This easy recipe for apple cake is a wonderful way to showcase fresh apples. Soft and tender with a stick-to-your-fork moist crumb and juicy apples in every bite, this cake is delicious plain, topped with buttery brown sugar glaze, or even a quick dusting of confectioners’ sugar.
This apple cake is just the thing to make when you have some freshly picked apples from the orchard (or the grocery store), and you want a simple recipe for a crowd-pleasing dessert that’s ready to eat in the next couple of hours. And will be just as tasty served tomorrow!
The apple flavor is front and center, complemented by the background flavors provided by warm spices and sunny orange juice. If a beautiful fall day were a cake, it would taste like this.
Everything You’ll Love About This Fresh Apple Cake:
- Tender, soft, and moist like peach cake, banana cake, pumpkin cake, and spice cake
- Chock-full of juicy apple chunks
- Perfectly spiced with the flavors you love in apple pie (with less time + effort)
- Easy to make—no mixer required, no fussy decorating
- Don’t have to wait hours for it to cool completely before eating
- Dairy-free cake recipe like zucchini cake
- Transport and serve right from the baking pan
- Wonderful plain or topped with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar or a brown sugar glaze
Sheet cakes are renowned for being easier than layer cakes—no leveling off cake layers, no fancy decorating tools, no assembly whatsoever. Slicing and serving is a breeze and you’ll appreciate that this dessert can feed a crowd, but is still completely manageable to make. It’s easy to transport, too!
Favorite Pan: I really like to bake quarter sheet cakes in a glass 9×13-inch pan or this metal pan that comes with a lid. The lid is super convenient for storing & transporting!
Recipe Testing: What Worked & What Didn’t
I love this spice cake and knew it would be the best starting point for today’s version. The biggest change, besides altering the spices, is using apple chunks instead of shredded.
- Test cake #1 included 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 3/4 cup each of brown and white sugars (like the spice cake). The cake browned pretty heavily and rose a bit too high, and needed just a touch more moisture and flavor.
- For test cake #2, I reduced the baking soda slightly, to 3/4 teaspoon, and changed the ratio of sugars to be 1 cup white and 1/2 cup brown. To brighten up the apple flavor, I added a little orange juice and a bit of lemon zest. This cake came out lighter in color and perfectly moist, but the lemon zest was overpowering the apple.
- For test cake #3, I kept everything the same as the previous cake, but left out the lemon zest. This apple cake turned out perfectly golden and rose up just enough, with those beautiful dimples on top revealing the apples within. And the orange juice adds the perfect amount of fresh flavor and moisture, allowing the apple flavor to really shine.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
Key Ingredients You Need
- Flour: All-purpose flour serves as the base. You’ll use sturdy all-purpose flour instead of cake flour in this recipe because of the thick, wet batter.
- Baking Powder + Baking Soda: These ingredients help the cake rise.
- Spices + Vanilla: Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and vanilla—apple’s flavor support team!
- Oil: Helps guarantee a moist crumb without weighing the cake down.
- White + Brown Sugar: Both sweeten the cake and brown sugar provides flavor. We’re using a mix of brown sugar AND white granulated sugar, though, because brown can weigh down a cake.
- Applesauce: Applesauce adds moisture, and the combo of applesauce + apple chunks ensures an apple-forward flavor in every bite! Make sure you use unsweetened applesauce.
- Eggs: Eggs add to the cake’s structure. This is a big cake, so you need 4 of them.
- Orange Juice: I promise this cake doesn’t taste like oranges! We’re using 2 Tablespoons, and it works so well to bring out the sweet-tart apple flavor. I love using orange juice with fall spices—it’s also the surprising ingredient in my pumpkin bread.
- Fresh Apples: I like to use a mix of sweet and tart apples.
Best Apples to Use
Firm apples are ideal for baking, and you may remember that if you’ve tried my apple crisp before. Avoid soft or mealy apples. For depth of flavor, it’s best to bake with a mix of sweet and tart apples. For this fresh apple cake, I usually use about 1 and 1/2 Honeycrisp apples and 1 Granny Smith apple.
