Apple Spice Cake

Apple Spice Cake is bursting with fall flavor thanks to fresh apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and apple cider. It’s like everything you love about apple cider donuts – in bundt cake form. Get ready for your house to smell amazing, and your friends and family to cheer, when you pull this easy apple cake out of the oven!

Apple Bundt Cake

While it’s not quite fall yet, I’m ready for all the flavors of fall to begin. It’s hard to resist the incredible scents of apples and cinnamon coming out of the oven. This easy Apple Spice Cake is a great choice for so many reasons. Not only does it taste amazing, it’s also incredibly quick and easy to make.

One thing I love about this cake is how much it reminds me of apple cider donuts! You have the same flavors at work here, so if you are looking for an Apple Cider Bundt cake, this is the perfect recipe for that. Right down to the cinnamon sugar coating!

Speaking of cinnamon sugar coating, if you love this recipe, make sure to try my Baked Cinnamon Apples!

Ingredients

The ingredients to make this cake are common and straight forward. Let’s go over what you’ll need to make this in your own kitchen.

1. Flour – Your typical all-purpose flour will work here. Make sure that you give it a stir, then measure it by spooning it into your measuring cup. Don’t scoop with your measuring cup, this will result in too much flour in the cake, which will give you a dry texture.
2. Baking powder – If you don’t use your baking powder regularly, make sure you check the date for freshness.
3. Baking soda – Same as with the baking powder, double check the date.
4. Cinnamon – Ground cinnamon of you choice works here. My favorite variety of cinnamon is ceylon, it tends to be great quality.
5. Nutmeg – You can grate your nutmeg if you like, but I typically just use a ground nutmeg.
6. Salt – Kosher salt is fantastic, but the standard table salt will work just fine.
7. Apple cider – Double check that you are using apple cider and not apple cider vinegar. The tastes will be quite different to stay the least!
8. Apple sauce – I prefer a natural, unsweetened applesauce. However if sweented is what you have on hand, it will be fine.
9. Brown sugar – Light or dark brown sugar will work. Make sure to measure by firmly packing it in your measuring cup.
10. White sugar – The standard granulated sugar works perfectly.
11. Olive oil – If you don’t have olive oil on hand, another oil, such as canola, will be great.
12. Apples – My favorite choices or apples for baking are Granny Smith, Braeburn, Honeycrisp, or Macintosh. Stay away from Red Delicious in baking, they just tend to turn to mush.
13. Eggs – Double check that you have large eggs. Some “large” eggs these days tend to be much closer to medium in size, and that will reduce the moisture in your cake.
14. Vanilla – Pure vanilla extract is always best.
15. Salted butter – If you don’t have salted butter, unsalted will be fine.

Directions

Just a reminder that the full printable recipe card is found at the bottom of this post. Here we will walk through the steps, with photos to show you exactly what to do.

In a large mixing bowl, you will combine the flour, baking powder and soda, spices and salt, and give it a whisk to combine.

Then in a separate large bowl, combine the apple cider, applesauce, sugars, oil, eggs and vanilla.

Then the shredded apple is added in and mixed well. After that it’s time to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Take care to not over mix, you want to mix until it’s combined and you don’t see any dry ingredients that haven’t been worked in, but you don’t need to beat or continue to stir this batter past that point.

Prepare your Bundt cake pan by either greasing and flouring it, or using a spray that does both. As with most bundt cakes, you need to make sure your pan is well prepared, to avoid the cake sticking to the pan.

The batter then gets added to the prepared pan, and baked for approximately 50 minutes. Once the cake has finished baking, remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes (no more than 20), then gently remove the cake from the pan.

To remove the cake, you can begin by sliding a silicone knife or thin silicone spatula down the sides to help make sure it’s loosened from the sides of the pan. Don’t use metal or you will scratch your bundt cake pan. Then tap your cake pan firmly a few times on the counter, give it a shake, and invert onto a cooling rack or cake plate.

Brush the cake with melted butter, and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the cake. Depending on the temperature of the cake, you may need to gently press the cinnamon sugar mixture into the cake a bit on the sides, as gravity will want to pull it down.

Optional Glaze

You can serve this delicious apple spice cake as is after dusting it with cinnamon and sugar, or you can make and top or serve it with an optional apple cider glaze. To make the glaze, simply combine powdered sugar and apple cider to create the consistency you are looking for. Then drizzle over the top or serve as a delicious dipping sauce.

Then it’s time to serve and let everyone enjoy!

Tools Used To Make This Cake

• Bundt Cake Pan
• Non-Stick Cooking Spray With Flour
• Pastry Brush
• Wire Cooling Rack

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)

Can I use a different flour? I have only made this cake using all-purpose flour, so I can’t say how a gluten free or alternate flour would work. That said, if you often make such a substitute with success in your baking, it will likely work well with this one.

Can I use apple juice instead of apple cider? That should work, though you’ll want to stick with an unsweetened apple juice.