This beautiful bundt cake is filled with lots of apples and is topped with an apple cider glaze. It’s one of favorite cakes this year!
Whenever I make a new dessert, I always ask Addie and my husband to rate it (out of 5 stars). Addie and I know that my husband is an especially tough grader. While she and I are fairly generous in our ratings (typically 4 stars and above), she and I know that my husband won’t rate it as high.
Perhaps he has higher standards when it comes to desserts, but he very rarely gives anything 4.5 stars or above. Imagine my surprise when we tried a piece of this apple Bundt cake after dinner one evening and he gave an enthusiastic 5 stars. Both my and Addie’s jaws dropped upon hearing of my husband’s perfect rating.
He said that the cake was soft yet chewy, and it had a great apple cinnamon flavor. Addie, on the other hand, said it needed more apple flavor. I tended to agree with her – while this is a pretty amazing cake, I think I could have added more diced apples (I only used two large apples and next time would try using 3).
Nevertheless, this is still one of my family’s favorite cakes of the year. After having made this cake, I only have a few apples left from our apple picking adventures. It’s hard to top this cake, so I’m not sure what I’m going to make!
Husband’s rating: 5 out of 5
Addie’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
My rating: 4.5 out of 5
Apple bundt cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks / 16 Tablespoons) unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 3 cups apples peeled, cored, and diced
- 1 cup cinnamon baking chips or caramel baking bits
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 4-5 teaspoons apple cider I didn't have any and just used water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Generously grease a Bundt pan and set aside. If you are worried about the cake sticking to your pan, you can always coat the insides with a bit of flour after you've greased it.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a separate large bowl if using a handheld mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Slowly drizzle in the oil and mix well.
- Add in the vanilla, eggs, and applesauce. Your batter may look curdled at this point, and that is OK.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until everything just comes together.
- Turn the mixer off and gently fold in the apples and baking chips.
- Pour the batter into your prepared Bundt pan and bake in your preheated oven for about 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs.
- Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes before inverting it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the cake has cooled, make the glaze. Mix the powdered sugar and apple cider together to form a pourable icing. If the glaze appears too runny, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add a little bit more apple cider. Pour the glaze on top of the cake and down the sides. Allow the glaze to set before slicing and serving.
Just tried this today. Used wholegrain flour (mostly rye). We don‘t have baking chips here in Austria, but we didn‘t miss them in the scrumptious results! Thanks!
Author
Yum – so happy you enjoyed it, Maura!