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.
One reader, Jenny, commented: “So there are ok and good recipes, and then there are recipes like this – ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! This will be put in the recipe box and made for years to come. ★★★★★”
Another reader, Kathy, commented: “I have made many different apple cake recipes in the past, but yours is absolutely the best! I love all the spices you include and the brown sugar glaze! It is also the most moist apple cake I have ever made. ★★★★★“
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.
And if you need more inspiration, here is a list of 30+ fall cake recipes.
Everything You’ll Love About This Fresh Apple Cake:
- Tender, soft, and moist like fresh 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! We use a similar spice combination for apple cobbler, too.
- 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, just like we do for apple turnovers. 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), just like I enjoy serving my baked apple cider French toast. 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, just like I do on these apple cinnamon scones. Apples + salted caramel = a match made in heaven.
- 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.
If you’re really feeling the fall vibes, serve it with a glass of honeycrisp apple sangria!
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 (240g) 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I only have sweetened applesauce. Can I use this or is there another substitute for the unsweetened applesauce?
Hi Kvv, that will work in a pinch. Enjoy!
Hi! This recipe is exactly what I’m looking for for my sons 1t birthday smash cake. Do you think you could send me measurements for a 6 inch size?
Hi Samantha, here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions. Hope it’s a hit!
I followed your directions when I made the cake but I have a question about the weight of the brown sugar? 1/2 cup packed was not weighing 100g. Can you please advise if the sugar should be 1/2c packed or 100g, which is more like 1/4c .
Hi Jo Ann, while we do consistently measure 1/2 cup brown sugar at 100g, it’s always most accurate to go by weight—so measure out 100g of brown sugar for this recipe. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi! This is my third time coming back to this recipe. It’s moist and yummy, zero complaints! I even used olive oil last time and it still tasted great.
I do have a little question: would the texture be detrimentally affected if I added a little bit of shredded carrot, like half a cup? I can’t quite find a recipe for an apple carrot cake.
Hi Leah, if you wanted to experiment with adding carrot, you’ll likely need to tweak the other wet ingredients in order to compensate for the wet carrots. Let us know if you do any experimenting!
Make this cake!! It is absolutely delicious and comes together so easy! Took it work and my coworkers loved it- nothing left! Make the brown sugar glaze—cliche..but it’s the icing on the cake! It is also very good by itself!! I didn’t have any golden delicious so I used all honey crisp! Will definitely make this again!
Love this cake! Would like to have a recipe for a smaller (1 8” or 9” pan) version. It’s just the 2 of us now and the big cake is too much.
Hi Marcia, here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions. So glad this is a favorite for you!
We could not get enough of this cake! Talk about easy and delicious! A must have in your fall recipe box. We only dusted with powdered sugar at serving unless eating just straight from the pan!
So easy to make. Looks just like your photo. Heavenly aroma. Have topping cooling. Thanks!
The whole family loved this recipe and it was easy to whip together (though I used apple cider instead of orange juice). I would like to add honey to the cake to make it for Rosh Hashanah and was thinking about reducing the oil a little and reducing the juice a little. Did you think that would work?
Hi Michelle, how about a nice honey glaze on top? Sally has made this one before and says it’s fantastic: https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/honey-glaze
This looks amazing! I would like to cut the recipe in half. Has anyone tried that yet? I plan to bake it in an 8×8 square baking pan. I’m just not sure how to adjust the baking time. Does anyone have a recommendation for this?
Hi Jeannette, this recipe halved should work well in a 9-inch or 8-inch square pan. We’re unsure of the bake time, but it will be a bit shorter. Keep a close eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness. Enjoy!
Thank you so much for your response. I didn’t see in until now. I ended up baking your apple spice cupcake recipe but in a 9×9 cake pan instead of cupcakes. It was so delicious. I did not make the frosting but we did enjoy the cake warm with vanilla ice cream. It’s a keeper!!
I made this cake for my birthday and it was delicious! One tip, I ended up tenting the cake at 30 mins but at that point the cake was still very wet so my foil fell a bit into the cake. It still turned out well since I was able to cover it up with the frosting, but next time I wouldn’t tent at 30 mins. Also, the brown sugar glaze is very much worth the bit of extra work!
