This fresh apple cake recipe is loaded with real chopped apples in every layer and warmed with cozy fall spices. It's frosted with a delectable brown butter cream cheese frosting and finished with a salted caramel drip. In my opinion, this is the perfect cake for fall.
If you love my applesauce spice cake or carrot cake for that same moist, spiced crumb, this one takes it a step further with real chunks of apple baked right into the layers instead of apple purée. Readers have been making this one for years; it's sitting at 4.88 stars from over 30 ratings, and one reader told me she's made it so many times that she sometimes forgets to follow the instructions properly, but it "always turns out great." It's basically foolproof!
Quick Glance: Fresh Apple Cake Recipe
- Recipe Name: Fresh Apple Cake Recipe
- Why You'll Love It: Real chopped apple in every bite, warm fall spice, and brown butter cream cheese frosting with a salted caramel drip
- Time and Difficulty: About 30 minutes prep, 30 minutes bake, beginner-friendly
- Main Ingredients: Fresh apples, cake flour, cinnamon, applesauce, brown butter, cream cheese
- Method: Creamed butter cake batter folded with chopped apples, baked in layers, filled and frosted with brown butter cream cheese frosting
- Texture and Flavor: Moist, tender crumb studded with real apple pieces, warm spiced flavor, tangy brown butter frosting
- Quick Tip: Chop your apples small, about ¼ inch, so you get apple in every bite without big soggy pockets
Jump to:
- Quick Glance: Fresh Apple Cake Recipe
- What Makes This Fresh Apple Cake Recipe Different
- Fresh Apple Cake Recipe Ingredients
- How to Make Fresh Apple Cake Step-By-Step
- Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
- Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
- Cups of Batter Needed
- Cups of Frosting Needed
- Common Fresh Apple Cake Problems to Avoid
- Final Thoughts
- Make This Recipe Your Own
- Fresh Apple Cake Recipe FAQs
- More Fall Dessert Recipes to Try
- Leave Me a Review⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Recipe
What Makes This Fresh Apple Cake Recipe Different
A moist, spiced cake loaded with real apple chunks, a nutty brown butter cream cheese frosting, and a salted caramel drip on top. It's the ultimate apple lover's cake.
- Browning the butter gives the frosting a toasty depth that plain cream cheese frosting just doesn't have
- Applesauce and chopped apples both go into the batter, so every slice is moist with real bites of apple. If you love apples and caramel together, my caramel apples from scratch are a fun fall project too.
- Converts easily to cupcakes or an easy upside-down single-layer cake, see Make This Recipe Your Own
- Sturdy enough to stack as a layer cake, but still moist and tender to eat
Fresh Apple Cake Recipe Ingredients
This cake pulls double duty with real chopped apple and applesauce both working to keep the crumb moist, plus a brown butter frosting and a quick caramel drip on top. I always recommend weighing your ingredients with a digital kitchen scale for the most accurate results, this recipe has a few components so the extra precision is worth it.
- Apples - Honeycrisp is a great all-purpose choice, but see the FAQs below for more of my favorite baking apples. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the chopped pieces to keep them from browning while you prep the rest of the batter.
- Cake flour - Lower protein for a more tender crumb. No cake flour on hand? My cake flour substitute (AP flour plus cornstarch) is what I reach for.
- Baking soda - For lift and flavor.
- Salt - Balances the sweetness in the cake, the frosting, and the caramel.
- Ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves - The warm spice blend that makes this taste like a true fall cake. Adjust the ratio to your taste if you want more or less of any one spice.
- Unsalted butter - commonly used for baking to control how much salt is added. Especially when you brown butter, this concentrates the butter and the saltiness, so unsalted butter is preferred.
- Granulated sugar - Sweetens the cake and helps whip air into the butter.
- Vegetable oil - Keeps the crumb moist and tender alongside the applesauce.
- Egg - Room temperature, for structure.
- Vanilla extract - Rounds out the spice in both the cake and the frosting. I recommend using Nielsen Massey vanilla.
- Applesauce - Unsweetened, adds extra moisture to the crumb alongside the chopped apples.
- Cream cheese - Softened, the tangy base of the frosting.
- Powdered sugar - Sweetens and stabilizes the frosting.
- Heavy cream - Added to the caramel to create that perfect creamy consistency.
- Water - Goes into the pot with the sugar for the caramel so the sugar crystals dissolve evenly.
How to Make Fresh Apple Cake Step-By-Step
Preheat your oven to 350º F and grease three 8 inch cake pans with cake goop or your preferred pan release. Make sure your butter, egg, and cream cheese are fully at room temperature before you start, and peel, core, and chop your apples so they're ready to fold in.