- Tart apples I love to bake with: Granny Smith (in my opinion, this is the best overall apple for baking), Braeburn, Jonathan, and Pacific Rose
- Sweet apples I love to bake with: Jazz, Pazazz, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady/Cripps Pink, and Fuji
For a detailed list of my favorite apple varieties, and when to use each, you can visit my post The Best Apples for Baking.
Peel & cut the apples into 1/2-inch chunks. You need about 3 cups (360g) of apple chunks:
No Mixer!
Since we’re not creaming butter, you don’t need a mixer. Grab a big bowl for your dry ingredients, a medium bowl for your wet ingredients, combine it all, and then fold in the apples.
It will seem like too many apples. It’s not, I promise!
Topping Fresh Apple Cake
Today’s fresh apple cake is so moist and flavorful, like a lighter, spongier version of apple cinnamon bread. But here are some optional toppings… because who doesn’t love an accessory?!
If you’re looking to add some extra flair and sweetness to your fresh apple cake, I guarantee no one will turn down a slice smothered in the buttery brown sugar glaze. It’s the same exact glaze I use for this apple Bundt cake (just added a bit of salt), and it gives the cake a caramel-apple flavor profile.
I also love this cake with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar (pictured above). Note that the confectioners’ sugar will melt and disappear into the cake after a few hours, so it’s best to do this right before serving. Other topping suggestions:
- Drizzle with salted caramel sauce.
- Spread some apple butter on a slice, for extra-deep apple-cinnamon flavor.
- Add brown butter icing from these apple blondies.
- Slather on a layer of salted caramel frosting—if you’d really like to indulge your sweet tooth!
I hope you LOVE this!
Print
Fresh Apple Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Cakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You’ll love this easy sheet cake recipe for tender and moist fresh apple cake. The pictures above include a few photos of the cake with a dusting of 2 Tablespoons (15g) confectioners’ sugar and some include a buttery brown sugar glaze. The glaze recipe is included below.
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon EACH ground ginger & allspice
- 1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 cup (180g) unsweetened applesauce
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) orange juice
- 3 cups (360g) peeled chopped apples (1/2-inch chunks, about 2–3 large apples)
Optional: Brown Sugar Glaze
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
- small pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup (60g) confectioner’s sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Make the cake: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, applesauce, eggs, vanilla extract, and orange juice together in a medium bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined. Fold in the chopped apples until combined. It will seem like a lot of apples and that’s ok!
- Pour and spread batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 45–50 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on it. Around the 30-minute mark, loosely tent with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and set the pan on a wire rack. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before topping or serving.
- Right before serving, you can top the slightly warm cake with a dusting of 2 Tablespoons (15g) confectioners’ sugar or make the brown sugar glaze in the next step.
- Make the glaze: As the cake cools, prepare the brown sugar glaze. Combine the butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and pinch of salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the butter has melted, and then stop stirring and let the mixture come to a rapid boil. Boil for 1 minute. Turn the heat down to low, give it a quick stir, and let simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in the sifted confectioners’ sugar. Allow glaze to cool and slightly thicken for at least 20 minutes. Spoon glaze over the cake right before serving. (Cake can still be warm when glazing.) If your glaze thickened up too much as it cooled, warm in the microwave for 15 seconds and stir until smooth.
- The cake (glazed, dusted, or plain) can be served warm or at room temperature. Cover leftovers and store at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you topped with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar, note that the sugar will melt and disappear into the cake after a few hours.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare cake through step 5. Cover the cake tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and bring to room temperature before serving. Continue with step 6.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass 9×13-inch Pan or Metal 9×13-inch Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Rubber Spatula | Cooling Rack | Fine Mesh Sieve (for confectioners’ sugar topping) | Medium Saucepan (for glaze topping)
- Can I replace or reduce the oil? Vegetable oil is the best option for this cake. You can replace with a neutral-flavored oil such as avocado oil or canola oil. Feel free to use melted refined coconut oil (refined doesn’t have much of a coconut flavor) and make sure every other ingredient in the cake batter is room temperature, so the oil doesn’t solidify. Do not replace with melted butter because the cake will taste dry. You can replace a small amount of the oil with applesauce if needed, but keep in mind that the cake will begin to taste dry/rubbery the more oil you replace.
