Caramel Apple Cake

This caramel apple cake is the Fall cake of my dreams. It’s complete with soft and fluffy cinnamon-spiced cake layers and caramel buttercream frosting. There’s caramel in between every layer and on the outside in a stunning caramel drip. It’s all topped with a chunky apple compote that tastes just like apple pie filling.

I say this often but this has to be one of the best layer cakes I've ever made. All the warm flavours come together so well in this cake. Despite using salted caramel, it isn't overwhelmingly sweet (for me, personally, but I have a high sweetness tolerance) because of the milder buttercream and thick cake layers in between.

Jump to:

• Why you'll love this recipe
• Ingredients
• How to make a caramel apple cake
• Storage
• Freezing
• Tips & tricks
• Frequently asked questions
• More layer cake recipes you should try
• Recipe

Why you'll love this recipe

• It's delicious! You get a taste of caramel in every bite and pieces of juicy, poached apples for contrast.
• The cake is so soft and fluffy.
• The buttercream isn't too sweet. This is an easy American buttercream but the ratios of butter and sugar are completely switched around, compared to other American buttercream recipes you might know. It's not cloyingly sweet, smoother, and easier to spread on your cake.
• It looks like a showstopper with epic caramel drips.

Ingredients

• Cake flour - Cake flour has less protein than all-purpose flour and helps give you a softer crumb
• Ground cinnamon - A must-have spice to go with apples and caramel
• Baking powder - Helps give more rise to your cake as it bakes
• Baking soda - This works with the acid in the greek yogurt to make the cake rise
• Salt - This is optional in the caramel but I always prefer salted caramel over regular caramel
• Unsalted butter
• Oil - This helps make the cake soft and moist instead of just using butter. Any flavourless oil will work like vegetable oil or avocado oil.
• Granulated sugar
• Brown sugar - This adds more flavour and sweetening at the same time
• Eggs - These help hold the cake together. They should be at room temperature for better mixing.
• Greek yogurt - This makes the cake extra soft and moist
• Vanilla extract - Always makes baked goods smell amazing!
• Milk - You can use any kind of milk or plant-based milk! I used oat milk in mine.
• Heavy cream - You can use heavy cream or whipping cream. It just needs to have a higher fat content (30%+) than regular milk.
• Powdered sugar - My buttercream uses much less sugar than most other American buttercream recipes and I much prefer it this way.
• Apples - Tart apples like Elster or Granny Smith work well here to offset the sweetness of the caramel
• Cornstarch - This thickens the liquid from cooking the apples

How to make a caramel apple cake

Make the cake layers

Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F and line the bottoms of three 6” cake pans with parchment rounds. Set aside.

Mix dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Mix wet ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together melted butter, oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, greek yogurt, and vanilla extract on low-medium speed until creamy and smooth.

Mix batter: With the mixer on low speed, mix in the flour mixture until just combined. Slowly pour in the milk with the mixer still on low speed until just combined and no lumps remain.

Divide the batter into the prepared cake pans, approximately 320g of batter in each pan. Bang the cake pans on the counter a couple of times to release any large air bubbles.

Bake: Bake cakes for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. The edges should be lightly golden brown and the middles are set.

Let cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before turning the pans upside down onto a sheet of parchment or wire rack to release the cakes. Peel off the parchment rounds and let cake layers cool completely before leveling and assembling.

Make the salted caramel sauce

This recipe uses one batch of my homemade caramel sauce. You can head over to that blog post for more detailed instructions and photos on how to make it.

Melt sugar: In a small pot, add in the granulated sugar and let it sit on medium-high heat undisturbed until it completely melts and turns an amber colour.

Add cream: With one hand, very, very slowly pour the heavy cream into the caramelized sugar while stirring constantly and vigorously with a spatula in the other hand. If the sugar crystallizes (if the cream was too cold or you added it too fast), just keep heating it and stirring it until it melts again.

Add butter: Cook caramel for another few minutes until it coats the back of a spoon. Remove pot from heat and stir in the butter, one cube at a time, until all combined.