I made this cake Sunday for a “Welcome to Fall” get together with kids/grandkids – it was Great! I didn’t have orange juice, so subbed with milk and I made the glaze – everyone loved it. I will be making it again. Next time I think I’ll add some walnuts in it. Thanks for the recipe.
I was excited to try this, but a little disappointed by the outcome. The cake did brown very, very quickly, and I did have to foil tent it. The cake is ok, certainly not great, but not horrible. It seems a little heavy and dense to me. The spice level is good on it; just thought it needed something a little more. I did not make the glaze for it; I chose to just sift some confectioner’ sugar over the top. Don’t really see this one as a “keeper”, like I usually find on this site.
I’ve made this twice in the past week and it’s delicious! The first time it came out perfect, the second time not as well. A few things I did differently the second time that may have contributed: 1. I used olive oil instead of avocado oil. That seemed to make the cake less dense and also changed the flavor a bit. 2. I used Gala apples instead of Jazz. The Gala apple chunks stayed crunchy which wasn’t as nice texture-wise as the Jazz apples. 3. I put the glaze on the night before I brought it to work. It sunk in and made the cake very gooey and messy. It tasted good though!
Hi there! I am thinking of making this for my teen cooking class but we were wondering if we could make it into cupcakes as we don’t have many pans available to us. Would it work to bake the cupcakes for 25 minutes?
Hi Cristina, yes, you can turn this cake into cupcakes. While I have a separate recipe for apple cupcakes, you can certainly use this one. (They taste similar.) Use the baking instructions found in the apple cupcakes.
If I have sweetened applesauce do I decrease the amount of sugar
Hi Judy, it’s hard to know exactly how much to tell you to reduce by, as we don’t know the sugar content of your applesauce, but I would take a guess that you could probably reduce the white sugar by about 2 Tablespoons. Let us know if you try it!
This cake is delicious! I made it with the glaze for a get together and everyone loved it. I’ll definitely make it again.
Needs more apples
Daughter has egg allergy do you think i can sub for extra applesauce?
Hi Sarah, we haven’t tested an egg-free version of this cake, but let us know if you do any experimenting.
My daughter has the same allergy and I used bobs red mill egg replacer and it came out perfect, couldn’t even tell the difference!
Thank you! This is the comment I was looking for, I am going to try this today!
Hey there, I’m looking for an apple cake recipe with no added sugar for my baby’s first birthday. What if I cut the granulated and brown sugar? Do I need to add anything to make up for them?
Hi Linsey, the cake will lose a lot of flavor and the texture will be different by cutting all the sugars. You might try making a small cake from these healthy apple muffins instead, that are made without refined sugar. This cake pan sizes and conversions guide will also be helpful. Hope this helps!
What’s the calorie count?
Hi Hayley, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Can you add the glaze several hours before serving? I’m sending an apple cake into the office and would need to add any glaze several hours before it would be eaten.
Hi Victoria, yes, that will work just fine. Hope it’s a hit!
That was a LOVELY apple cake, for a romantic time with my fiancee. Thank you so much Sally to enlight our day.
I made this yesterday. It was delicious. It is not super sweet without the glaze. I believe the glaze adds so much!!
Could I sub in whole wheat pastry flour for the all purpose flour? If so would I need to change anything else in the recipe?
Thanks!
Hi Alice, we fear that whole wheat pastry flour would be a bit too light for this recipe. All-purpose flour is best to support the apples and this thick, wet batter.
The frosting was great but the cake was quite disappointing. Kind of bland. Maybe I did something wrong….
Just wow! Unassuming, far from fancy, but these are absolutely delicious, and everyone, even my finicky eaters are raving!
This cake was a big hit
This cake was a big hit with my book club and my husband. I used Granny Smith and Honey Crisp apples. To further enhance the spices, I used heaping teaspoons of them. Also, I used only half of the brown sugar glaze so it wasn’t too sweet and it was just right. I will definitely make this cake again. Everyone said it was the perfect fall cake.
This cake was appley delicious!! Will definitely make on repeat!!
This recipe is a WOW !!! So easy and so incredibly good ! We topped each piece with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of the brown sugar glaze. So good !!!!
Would this be too much batter for a 9” springform pan? If not, how long would I bake it? Thank you Sally!
Hi Gwen, 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. Hope this helps!
Could I use 2 8 inch round cake pans and one 8×8 baking pan? Thanks so much
Hi Nancy, here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions. Hope you enjoy the cake!