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Homemade Apple Cake

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By Betty Crocker Kitchens
Updated Sep 19, 2024
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Our easy apple cake with fresh apples is a simple one-layer cake made with walnuts and cinnamon and other common pantry items. Fall aromas will fill your kitchen as it bakes and you’ll be tempted to eat it straight from the oven! Served with a scoop of vanilla or cinnamon ice cream, it’s the best apple cake recipe ever to warm you from the inside, out.

This is a great recipe to whip up after picking apples at your favorite apple orchard. You can use any apples that stand up to baking without becoming mealy or mushy when cooked. Shredding the apples means you get that fresh flavor in every sweet and spicy bite. But don’t just limit this amazing recipe to crisp fall days. It’s a treat your family or friends will devour any time. Just three quick easy steps is all it takes to get your fork into a bite of this spiced apple treat.

Ingredients for Homemade Apple Cake

How can fresh apples, cinnamon, and walnuts stirred together with a handful of pantry ingredients turn into this deliciously moist apple cake? They might just create the best apple cake you’ll ever eat. Here is what each ingredient brings to the party:

Butter: Adds flavor and tenderness to the cake. To be sure it’s soft enough to mix well in the cake batter, leave it on your counter for about 30 minutes to soften. Or, if you’re in a hurry, unwrap a stick of butter and place it in on a microwavable plate Microwave on very low (20%) about 1 minute or just until it’s softened but not at all melted.

Sugar: Sugar not only lends sweetness to the cake, bringing out the flavor of the spices, but also adds tenderness to the structure.

Eggs: The protein in the eggs help the cake to have a sturdy structure that doesn’t deflate when it cools. They also add lift to the batter, as the air beaten into them lightens the batter.

Flour: Is the backbone of cake, giving it structure.

Baking Soda: It gives the batter the rise, creating cake with a porous structure with great volume and texture.

Cinnamon: Ground cinnamon is used to flavor the cake with a sweet, spicy flavor that marries well with the apples.

Salt: Added for flavor and to bring out the other flavors of the cake.

Apples: Add sweetness, flavor, and moistness to this cake. Shredding them gives apple flavor to each and every bite.

Walnuts: Add flavor and crunch to the cake, making it a wild adventure for your mouth. Not a fan of walnuts, feel free to substitute chopped almonds or pecans or skip them all together! The apple-cinnamon flavor of this cake will still be just as delicious.

Ice Cream: The dairy flavor of ice cream gives the cinnamon in this recipe the spotlight. And serving cold ice cream with warm cake creates a comforting sweet treat.

How to Make Homemade Apple Cake

We’ll show you just how easy it is to make this simple and foolproof it is to make this cake. This is a one-bowl recipe, making it easy to prep and to clean up! Follow the recipe for all the specific instructions, and you’ll be diving into this amazing dessert in no time:

Prep the Pan

Spray your cake pan with baking spray with flour. This one step spray does the work of greasing the pan and dusting it with flour. This ensures your cake will come out easily from the pan.

Mix the Ingredients

Beat the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Finally, stir in the apples and walnuts then spoon the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake and Cool

Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the hot cake in the pan 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let it cool another 10 minutes on a cooling rack before serving.

Top and Enjoy

Scoop ice cream onto servings of the warm cake. Use vanilla or cinnamon ice cream to enhance the flavors of the cake. The juxtaposition of the warm cake with the cold ice cream makes for a very comforting and scrumptious treat.

How to Store Homemade Apple Cake

We love this cake when it’s freshly baked, but if you find yourself with leftovers, they would make a sweet treat the next day. Store any remaining cake tightly covered in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Reheat a serving of this cake by uncovering it and placing it on a microwavable plate. Cover and microwave on medium-high (70%), 30 seconds to 1 minute or until warm.

We don’t recommend freezing this cake, as the cinnamon flavor can be lost, and the shredded apple can become watery during the freezing and thawing steps.

Other Desserts Using Fresh Apples

If you find yourself with a generous bag of apples from the orchard or love the way apple desserts are a perfect way of getting more fruit throughout the day, try one of these other fantastic apple desserts:

Dutch Apple Pie is a top-rated pie recipe that has a traditional flaky pastry bottom crust, but the sweet, spiced apple filling is topped with a brown sugar crumble instead of a crust.

Apple Pie Cake will please pie lovers and cake lovers at the same time. This clever recipe takes the best of both treats to create a dessert that appeals to those from either camp.

Caramel Apple Bars have the rich and creamy flavors of the classic candy layered between oat streusel for irresistible bars that feed a crowd.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of apples are best for apple cake?

The best apples to use for apple cake are those that are tart in flavor and hold up to baking process, so that as the batter turns into cake, they don’t get mushy or mealy in texture. Tart apples provide the perfect balance to the cinnamon sweetness of the cake. Granny Smith or Braeburn varieties top our list of choices for baking apples because they are inexpensive and are readily available. Or for the freshest pie you can make, use local varieties of tart apples with firm flesh from the grocery store or that you’ve picked yourself. Check out our baking with apples article for even more information for choosing apples for baking.

How do I shred apples?

Start by washing your apples and use a vegetable peeler to peel them. Cut the apples in half vertically and remove the stems. Shred one apple half at a time using the large holes of a box grater or run them through your food processor, with the shredding disc attached. Alternatively, you can finely chop the apple halves with a sharp chef’s knife.

How do I know when apple cake is done?

Bake the cake for the minimum time. Insert a toothpick in the center and see if it comes out clean. If it has crumbs or batter attached to it, add a few more minutes of baking time and test again with a clean toothpick. Repeat this until the toothpick comes out clean.

What other ways can I dress up apple cake?

Here are a few ways you can dress up a cinnamon apple cake without a lot of effort:

Dust with Powdered Sugar: Place about a tablespoon of powdered sugar in a fine mesh strainer. Tap the handle of the strainer with a spoon over the warm cake to evenly dust the top.

Add a Glaze: Drizzle a simple powdered sugar glaze over the warm cake before serving. This would make a terrific breakfast cake, when served this way.

Add a Dollop: Instead of ice cream, you could top it with a dollop of dreamy whipped cream.

Drizzle with Decadence: Drizzle servings of the cake with your favorite caramel ice cream topping. Or better yet—drizzle the cake and the ice cream with the richly-flavored sauce.

Homemade Apple Cake

  • Prep Time 25 min
  • Total 1 hr 30 min
  • Servings 8
  • Ingredients 11
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups Gold Medal™ All Purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded peeled apples (about 2 medium apples)
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 quart vanilla or cinnamon ice cream
Make With
Gold Medal Flour

Instructions

  • Step 
    1
    Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch round cake pan with baking spray with flour.
  • Step 
    2
    In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir in apples and walnuts. Spoon into pan.
  • Step 
    3
    Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool 10 minutes longer. Serve warm with ice cream.

Nutrition

490 Calories
25g Total Fat
7g Protein
60g Total Carbohydrate
39g Sugars

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving
Calories
490
Calories from Fat
230
Total Fat
25g
39%
Saturated Fat
13g
63%
Trans Fat
1/2g
Cholesterol
115mg
38%
Sodium
380mg
16%
Potassium
230mg
6%
Total Carbohydrate
60g
20%
Dietary Fiber
2g
8%
Sugars
39g
Protein
7g
% Daily Value*:
Vitamin A
15%
15%
Vitamin C
0%
0%
Calcium
10%
10%
Iron
8%
8%
Exchanges:
1 1/2 Starch; 0 Fruit; 2 1/2 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 0 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 5 Fat;
Carbohydrate Choice
4
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

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