Apple cakes are a Fall favorite for me and this year I stepped up my game and made a little apple dipped in caramel sitting on top. I even broke my cardinal rule of not using fondant! Browned buttercream infused with Fall spices is completely addictive by the way. If you don’t do anything else whip up a batch and slather it on everything!
Pro Tips for this Caramel Apple Cake
- The Batter will seem VERY thick but don’t worry! All the juices from the apples will seep out during baking and make everything amazing.
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- If you try to make this apple remember to chill the apple before you smooth it. That way you can handle it without things falling apart!
- If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans.
- To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set online or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
- If you don’t have coconut oil use an equal amount of vegetable oil.
- If you try to make this apple remember to freeze or chill the apple before you smooth it. That way you can handle it without things falling apart!
How to make a Caramel Apple Cake
1. Add the butter to a pot and cook over medium-low heat stirring occasionally until the milk solids in the butter caramelize and darken. Be careful of splatters! Once the butter has darkened transfer to a bowl and chill until almost solid. The brown butter will be slow to cool and thicken back up so make sure to do this step in advance.
2. To make the caramel add brown sugar, cream, butter and salt to a small pot over medium-low heat and whisk until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Mix in the vanilla, transfer so a bowl and set aside to cool completely. You’ll want to stir together before the pot is on heat then let it bubble away on it’s own. You can wash the side of the pot down with a wet brush but otherwise leave it alone to avoid crystallization.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices into a large bowl. Whisk together and set aside.
4. Add the yogurt, eggs, melted coconut oil, vegetable oil, and vanilla into a medium bowl and whisk together.
5. Peel, core and chop enough apples to have about 2 cups. Set aside and if desired squeeze the juice of half a lemon onto the apple pieces. It won’t matter if the apples brown while exposed to the air but I like the acid from the lemon juice for some contrast to brighten up the flavor.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix to combine using a spatula to fold the very thick mixture together.
7. Fold in the apple pieces. The batter will seem thick but that’s as it should be.
8. Divide the batter evenly between the three six inch pans and Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes. I’ve also made this same recipe with 4 six inch pans and it works nicely as well.
9. While the cake bakes it’s time to make the buttercream. Add the room temp brown butter you made earlier to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add salt and half the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low for about a minute.
10. Add the remaining powdered sugar, and vanilla then mix on low. Drizzle in cream until desired consistency is reached. Transfer buttercream and room temperature caramel to piping bags and snip the tips off.
11. Pipe buttercream onto the first layer. Drizzle caramel, then add the second layer on top.
12. Add more buttercream and caramel onto the second layer and top with the third.
13. Cover the cake in buttercream and smooth. I use a bench scraper for the side and an offset spatula for the top. To smooth the top you’ll pull the spatula in while slowly turning the cake. Clean the spatula after each swipe and repeat. In the photo above you can see me using a small spatula for some finishing smoothing.
14. Top the cake with caramel and give it a light smooth. The caramel will drip down the side slowly so don’t be over-exuberant in adding those drips.
15. For the apple on top you have a couple options. The easiest is to add a crab apple on top but those can be hard to come by. You can make a cake pop and chill so it can be carved into the shape of an apple or you can make little apple cake hemispheres and glue them together with buttercream, cover in more buttercream, chill and sculpt. The later two options will need a covering of red fondant.
16. Dip the apple in caramel and place on cake. You can finish the apple with a small fondant leaf and stem.
IF YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE TRY THESE OUT!
If you’ve tried this caramel apple cake recipe then don’t forget to leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Caramel Apple Cake
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
For the Cake:
- 3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- pinch of ground cloves
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup yogurt plain
- 1.5 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 3 - 4 apples cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces, I prefer honey crisps
For the Buttercream:
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon all spice
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamon
- 1 pound confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 cup butter browned
- 3 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/3 cup cream
For the Caramel:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 5 tablespoons butter unsalted
- 1/2 cup cream or half and half
- 1 tablespoons vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
For the Apple:
- 1/4 cup fondant
- red food coloring
- green food coloring
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Sift and whisk together the dry ingredients
- Mix together the wet ingredients until well combined in a large bowl or stand mixer.
- Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until combined.
- Fold in the apples.
- Divide the mixture evenly into four three 6inch pans, which have been buttered and floured. (I always use cake strips too)
- Bake at 350F for approximately 40 minutes or until centers are done.
For the Buttercream:
- Heat the butter over medium low heat, stirring occasionally until it is browned to a caramel color. Transfer to a bowl to cool to room temp, add confections sugar, cream and vanilla.
- Add spices last.
For the Caramel:
- Combine ingredients in small pot.
- Heat over medium-low heat while whisking
- Cook for 7-8 minutes
For the Apple:
- Bake the half circle cake pieces in semi-cricle cake pan for about 12 minutes. Remove them, let sit.
- Trim tops and pipe buttercream in between to halves to assemble a sphere.
- Cover the outside in buttercream and freeze.
- While in the freezer, roll out fondant. Add red food coloring to fondant create skin. Add green food coloring to fondant to create a stem.
- Cover the apple in red fondant and shape a leaf with the green.
- Add the stem from a real apple and a fondant leaf. Dip apple half way in caramel and place on top of cake.
For the Assembly:
- Place on cake stand. Pipe butter cream and caramel ganache between each layer.
- Finish off with dripped caramel ganache.
- Add apple to center.
Video
Notes
- If you try to make this apple remember to chill the apple before you smooth it. That way you can handle it without things falling apart!
- If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans.
- To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set online or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
Absolutely amazing! Tasted great and looked great too. I made the caramel apple using 2 wells in a mini-muffin pan and it worked fine. I may have put too much caramel between the layers of the cake as the layers slid a little, but seemed fine after being in the fridge. This may be my new favorite fall cake!
Love this!!! Just wondering if you have a conversion to make this into 3 8in round pans instead of the 6 in pans?
I love all your cakes and I have learned so much from you, John,…I just finished the apple caramel cake and I decorated it with tiny apples that I painted gold with edible dust…so cute…
Thank You!!
I made these at the weekend but adapted the recipe for cupcakes and made them gluten free… they turned out great! Loved the taste and even put mini apples on the top, everyone loved the look! Thanks so much!
My pleasure!
Hi John!
This cake looks amazing but I need to make it ahead of time. Do you know if freezing the cake layers for s few days will alter the taste or texture of the apples? Thank you so much!
freezinig is totally fine!