- Orange Juice: If you don’t have orange juice, you can substitute apple juice, apple cider, or any type of milk. I don’t recommend using lemon juice in this recipe.
- Apples: For depth of flavor, it’s best to bake with a mix of sweet and tart apples. For this fresh apple cake, I usually use about 1 and 1/2 Honeycrisp apples and 1 Granny Smith apple.
- Layer Cake: Grease 3 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. Divide batter between the 3 round cake pans. Bake for around 26–32 minutes, depending on which size pan you used. The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The brown butter cream cheese frosting used on this banana layer cake would be very tasty on this cake.
- Bundt Cake: Try my recipe for glazed apple Bundt cake.
- Cupcakes: Try my recipe for apple cupcakes.
Keywords: apple cake
This cake was way too sweet for me.
★★★
Sally! AGAIN a super delicious recipe. As my husband said “that’s terrible stuff!” We can’t stop eating it. As with all your recipes. Brunch guests love it to along with the buttermilk biscuits
Thank you
Love to hear that this recipe was a hit for you, Eva!
Turned out delicious!
★★★★★
Family loves chocolate, but this apple cake recipe with double crumb topping and brown sugar glaze won them over! I used small dice Fuji apples and the juice of one small orange (approx 4 tbsp) with no problem. Perfectly moist and just the right spice.
I highly recommend this recipe
So moist and wonderful.
I have some in the oven baking now
★★★★★
It’s in the oven and looking good and the house smells nice too. Thanks so much for your beautiful web site.
This cake was easy to put together (just whisk up the ingredients. Doesn’t get easier than that!) as well as delicous! I halved the recipe and used a 23 cm springform. Baking time was then slightly less (25 plus 5) and it turned out perfectly. Will definitely be making it again!
★★★★★
Can I bake this in a 9″ springform pan?
Hi Betty, This is too much batter to put in just one 9 inch pan. We recommend dividing it between three 9 inch round pans, even if they are springform pans. If you put too much batter into one pan the cakes will be so heavy they will not rise properly, will bake unevenly, and be very dense.
It has 15 ingredients plus! And you call this easy??! I don’t think so.
Can this be made in Bundt pan
Hi Ali, we have an apple bundt cake you may enjoy!
I’m printed out this recipe and plan to make it this weekend exactly as you have printed it, but I have one question… I’d like to add some raisins. If you think it would be okay to do this, what type of raisins do you think would compliment your recipe, regular, golden or either one.
Hi Lin, Either regular or golden would be a delicious addition to this cake. We hope you enjoy it!
Hi…this recipe is amazing….I substitute 3/4. Cup splenda for eqal volume of sugar, with 1/4 cup regular sugar, and subbwd in splenda brown sugar. This keeps the taste up there n reduces the sugar level drastically. Hubby was really happy with this cake. Will be a regular goto recipe. thx
Sally, could you please make what is called, Invisible Apple Cake? I have seen a few recipes on line, but know that you would. have a good recipe. It’s made in a bread loaf pan. Love, Lola
Hi Lola, I’ve never tried that before! I’ll have to research it. Thanks for sharing.
This cake is crazy good! I made it without a glaze and it was perfectly sweet with delicious apple chunks throughout. I will definitely make this again and again.
★★★★★
I’d like to try this recipe for my dad’s 95th birthday (he loves apple dessert). We have a large family. Any thoughts on baking a double recipe in a larger pan? Thanks!
Hi J, Here is everything you need to know about converting recipes to different Cake Pan Sizes.
Good recipe! I altered slightly… halved the recipe, added chopped walnuts, no apple sauce, so added a little egg nog, extra vanilla and pumpkin pie spice, cut apples smaller and added a little flour so not to sink.
Made two little loaf pans
Glaze I used eggnog and confectionery sugar and a little maple syrup.
They look fantastic. .
Gave to neighbors as gifts.
Happy Holidays
★★★★★
Hello! This looks amazing and looks like a cake i did with great improvements! I would like to ask if it’s OK to add rum and how much? Because in the old recipe I had for this apple spices cake, it has rum and the results were amazing, but I lost that recipe 🙁
Hi Marci! You could definitely use rum instead of orange juice in this recipe. Let us know if you give it a try!
hi sally,
can i bake this in a loaf pan ?