- Prep your apples. Peel your apples, core them with an apple corer, and chop them into small ¼ inch pieces, then toss them with the juice of half a lemon to keep them from browning.
- Sift your dry ingredients. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices so everything distributes evenly.
- Cream the butter. Cream the butter until smooth in the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Whip in the sugar and oil. Add the sugar and oil and whip on medium until the mixture is white and fluffy.
PRO TIP: If the batter looks a little curdled once you add the egg, don't panic. It's a temperature and emulsification thing, not a sign you did something wrong. It smooths right back out once the flour goes in.
- Add the egg and vanilla. Mix in the egg and vanilla until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and applesauce. Add the flour mixture and the applesauce, alternating between the two, mixing on medium just until combined.
PRO TIP: Weighing your ingredients and starting with truly room temperature butter, egg, and cream cheese isn't just a nice-to-have here. This batter has to carry a lot of extra weight from the chopped apples and applesauce, and if your butter is too cold or your measurements are off, the structure can't hold onto all that fruit. That's the difference between a cake that holds together when you slice it and one that falls apart.
- Fold in the apples. Fold in your prepped apples until they're evenly distributed.
- Bake. Divide the batter evenly between your prepared pans and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. The layers will be thin.
- Cool, then chill. Let the layers cool in the pan until you can touch them, then flip them out onto a wire rack. Cool completely, then wrap and chill before stacking; this makes trimming and filling much easier.
- Start the frosting. Place the softened butter in the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment and mix until smooth.
- Add the cream cheese. Add in your cream cheese and mix until smooth.
- Add the browned butter. Add in your browned butter and mix until smooth and creamy.
- Add the powdered sugar. Add in your powdered sugar one cup at a time while mixing on low until it's all incorporated. Don't overmix.
- Finish with salt and vanilla. Add in your salt and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Start the caramel drip. Place the sugar and water in a medium-sized pot, cover with the lid, and bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Allow the mixture to boil covered for 5 minutes to ensure all the sugar grains are dissolved.
- Cook the sugar. Remove the lid and place a candy thermometer in the pot, then continue cooking until the thermometer reads 350º F or the sugar turns a deep golden brown color. DO NOT STIR. Stirring can cause the caramel to crystallize.
- Whisk in the butter. Remove the sugar from the heat and slowly whisk in the butter.
- Whisk in the cream and salt. Slowly whisk in the cream and salt until combined.
PRO TIP: Go slow when you whisk in the butter, it will bubble up fast.
- Cool the caramel. Let the caramel cool completely before using it for the drip.
- Place the first layer. Place your first cake layer onto a cake cardboard or a cake plate.
- Frost the first layer. Spread a layer of frosting evenly onto the cake with an offset spatula, try to keep the frosting an even thickness. If you want even more apple flavor, you can pipe a dam of frosting around the perimeter instead and fill the center with apple filling, just make sure the dam is sturdy enough to keep the filling from oozing out.
- Add the second and third layers. Place your second cake layer on top of the frosting and repeat the process, then add your third layer and repeat once more.
- Crumb coat and chill. Spread a thin layer of frosting all over the whole cake, this is called the crumb coat. Place the cake into the fridge to chill until the frosting hardens, about 20 minutes.
- Frost and decorate. Frost the cake with the remaining frosting, smooth or rustic, whichever finish you like. Chill the frosted cake for about 20 minutes so the frosting is firm, then drizzle your salted caramel over the top with a spoon, then finish with piped rosettes and a few fresh apple slices soaked in water and lemon juice to prevent browning. A 1M piping tip works great here.
Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
This recipe makes enough batter for three 8″×2″ cake rounds. If you're working with a different pan size, use the calculator below to figure out how much batter and frosting you'll need, then adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to match.
Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
Select an option below to calculate how much batter or frosting you need. Adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to change the amounts the recipe makes.
Choose a pan type
Choose a cake pan size
(based on 2" tall cake pan)
Choose a cake pan size
(based on 2" tall cake pan)
Cupcake Tin Size
Choose number of pans
Cups of Batter Needed
8 cups
Cups of Frosting Needed
5 cups
Note: measurements are estimated based off the vanilla cake recipe using standard US cake pans and sizes. Measurements used are for 2" tall cake pans only. Your results may vary. Do not overfill cake pans above manufacturer's recommended guidelines.
Common Fresh Apple Cake Problems to Avoid
- Cake feels dry or falls apart when sliced. This usually means the butter, egg, or cream cheese wasn't fully at room temperature, or the ingredients weren't weighed. This fruit-heavy batter needs that precision to hold together around all the chopped apple and applesauce.
- Batter looks curdled after the egg goes in. This is normal, it's a temperature and emulsification thing, not a sign the cake is ruined. Keep mixing, and it smooths out once the flour is added.
