Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake Is Our Favorite Fall Dessert!
It’s time to cozy up for fall with all things apples, cinnamon, and spice, and we’ve got just the cake to kick things off: apple cinnamon bundt cake with salted caramel (can’t forget that last part, the caramel is SO necessary!)
What Is A Bundt Cake?
A bundt cake is any cake recipe that is baked in a bundt pan. These are the pans with a hole in the center that look like a giant ring.
They come in all shapes in sizes, with fun molds and designs that vary their final appearance. The beauty of baking a bundt cake is that more batter has direct contact with the pan and therefore has an overall crispier exterior relative to the center of the cake.
Given the close contact with high heat that results from baking bundt cakes, these usually benefit from having a moist batter. Which is why I thought salted caramel would be a very welcome addition to this recipe!
And trust us, apple cinnamon bundt cake is hands down the only bundt cake on this planet we could not live without!
Grated Apples vs Chunks vs Slices
The difference between grated apples, chunks of apples, or slices is, of course, the texture.
Grated apple helps to keep the bundt cake incredibly moist. Sure, you could use small chunks of apple (think ¼” dice), but that would completely change the texture.
Grating apple, however, will add a subtle flavor and sweetness without having to bite into a chunk of apple. It’s kind of the best!
Bake Time For Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake
Bundt pans are tall and thick. They require a longer than usual cooking time relative to other cake recipes. This apple cinnamon bundt cake needs a full 1 hour to bake up.
How to remove cake from a bundt pan
Let this rest 10 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a wire rack. If you’ve coated your pan generously with nonstick baking spray or rubbed it with butter and a dusting of flour, the cake should come out easily.
Let cool on the wire rack completely – about 1 hour – before adding any confectioner’s sugar.
Can You Freeze Bundt Cake?
Yes! Bundt cakes are totally freezer friendly. You can do this one of two ways.
- Freeze the entire cake whole. To do this, allow the cake to cool completely on the counter, then wrap the entire cake in plastic wrap 2x. I then wrap the cake in aluminum foil to help protect it further.
- Freeze the cake in individual slices. Once cake has cooled completely, cut into standard 10 or 12 slices, then wrap each individually as instructed above. If you just want to pull put a piece for yourself every now and again, this is the best choice. If, however, you’re making a cake for a get together a few days in advance, I’d leave it whole.
A whole cake will need 6-8 hours at room temperature to defrost fully.
Pro tip: write the date (and name of recipe!) on the outer layer of aluminum foil in Sharpie so you know what’s in your freezer!
Can This Recipe Be Used For Mini Bundt Cakes?
Yes! A standard bundt pan holds about 6 cups of batter. I use this Nordic Ware Heritage Bundt Pan (love it!) which has a 10-cup capacity. A standard sheet cake recipe — calling for a 9″ x 13″ pan — will fit perfectly in here.
If you have mini bundt pans and would like to make this cake into smaller bundts, no conversion is necessary. Simply fill the pans leaving about 1 1/4″ to the rim (see unbaked cake photo above for reference) and keep an eye on the clock.
Mini bundt cakes will cook much quicker than a standard size bundt, so begin checking for doneness after 25 minutes.
The verdict? This is outrageously good.
Apple cinnamon bundt cake, we’d love you even if you weren’t so pretty, but damn! You are the actual best!
You may be squinting at your screen trying to figure out if the slice above is under baked. It’s not!! What you’re seeing is the salted caramel swirled into the batter. Ugh, it’s too good.
So when’s a good time to serve apple cinnamon bundt cake? How about every single day.
We often serve this as dessert after our Rosh Hashanah meal, but this would be a fantastic and easy way to end Thanksgiving, Christmas, or even a random family dinner on Sunday afternoon.
Seriously, there’s no wrong time to make this bundt cake.
Looking for more salted caramel desserts? How about these salted caramel brownies? Love bundt cakes? Try this red velvet bundt cake and live yo’ best life!
If you make my Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake, please let me know by leaving a review below!
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For more fall desserts, check out the following recipes:
- Chocolate bourbon pecan pie
- Salted caramel apple slab pie with cinnamon whipped cream
- Creamy dulce de leche cheesecake with chocolate chip cookie crust
- Flourless chocolate cake
- Tiramisu cream puffs
Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake with Salted Caramel Swirl
Ingredients
- 3 ¼ cups cake flour
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup walnuts finely ground
- 1 ¼ cups vegetable or canola oil
- 2 cups dark brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup greek yogurt whole milk or reduced-fat
- 2 Tbsp salted caramel store-bought or homemade
- 2 cups apple peeled, finely grated (~2 large apples), such as Honeycrisp
- Confectioner’s sugar optional for serving
Instructions
- Prepare the bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat a standard 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick baking spray.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 3 ¼ cups cake flour, 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, and 1 cup finely ground walnuts.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat together 1 ¼ cups canola oil and 2 cups packed brown sugar until well mixed, about 1 minute on medium speed. Add 3 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, and ½ cup yogurt. Continue mixing on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping the sides halfway through.
- Fold together gently. Gently fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until only a few streaks of flour are remaining. Add grated apple, then fold until just incorporated.
- Assemble the cake. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan until about ⅔ full. Pour caramel sauce evenly on top, then swirl into cake batter using a butter knife. Top with remaining batter, smoothing the top with a spatula.
- Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Let cake cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack. Enjoy warm or at room temperature. Serve with a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar (optional).
Video
Notes
- In our old home, this cake baked in exactly 1 hour. In our new home (and oven), it takes slightly longer. Make sure to use a cake tester or toothpick to test that the cake is fully cooking in the center. Only a few moist crumbs should remain.
- To freeze cooked cake: once cool, wrap whole or sliced cake pieces completely in plastic wrap. Next, wrap each piece (or whole cake) fully in aluminum foil. Cake can be stored directly in freezer or placed in an airtight storage bag. Either defrost overnight in a refrigerator or remove foil and plastic wrap, then reheat on medium heat in a microwave until soft and tender, about 1-2 minutes.
Just wow!! This is a must make. I subbed cake flour for Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF flour and it turned out perfectly. I’ll definitely be making this again soon!
Oh, I’m so glad the 1:1 GF flour was a good substitute!! I’m sure that’s going to be helpful to others, and I rarely bake GF so wouldn’t have tested this myself. Thank you so, so much for sharing feedback. Super helpful! xo, Ari
I substituted melted and cooled butter for the vegetable oil and this was divine! I love the taste of apple, but not big chunks of cooked apple, so incorporating it finely grated made this a perfect fit. MmmmMMM! The apple and cinnamon was just wanted I needed to start off Autumn!
Yesss!! We love it so much, glad you did too! xo, Ari