Keep the caramel in the pot or transfer to another container to cool. The caramel will continue to thicken significantly as it cools.

Make the caramel buttercream frosting

Cream butter: In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer or stand mixer with a paddle attachment to beat softened butter on medium-high speed for 10 minutes until it becomes very creamy and very pale yellow in colour.

Beat in sugar: Add in the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until combined. Add in the caramel and continue to beat on medium-high speed for another 10 minutes until creamy and fluffy.

Use a spatula to smear the buttercream around the bowl to release some of the air bubbles before using.

Assemble the caramel apple cake

Place one cake layer down on a cake turntable. Add a large dollop of buttercream on top and use an offset spatula to smooth it into an even layer. Use the spatula to create a rough and shallow circle in the middle of the frosting.

Add a heaping spoonful of caramel to the middle of the layer and spread evenly, staying 1” away from the edges of the cake. Repeat with the rest of the layers.

Frost the cake with a thin crumb cake layer. Chill the cake in the fridge for about 15 minutes before frosting the cake with a final layer of buttercream. Chill the cake again for 15 minutes.

Measure out about 80-100g of caramel for the drip coating. Test the consistency of the caramel by putting a dollop on the side of a bowl and watching how it drips. If it’s too runny, let it chill for longer. If it’s not dripping enough, heat it in 5-10 second intervals in the microwave.

Pour all the caramel on top of the cake. Use a clean offset spatula to push the caramel to the edges of the cake and let it drip over the edge. When the caramel reaches your desired level of drippiness, let it chill in the fridge while you prepare the apple topping.

Make the apple topping

In a small pot, add in apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cover and cook on medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. When the apples are tender but not mushy, sprinkle in cornstarch and stir until the liquid turns into a jelly-like consistency.

Transfer apples to a bowl and chill in the fridge completely or until it’s barely warm to the touch, about 30 minutes. Arrange apple cubes on top of your caramel apple cake as desired.

Storage

Store this caramel apple cake in a cake container, airtight container, or wrap slices with plastic wrap. Flip a large mixing bowl upside down to cover tall cakes if you don't have a cake container. Store in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.

Freezing

You can freeze slices of this cake by wrapping them well with plastic wrap and/or aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw in the fridge overnight and let it come back to temperature before eating.

Tips & tricks

I get it. Layer cakes are always a labour of love. They take all day to make with lots of waiting time and long ingredients and steps. You get better and better the more cakes you make so keep at it!

Here are a few tips to help you:

• Make parts of the recipe on different days - By breaking up the recipe into parts, it's less overwhelming and eliminates the need to rush to finish everything in one day. Bake the cake layers a day ahead as they need time to cool completely before you can even assemble the cake. Make any other parts that store well ahead of time, like caramel sauce and buttercream. Just warm it up and/or re-whip it before using it. Assemble the cake the next day.
• Invest in some basic cake-making tools - If you don't already have them, consider picking up an offset spatula, cake turntable, bench scraper or smoothing tool, piping bags, and piping tips.
• Apply a crumb coat to your cake - Frosting your cake with a thin first layer keeps crumbs from showing up in your final layer of frosting. Clean off your tools that touched the crumb coat before using them for the final frosting.
• Chill your cake but don't let it dry out - You often have to chill your cake in between steps and when storing for stability. Cakes can be chilled uncovered for short periods of time but they should always be wrapped, covered, or stored in an airtight cake container when chilling overnight. Avoid leaving unfrosted cake layers in the fridge uncovered as they can dry out fast.
• Serve the cake at room temperature - Cakes taste best when you let them come back to room temperature before eating. No one wants to eat fridge-cold, hard cake and buttercream.

Frequently asked questions

More layer cake recipes you should try

• Tiramisu Layer Cake
• Matcha Strawberry Cake
• Mango Chiffon Cake
• Chocolate Orange Cake
• Lemon Raspberry Cake
• Harry Potter's Birthday Cake
• Earl Grey Lemon Cake

Recipe