- Apples turn brown before you can fold them in. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the chopped apples right after cutting them and toss to coat.
- Frosting is too soft to hold the caramel drip. Chill the frosted cake for about 20 minutes before adding the caramel so it sets up firm enough to hold the drip lines.
- Caramel turns grainy. That's sugar crystals, usually from stirring the sugar, skipping the lid at the start (the steam washes crystals off the sides of the pot), or shocking it by adding cold butter and cream too fast. This caramel has no corn syrup to help prevent crystals, so don't stir it and go slow with the butter and cream.
Final Thoughts
This is one of those recipes readers keep coming back to. It's been on the site since 2019, and my readers just love it. Real apple, warm spice, and that brown butter frosting never gets old to me, especially with a little caramel on top.
Make This Recipe Your Own
- Brown butter in the cake. Brown the butter for the cake too, not just the frosting, for even more depth of flavor. Just make sure you brown more butter than you need and weigh it before adding it to the recipe. Butter loses moisture when you brown it.
- Cupcakes. This recipe converts to cupcakes. See the Recipe Card Notes for the exact bake schedule.
- Easy upside-down cake. Skip the layers and toss your chopped apples in cinnamon sugar and melted butter, spread them in the bottom of a 10 inch cake pan, and pour the batter over the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the sides pull away from the pan. Once it's cooled, flip it out onto a plate and drizzle with caramel or dust with powdered sugar, no frosting required.
Fresh Apple Cake Recipe FAQs
You want apples that hold their shape while baking instead of turning mushy. Jonagold is slightly tart and crisp, Honeycrisp is crisp and sweet, Braeburn is crisp, sweet, and very juicy, Mutsu is sweet and firm, Pink Lady is sweet, crisp, and firm, Granny Smith is tart and holds its shape well, and Cortland is not too sweet with a softer texture that still holds together.
Yes. Use the servings slider on the recipe card to scale everything down automatically instead of doing the math by hand.
No, but it's worth it. Browning the butter first adds a nutty, toasty flavor that plain butter just doesn't have, and it pairs especially well with the warm spice in this cake. Regular softened butter will still work fine if you're short on time.
Yes, it freezes just fine because the apples are fully baked into the layers by the time you wrap them up. Freeze the baked, unfrosted layers tightly wrapped, then thaw before filling and frosting.
More Fall Dessert Recipes to Try
Leave Me a Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you made this Fresh Apple Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments. I love hearing from you!
Recipe
Equipment
- apple corer
- Electric Stand Mixer
- Three 8″×2″ Cake Pans
Ingredients
Apple Cake Recipe
- ½ lemon lemon juice squeezed over chopped apples to prevent browning
- 3 or 4 medium honeycrisp apples chopped in ¼ inch pieces
- 2 medium apples (optional) cut in wedges for decoration
- 10 ounces cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 4 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- 10 ounces granulated sugar
- 3 ounces vegetable oil
- 1 whole egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 ounces applesauce unsweetened
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces browned butter room temperature
- 8 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 20 ounces powdered sugar
Caramel Sauce Drip
- 7 ounces granulated sugar
- 2 ounces water
- 3 ounces unsalted butter
- 4 ounces heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Apple Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350º F (177º C). Make sure your butter, egg, and cream cheese are fully at room temperature before you start.
- Peel the apples and core them using an apple corer or a knife.
- Cut the apples into ¼ inch pieces and place into a bowl. Squeeze ½ a lemon over the apples to prevent browning. Set aside.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. Set aside.
- Add the butter to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream until smooth.
- Add the sugar and oil to the butter and cream on medium until the mixture is white and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
- While mixing on medium, add the dry ingredients in thirds and mix until combined.
- Fold in the applesauce and chopped apples until combined.
- Grease three 8 inch pans with cake goop or another type of pan release. Divide the batter evenly between the pans.
- Bake at 350º F for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. The layers will be thin.
- Let the cake rest in the pan until it's cool enough to touch, then flip out onto a wire rack. Cool completely before stacking (wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge or freezer to speed up the cooling process).
Brown Butter Frosting
- Place the softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and mix until smooth.
- Add the cream cheese and mix until smooth.
- Add the browned butter and mix until smooth and creamy.
- Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time while mixing on low until fully incorporated. Do not overmix.
- Add the salt and vanilla and mix until combined.
Caramel Drip
- Place the sugar and water in a medium-sized pot. Cover with the lid and bring to a boil on medium-high heat.
- Remove the lid and place a candy thermometer in the pot. Continue cooking until the thermometer reads 350º F or the sugar is a deep golden brown color. Do not stir.
- Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the butter. Be careful, it will bubble up.
- Whisk in the cream and salt.
- Let the caramel cool completely before using it for the drip.