Hi Reema, we’d recommend using this apple cinnamon bread recipe instead — very similar, but the perfect amount for a loaf pan!
I baked half the batter in a loaf pan and half in an 8×8. My oven runs hot so sometimes edges and top are done before the middle. They turned out fine.
★★★★
I wasn’t a big fan of this for some reason! I guess I was expecting more of a spice taste! The cake was nice and moist. My apples were a bit on the firm side even though I chopped a bit smaller than recipe suggested. The glaze was so, so..I opted not to pour on the whole cake as this cake was made for my husband only with the kids not coming over for a day or two so I didn’t want to pour it all over. I’ll save it in a Tupperware and let kids do their own. I would have rather had an brown sugar type icing or used the cream cheese one. I follow you Sally everywhere… here, FB, IG etc…. and this one was the first iffy for me………I’d say you are pretty darn amazing!!
★★★★
This was a nice subtle cake and the glaze is delicious. I made it successfully at 7500’ with a few adjustments: reduce bp by 1/2tsp, reduce sugar by 1 1/2T, increase OJ to 4T. I didn’t change baking temp, but took it out at 40 minutes.
★★★★★
Hi Sally and crew!
I am making 2 12 x 18 cakes and would love to make your apple cake, doubling the recipe. Will it work??
Also, any suggestions for the other 12 x 18 cake? Maybe something pumpkin ??
Any help would be appreciated.
Hi Tina! Here is everything you need to know about converting recipes to different Cake Pan Sizes.
Can this be made with almond flour?
Hi Cheryl! Almond flour is not a good substitute for all purpose flour. Some readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes (like Cup4Cup) in similar recipes. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
This recipe turned out great. I’m baking for an event tomorrow and was wondering if I should store at room temperature over night? Or toss it in the fridge.
Hi River, You can cover the cake and and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.
I’m going to use winesap apples.
Hi Sally, can I shred the apples In this cake? Thanks
Hi Sandy, yes, but you’ll need to considerably reduce the amount down because they will act more like a wet ingredient than an add-in (see our spice cake recipe as an example). Chopped is best in this recipe so you can really taste the flavor!
Second time I’ve made it. I usually “adjust” recipes. Not this one, absolutely the best apple cake ever!
★★★★★
Sooo tasty. The apple flavour was a bit milder than I would’ve liked, but that’s probably because I used milk instead of orange juice. Would definitely make this again!
★★★★★
This was easy and delicious. Moist, light cake with tons of apple and spice flavor. Will definitely make it again.
★★★★★
Hi, I made this cake yesterday and was super happy with it. Today, the bottom was grey maybe tinted blue…any reason why this may have happened?
Hi Ashley, this is most likely a result of the baking soda and apples reacting together, similar to how carrots can turn green in some baked goods. I recommend sifting the dry ingredients together a few times to really ensure the baking soda is thoroughly mixed in. If this still isn’t helping and you want to try the recipe more in the future, you can try reducing the baking soda down to 1/2 teaspoon.
Could I half the recipe and bake in an 8 or 9 inch pan? Thanks!
Hi Jo Ann, the recipe makes enough batter for 3 9-inch or 8-inch pans, so you would need to divide the recipe into thirds to make just 1 or 2. See recipe Note #6 for bake times.
I halved the recipe and baked in a 9 inch pan. I added chopped nuts and substituted pumpkin pie spice for the ginger and allspice. I didn’t make the glaze. It was delicious!
Can I make this into muffins ? Thanks
Hi Sandy, we recommend using this apple cupcakes recipe instead. You can use the glaze from this cake with the cupcakes, if you wish.
Thank you for another wonderful recipe! It’s in the oven and smells amazing. I don’t have any heavy cream on hand-do you think I can make the glaze with evaporated milk and butter?
★★★★★
Hi FP, the glaze may not thicken enough, but you may certainly try substituting with evaporated milk. Half-and-half would be a better option if you have that. Hope you love the cake!
Can this cake be used as a 3 or 4 layer cake amd covered with fondant?
Thanks
Hi Shanna, see recipe Notes for details about making this cake as a layer cake. We haven’t tested this cake with fondant, but let us know if you do!