Apple fritter cake – a moist vanilla cake swirled with apple-spiced apples, apple-spiced dark brown sugar, and topped with an apple spiced glaze.
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apple fritter cake
Hello hello! ☺︎ About a month ago, I put out my apple fritter loaf – which is a loaf cake with a thick layer of apples in it. Apple is my absolute favorite fall flavor, so of course, I am here with yet another spin on apple fritters for my fellow apple lovers, this apple fritter cake. It’s made with a super moist vanilla cake, layered with two layers of spiced apple pie filling and apple spiced dark brown sugar, and it’s topped off with an apple spiced glaze.
So let’s get into it!
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
Be careful when mixing the cake batter:
When you over-mix your batter, you create more gluten in the batter which will make your cake go from light and moist to dense and chewy. Only mix in the dry ingredients until that last bit of flour disappears.
Use room temperature ingredients:
This is super important for allowing the batter to come together smoothly. You’ll want to take your ingredients out of the fridge about an hour before baking to allow them enough time to come to room temperature.
Keep a close eye on the cake while it bakes:
Cakes and cupcakes like to go from under-baked to over-baked super quickly so it is important to keep a close eye on them.
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for apple fritter cake –
apple fritter cake:
- All purpose flour: gives the cake structure.
- Baking powder: for helping the cake rise.
- Salt: for balancing and bringing out the sweetness of the batter.
- Unsalted butter: for tenderizing the cake. You can substitute in salted butter, just be sure to omit the extra salt in the batter.
- Granulated sugar: for adding sweetness and for locking in moisture.
- Egg: for binding the batter together and adding moisture.
- Vanilla: for flavor.
- Whole milk & sour cream: for moisture and for tenderizing the cake. I recommend whole milk & full-fat sour cream for the best results! You could also substitute greek yogurt or kefir for the sour cream.
apple filling:
- Apples: use your favorite baking apple here! I used granny smith but you can use fuji, gala, jonathan, pink lady, honey gold, or braeburn!
- Dark brown sugar: for sweetness and flavor, in a pinch you can sub in light brown sugar.
- Apple pie spice: for flavor – in a pinch you can sub in cinnamon.
- Unsalted butter: for richness, you could also use salted butter here.
Apple sPICED SUGAR:
- Dark brown sugar: for flavor, you could also sub in light brown sugar in a pinch.
- Apple pie spice: for flavor – in a pinch you can sub in cinnamon.
Apple sPICED gLAZE:
- Powdered sugar: the base of the glaze.
- Apple filling juice: we’ll use some of the leftover juice from the apple filling in the glaze.
- Whole milk: or your favorite milk, to thin out the frosting.
how to make apple fritter cake:
Below are some images of what the cake looks like at various points of the process. You can find the full recipe at the end of the blog post!
- Brown the butter.
- Then cook the apple filling.
- Mix together all of the wet ingredients.
- Then mix in the dry ingredients.
- Alternate layering the cake batter, apple filling, and apple pie spiced sugar in your pan, then bake.
- Make the glaze, pour it over the baked and cooled cake, then slice, serve, and enjoy!
apple fritter cake recipe q&a
Can I bake this cake in a different sized pan?
You’ll need a 7” springform pan for this cake. Most of my cakes on here are 7” because they’re small(er) batch, so I definitely recommend having a 7” cake or springform pan if you can! You could bake this in an 8” cake pan, just note that the cake will be thinner and will require a bit less baking time.
how to store apple fritter cake
This cake will keep well for up to 3 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Apple Fritter Cake
Ingredients
Apple Filling
- 225 g granny smith apple (~2 medium sized apples)
- 38 g dark brown sugar (3 tbsp.)
- 1 tsp. apple pie spice
- 14 g unsalted butter (1 tbsp.)
Apple Spiced Sugar
- 100 g dark brown sugar (½ c.)
- 1 ¼ tsp. apple pie spice
Apple Fritter Cake
- 113 g unsalted butter room temperature (8 tbsp.)
- 150 g granulated sugar (¾ c.)
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 60 g whole milk room temperature (2 oz.)
- 60 g sour cream room temperature (¼ c.)
- 160 g all-purpose flour (1 ⅓ c.)
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
Apple Spiced Glaze
- leftover apple filling juice
- 80 g powdered sugar (⅔ c.)
- 1-2 tsp. whole milk
Instructions
- Make the brown butter: Add 113g of butter to a small saucepan set over medium heat. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
- Transfer the butter to a medium sized mixing bowl and set it aside to cool while you make the apple pie filling. (You should be left with 90g of butter.)
Apple Filling
- Wash, peel, and dice the apples into small cubes.
- Add the apples to the saucepan you made the brown butter in, then mix in the sugar and apple pie spice. Add in the butter and set the mixture over medium-heat.
- Stir the apples occasionally until the mixture comes to a simmer. Let the apples simmer for 5 minutes, then remove the mixture from the heat and set it aside.
Apple Spiced Sugar
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dark brown sugar and apple pie spice. Set aside.
Apple Fritter Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Butter a 7" springform pan and coat it with sugar.
- To the cooled brown butter, add in the sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk, and sour cream. Whisk until well combined.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix just until the last streak of flour disappears.
- Get a small mixing bowl and place a fine mesh sieve over it. Pour the apples into the fine mesh sieve to remove the extra juice. Set the juice aside to use for the glaze.
- Spread half of the batter into your loaf pan, then sprinkle ½ of the apples on top of the batter and ½ of the apple spice sugar over the apples. Carefully spread the rest of the batter over the apples, then top the batter with the remaining apples and the remaining apple spice sugar.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with only a few moist crumbs on it.
Apple Spiced Glaze
- Add the powdered sugar to the bowl with the leftover apple-spiced juice in it. Mix until well combined, adding in 1-2 tsp. of milk as needed to get to your desired consistency.
- Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, pour the glaze over it, then slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.
Hi, I made this and for my standard springform pan I had to double the recipe if that helps anyone else in the future otherwise I truly did not have enough batter.