I’ve made a lot of apple cakes…THIS Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake is the best one. The one that gets people sneaking back to the cake stand to snag one more little bite. You end up slivering up away, bit by bit, until the cake is gone. It’s a beautiful thing.
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Of course, you can find apples in grocery stores year round, but like all other fruit, this cake is best when it’s made with in-season apples that have been freshly picked. On the east coast, it is a total tradition to go apple picking with family and friends at a local farm every Fall, late September early October. The freshly picked apples are practically bursting with juicy sweet, tart flavor.
Love this cake? Be sure to check out:
Spiced Pear and Cranberry Crisp
Do this and your bundt cake won’t stick
If you bake often, you’ve probably been there: you made a delicious cake batter, and poured the batter in a lovely intricate bundt pan, expecting to reveal a show stopping centerpiece from the pan. When you hold your breath, and invert the pan you hear…nothing. The baked cake doesn’t release from the pan, and you have nothing to show for your work.
I’m not going to let that happen to you anymore. The best way to get a quick and easy release from your bundt is all in the preparation.
Bore you even mix up your cake batter, be sure to prepare the bundt pan.
My favorite method is the butter and flour method. Take softened room temperature butter, and use a pastry brush or your fingers to evenly smear it all around the inside of the bundt pan. Make sure to brush butter into all of the small crevices, and all the way up the sides of the pan. Then, spoon 2-3 tablespoons of flour into the pan. Tilt and tap the pan, while rotating it, lightly coating all of the buttered surface area with flour. Pour out any extra flour that hasn’t stuck. Set the pan aside until your cake batter is ready to be poured.
Pro tip: If you’re making a chocolate cake, use unsweetened cocoa powder instead of flour to prepare the pan.
Ingredients
- eggs – for all of my recipes I use large AA organic eggs. Better yet, try to find some fresh local eggs. Their yolks should be bright orange, and they add incomparable richness to any bake.
- unbleached all purpose flour – I always use unbleached all purpose flour in my recipes. Specifically King Arthur Baking Company. I really appreciate their attention to quality and detail, I love the consistent results.
- ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger – as with all spices, make sure that they are fresh! Grind them yourself if you can, or get a quality brand like Spice Island or La Boîte. I like to store my ground spices in the fridge to preserve their freshness.
- pure vanilla extract – pure vanilla extract pairs really well with the warm flavors in this cake. Always use PURE vanilla extract, not imitation varieties – their flavors tend to be overwhelming and very artificial tasting in my opinion.
- kosher salt – I use Morton’s kosher salt in all of my recipes. The saltiness of a recipe is actually very important, especially in desserts. It doesn’t make this cake salty, rather enhances the other flavors of the apple cinnamon cake.
- neutral oil – feel free to use your favorite neutral oil for this recipe. Some of my favorites are avocado and grape seed oil, or even a very light olive oil would work. Just stay away from extra virgin olive oil, as the flavor would be overpowering here.
How to make a homemade apple cake
This Homemade Apple Cake recipe is mixed up in a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment. I recommend using an electric mixer because you really want to cream the ingredients together. if you don’t have a stand mixer, a hand mixer would work too, but the texture of the crumb might be slightly different.
From there, the process is pretty simple! You’ll start by mixing up your wet ingredients first (oil, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs) then add your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, and spices). Mix until the batter is just combined and the dry ingredients have been fully incorporated, with no dry streaks of flour. Add the chopped apples in, and gently fold them in.
Then pour your gorgeous apple cake batter into the prepared bundt pan, and bake! This cake bakes for quite a while, about a full hour. Be patient, and be sure that a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.
Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes, and then invert the cake onto a plate. Allow the cake to cool completely before pouring on the glaze.
Tools I use
- Stand Mixer – This is my favorite stand mixer
- Bundt pan – Nordic ware is my go-to for a gorgeous selection of decorative bundt pans
- rubber spatula – a kitchen staple that I can’t live without
- the best apple peeler
- ride or die pairing knives – Nakano knives made in Japan (use code LEANNE for 15% off)
HOW TO STORE LEFTOVERS
The cake is best eaten fresh, the day it is prepared, but it still very delicious for up to 2-3 days. Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
I can’t wait for you all to bake this Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake! It is so simple to throw together, you’ll be making year after year, I promise. As always, be sure to tag me @lions.bread so I can see your creations.
warm spices like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger are perfect with the fresh apples
please don’t skip the cinnamon vanilla glaze, it is everything!
your new Fall tradition, I hope you love it!
just look at that tender crumb!
Did you make this recipe? Please rate and comment below, thank you!
Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake
The best apple cake you will ever make. I said what I said.
Ingredients
- 3 cups Honeycrisp, Gala, or Granny Smith Apples peeled and chopped
- 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 1/2 cups grapeseed or avocado oil
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 organic eggs, large room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 T butter for greasing the tins
Glaze:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 T almond milk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Use the 3 tablespoons of butter to grease the bundt pan thoroughly, making sure to spread butter into all of the crevices. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour into the pan, then tap the pan to distribute the flour.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, add the oil, sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for 3-4 minutes. Add the eggs and mix to combine until full incorporated and smooth.
Add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger to a medium size bowl, and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl along with the apples. Mix on low speed for 1-2 minutes. The finished batter should be thick and chunky from the apples.
Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes, until golden brown. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a cooling wrack until completely cooled.
Make the glaze: In small bowl combine the powdered sugar, almond milk, cinnamon, and salt, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth, then drizzle generously over the cooled bundt cake.
Recipe Notes
Whether you're using standard or mini bundt pans, be sure to butter and flour the tin really well. Don't use nonstick cooking spray here. Unless it's Baker's Joy, then use Baker's Joy. I think the spray is unreliable for bundt cakes because it tends to fall down the sides by the time you get the batter in the pan, and is essentially useless. Use your clean hands to get that butter in all the small grooves of the pan, and rest easy knowing that the cake will release.
The recipe Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake first appeared on Lion’s Bread Blog.