Assembly
- Place the first cake layer onto a cake cardboard or a cake plate.
- Spread a layer of frosting evenly onto the cake with an offset spatula, keeping the thickness even. For added apple flavor, pipe a dam of frosting around the perimeter instead and fill the center with apple filling.
- Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting and repeat. Add the third layer and repeat once more.
- Spread a thin crumb coat of frosting over the whole cake. Chill in the fridge until the frosting hardens, about 20 minutes.
- Frost the cake with the remaining frosting, smooth or rustic finish. Chill the frosted cake for about 20 minutes so the frosting is firm, then drizzle the caramel over the top with a spoon, then finish with piped rosettes and apple slices soaked in lemon water.
Eathan Johnson says
This cake was delicious! The brown butter cream cheese frosting was super interesting and tasty as well. The cakes are for sure good enough to stand on their own as muffins as well. I made it twice and I felt it didn't have quite as much structure as I'd like the first time so I used half all purpose flour which worked great with the cupcakes/muffins I made.
Oksana says
Absolutely increasable. Just like anything Liz makes. I made cupcakes but they turned out spectacular. Wish I could post a picture . Moist and perfectly spiced with delicious apple. I even made brown butter frosting. Made my own brown butter for the first time. Yum yum yum. Making for all the neighbors for thanksgiving! Thank you Liz
Laura Livingston says
Love this cake. It really is a great recipe. I want to take this to 2 friends so could it possibly be made in 2 loaf pans? Would I need to change anything? Thanks for your help.
Elizabeth Marek says
Absolutely! I will most likely have to bake for longer so keep an eye on it.
Ella says
Hi Liz!
Thank you for all of your delicious recipes! Would you happen to know if this cake will freeze will with the fresh apples? I’m looking to make it for my best friends wedding cake, 4 layer 9 inch cake. The adjustment calculator isn’t working for me, would I double this recipes to have enough batter?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can freeze it just fine because the apples are baked.
Autumn Gordon-Chow says
Hi! This cake was soo delicious. The flavors were divine! My crumb was a little dry (maybe over baked) but also, it did not hold together at all when sliced. What could have gone wrong? Thanks!
PS- I come here for all of my new baking adventures. Your recipes are wonderful!
Sugar Geek Show says
Hi thank you! Sorry to hear it didn't hold, I'm not sure why. Did you measure your ingredients by weight and bring everything to room temperature?
Sarah says
Excellent cake! My husband said it looked like a mashed potatoes and gravy cake. 😂 Just wanted to point out though you mentioned salt twice in the printed instructions even though it only called for it once. Thanks again for the fabulous recipe!
Elizabeth Marek says
Oh thank you!
Montse Castillo says
Hello, I really want to make this cake but it's posible to half it :(? Pls let me know.
Regards!!
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can cut the recipe in half by adjusting the servings slider on the recipe card to read fewer servings and it will adjust the ingredients.
Val says
So easy to make and absolutely divine!
Lyz says
Hello Liz!
Could this recipe be used for a Bundt cake version? Any alterations needed?
The Sugar Geek Show says
I would add fresh apples and spices to my vanilla bundt cake recipe. This one might be too tender. Replace white sugar with brown sugar as well.
Lyndi says
Hi Liz, I’m planning on making this for thanksgiving, can I use APF instead of cake flour? Will the texture be different. Also, can you give us the apples needed in weight? Thanks so much, love you and your tasty cakes!
The Sugar Geek Show says
I haven't tested it with AP flour but I think it would be ok since we're not using the reverse creaming method. It might be a tiny bit less tender. I don't have the weight for the apples, unfortunately.
Nicole Allen says
Hi Liz! I hope that you and your family are doing well. This question may sound dumb... where can I find the browned butter for the 8oz needed for frosting? Is this something I need to make on my own or is this found in the grocery store?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Not dumb at all! I suppose I should have put that in the recipe oops! Here is how to brown butter. Super easy! https://sugargeekshow.com/brown-butter/
Mallory says
Hello, hoping to make this a 4 layered cake with 6 inch pans. What would you recommend for cooking times and oven temperature?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Same temperature and bake for the same amount of time, maybe even longer since the 6" cakes will be thicker than the 8" cakes.
Séverine says
Hi Liz !
Looved this recipe !!
Can I freeze the caramel sauce ?
The Sugar Geek Show says
No need to, it will keep in the fridge for pretty much forever 🙂
Lyndi Miller says
Can you use “brown butter” for the cake?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Absolutely! That would be delish!
Jaylen says
Hey On the Apple Spice Cake here: mixed the applesauce in. On the receipe here you folded it in. Is there a big difference. I know that was technically another cake.
The Sugar Geek Show says
No there isn't a big difference, the cake is super simple 🙂