Every fall I crave all things spiced, including THIS Caramel Apple Spice Cake recipe! Ohhhh, the spicy goodness! Trust me, you are going to want to save this one, it is so moist and packed with flavor!
This homemade Apple Spice Cake is a heavenly combination of apples, cinnamon, nuts, caramel & all around coziness! I wish I had a big slice right now.
Caramel Apple Spice Cake
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1stick) (113 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (107 g) vegetable oil
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (252 g) applesauce (unsweetened)
- 3 cups (342 g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) salt
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) baking soda
- 1 Tablespoon ( 9 g) cinnamon
- 2 cups (250 g) grated apples, peeled before grating. I used Granny Smith (3 large apples or 4 medium) ( I used the large holes on a box grater
- 1 cup (100 g) chopped pecans or walnuts
- Zest of 1 small lemon (optional)
- 1 Jar of Caramel Sauce/topping for spreading on layers and drizzling
- Cream Cheese Frosting (or your filling/frosting of choice. see our Recipes section!)
- *Makes approximately 6 1/2 cups of batter
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Grease and flour three 8 inch pans A WAXED PAPER circle should be put in the bottom of each pan (grease and flour also) there tends to be more of a sticking problem when recipes have fruit.
- Cream the butter, add oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and applesauce. Mix well.
- Put the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk to mix.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix to blend.
- Fold in the grated apples, lemon zest and nuts.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool in pans 10 minutes then turn out.
- As I assembled my cake layers, I added another layer of flavor with a very thinly spread coating of caramel. I used store bought. I spread the top of each layer with a very thin layer before spreading my cream cheese filling. After assembling, I frosted the cake with cream cheese frosting and drizzled with additional caramel sauce. *I have also made this cake as a bundt cake, and as cupcakes with great results!
This Caramel Apple Spice Cake has so much flavor on it’s own, but ohhh the filling and frosting takes it to a whole new level! I always find cream cheese-based frostings to be a PERFECT complement to spiced desserts.
*You can find the Cream Cheese Frosting recipe that we used for our cake here: Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe Or, if you’d like to try our favorite Apple Spice Cream Cheese Frosting, you can find it here: Apple Spice Cream Cheese Frosting. Both of these recipes are so simple to make and taste fantastic!
For those of you who love to work with doctored cake mix recipes, this simple Apple Spice Cake {Doctored Cake Mix} Recipe is amazing! All of the apple spiced flavor that you love in a scratch recipe. In fact, nobody would guess that it started from a mix!
I highly recommend printing both of these Apple Spice recipes, it’s good to have options! Yummmmm…..
If you’re looking for more favorite fall and Thanksgiving cake ideas and tutorials, don’t miss our Roundup of Fall and Thanksgiving Cake Recipes, Tutorials, and Ideas!
Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to check out our other FAVORITE cake and frosting recipes and tutorials in our Recipes section, as well as a full collection of free cake tutorials in our Free Cake Tutorial Section!
Can I fondant this cake?.
Looks beautiful and sounds delicious,can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Peggy, yes, I think it will be fine to use fondant
Hi LeAnne, thanks for posting your comment.
Sounds YUMMY!
My mom turned 88 on November, 6th,the day you posted the recipe. I was out of town on her birthday, and she told me that all she wanted from me was a homemade spice cake, when I returned. I have been searching for the perfect recipe, while I’ve been away, and I have found it in this one. I am going to the store, now, for a couple Granny Smith’s. Can’t wait for her to try it! Thanks so much!
Hi Laura, Wonderful, I hope she loves it. Happy Birthday to your mom!!
I am planning to make the turkey cake for Thanksgiving. Would this recipe be suitable for carving? Looks delicious and I was thinking of serving carmel sauce”gravy” on the side.
Hi Sharon, I love the idea of the caramel “gravy”! :0)
This recipe should work fine for a roasted turkey cake since there is not a huge amount of carving involved, although I would still carve while the layers are partially frozen to simplify things. Let us know how it goes!
Hello,
very nice ingredients and recipe to make a very fantastic cake. I totally liked it. Awesome..!!
Designer birthday cakes pune
Thanks!!
manish
Hi Manish, Thank you for your review of the recipe, we are happy that you like it.
This looks absolutely delicious. I’m sure to make this one.
Mellissa can I make this cake ahead of time and freeze it? I have Thanksgiving at my house and wanted to make this cake but with everything else I am doing I just am not sure if I would have the energy. So can I bake the layers about 3 weeks before Thanksgiving and freeze them? Than take it out of the freezer and prepare for decorating just a couple days before Thanksgiving? Just wasn’t sure how the apples would react to the freezing. Also (maybe a silly question) peel the apples first? Thank you
Marlene
Hi Marlene, Yes, it will be fine to make the cake layers in advance. Double wrap each layer twice and then wrap in aluminum foil. These layers can be frozen 2months. Let thaw completely while wrapped. Or you can let thaw wrapped until condensation forms on the outside of the aluminum foil then unwrap and allow to continue to thaw completely. It will be great! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Do you need to peel the apples before you grate them? ALSO, how many apples did you use?
Hi Marlene, I did peel the apples before grating. I did not make a note of how many apples but I would buy 3 large or 4 medium sized apples, to be on the safe side.
Thank you so much for getting back to me. I bought the apples today and will try to get this cake baked and in the freezer in a couple of days. I will let you know how the family likes it. Of course, it wont be until after Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving.
Hi Marlene, Thanks for bringing up the question, I’m sure it will help others . I have added that information to the recipe. Hope you love the recipe. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Will this recipe bake fine without the nuts added? Or do you need to adjust it if you are omitting the nuts?
thanks
Hi Lisa, The cake should bake fine without the nuts, no adjustments needed.
BeBe The apples produce quite a lot of juice … do I squeeze the juice out or use it in the recipe?
Thanks! Linda
Hi Linda, I did not squeeze any juice from the apples. You should not have a lot of juice if you use the large holes on you grater
Bebe, I would like to cook the apples a bit because we don’t like “pieces” or chunks of fruit in our cakes. Any thoughts on what the results would be if the apples were cooked down somewhat.
Hi Paula, The apples in the cake are grated so they are very thin and are soft after the cake is baked, there would not be any chunks of apples. I think if you are going to dice the apples you could (depending on how big the dice) have pieces of apples that might have some firmness after the cake is baked. If you want to cook the apples, I think you could steam the diced apples a bit or cook briefly in boiling water and drain throughly, it would be fine. I would NOT cook or steam the grated apples because I think it would quickly turn into applesauce. I hope you will enjoy the cake!