple (2 large apples) I used 1 Golden Delicious and 1 Granny Smith apple - grate on the large holes of grater
Instructions
- This recipe makes 6 cups of batter
- Works well for cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease and flour two 8 inch round cake pans
- In the mixing bowl, add the cake mix, brown sugar, spices, oil, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk. With the mixer on low speed, increasing to medium speed, mix for 1 minute.
- Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Beat on medium speed for 1 more minute ( longer if using a hand mixer). Fold in the grated apples and pour into the prepared cake pans.
- Bake 35 to 40 minutes. You may need to cover pans with aluminum foil during the last five minutes of baking to prevent over browning the tops of the cakes.
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Interested in trying out our scratch Caramel Apple Spice Cake? You will love this moist and delicious apple spiced goodness!
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This recipe really looks astonishing and really helpful for us for making such brilliant Apple Spice Cake and yes I will definitely love to try this recipe.
I didn’t add the 6 Tablespoons flour. I never saw that until I saw the second email. ? My cakes didn’t rise. No biggie it’ll still taste good. Happy Thanksgiving!
Beautiful
i would like to join
Hi Melissa! Can you please tell me if this cake recepie is stable enough for stacking and to cover with fondant? Thank you!
Hi Claudia, This recipe would be stackable because the supports (bubble tea straws or dowels) would support the tiered cakes that are on their own cake board. We have not tried using fondant on this cake but I think it might be a bit too soft..
Truely this is yummy. My family members loved it very much, So I make it again and again.
Hi there! Can this recipe be made without the apples? If so, do you adjust any of the other ingredients to compensate? Thank you!
Hi Cathleen, I think it would not turn out well without the apples. There are 2 cups grated apples so you would lose volume and the added moisture that the apples give this recipe. You might like to try the Gingerbread Cake recipe that uses a Spice Cake Mix (Duncan Hines). You would leave out the molasses and increase the water to 1 cup. Here is a link to that recipe,
https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes/gingerbread-doctored-recipe/
Can I use the spice cake mix from a box? And I also need to know what the adjustments would be for a two tier cake for an 8” and 10” round cake pans?
Hi Terri, We have not tried it using a spice cake mix, it would work, but I’m not sure what the spice adjustments would be or if you would need all of them. The recipe makes 6 cups of batter. Using Karen Kitchen or Wilton cake batter chart, you will need 3 cups batter for each 8 inch pan. A 10 inch pan needs 6 cups batter. I’m not sure how large your mixer is but you could double the recipe and get enough batter for an 8 inch 2 layer tier and 1 layer for your 10 inch tier. Then make another single recipe for the 2nd 10 inch layer. Below is a link to Wilton and Karen’s Kitchen batter and baking times chart. You will find these helpful.
http://www.wilton.com/cake-serving-guide/cms-baking-serving-guide.html
http://www.fromkarenskitchen.com/tips/party_cake_batter_amounts_baking_times_2inch_pan.php
Greetings!
I followed the instructions but I’m running into a problem where the middle has a almost “raw” look to it. Baked the duration of time, inserted skewer for done-mess and it came out clean but after removing from pans and cooled completely I cut the tops to see that they look raw in the center? Is this the moistness from the apples? Do I need to start over? Use 8″pans, filled them a little over half full.
Hi Dee, I’m sorry you had this problem, from your picture I can see that the center should not look this wet. First, I would suggest that you buy an oven thermometer to find out if your oven is baking at the temperature you set. If your oven is overheating, the cake will be done on the outside before the center is fully baked. You can find oven thermometers at most grocery stores, Target or online. You could also try baking at a lower temperature, 325 degrees for a longer time. You could also add a heating core to the center of the pan. I hope that your cake was done enough that you were able to use it.
Thank you BeBe for getting back to me so quickly. I remade a new batch (tossing out the ones I made as the texture was just rubbery) I added extra cake flour(as mentioned by another of the comments) shredded the apples and squeezed out some of the excess liquid. They were pretty juicy apples and I’m thinking all that excess juice was just TOO much liquid for the batter. I also put on bake even strips around my pans and kept a close eye on the cakes as they baked and placed foil on top when they started getting a little too brown. Worked like a charm! The recipe turned out wonderful for a wedding cake I made for a customer(in the photo), they were extremely pleased with the flavor and I paired it with a cinnamon cream cheese and Swiss meringue vanilla buttercream! Thank you so much again for the delicious recipe and help on the situation!
Hi Dee, Well, that is a lovely presentation of your cake. I love the look!! I’m sure the bride and groom were thrilled. Thanks so much for the follow-up information on what worked for you to make it perfect.
Instead of 2 teaspoons of vanilla I used 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon pumpkin flavoring. Delicious.
Hi Dede, Thanks so much for posting, that hint of pumpkin flavor does sound good!
made this yesterday as a test run. This is the cake we are using for our wedding!! Thank you for the fantastic recipe. Any suggestions for fillings for this cake?
How long to bake cupcakes please?
Hi Patty, Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes, check at 18 minutes.
Thanks so much for the quick response!
I made this cake today. Delicious! I did squeeze some of juice from apples as they were very wet. Also omitted nuts and added raisins. It would have been fantastic with walnuts but hubby doesn’t like them. To ice I used a whipped cream frosting that is made with cream cheese and used maple extract instead vanilla. Recipe is a keeper!
The scratch Carmel apple spice cake was the recipe I used minus the Carmel. I see I may have posted under the recipe that uses the box mix.
Hi Dawn, So happy that you enjoyed the recipe!
I would love to make this cake for my niece and since it’s hard to make a tiered cake “to go” can it be made in a 13’ x 9’ cake pan? Thanks so much!
Hi Stefanie, Yes, it can be baked in a 13×9 pan. This size pan can hold up to 7 cups of batter, and I think this recipe makes 5 to 6 cup so I am not sure how tall it will be. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, use a toothpick to check when it is done.
Would this pair well with the cinnamon buttercream?
Hi Beth, Yes, cinnamon buttercream would be a great choice for this recipe.
Can I exchange applesauce for apples….?
Hi Catrina, I do not think that will work, my worry is that the applesauce will add too moisture to the cake.
Would I be able to switch out apples for pears? I’d like to make a spiced pear cake that can be stacked.
Hi Kelsey, I’m sorry- I haven’t tried it with pears and so it’s hard to say. It seems like it could work- if you give it a try, let us know how it goes!
I was wondering what or when you use the 6 T of flour
Hi Sandy, The 6 Tablespoons flour is added with the cake mix. Hope you will enjoy the recipe
Can I substitute the apples with homemade applesauce?
Hi Chris, We have not tried using applesauce so I cannot be certain of the outcome. My thought is that it may add too much liquid. Let us know if you give it a try.