Apple Fritter Cake tastes like your favorite apple donut in cake form! Delicious apple cake recipe made completely from scratch with a delicious cinnamon crumb topping and sweet glaze on top.
Fall is the perfect time to bake and this is a perfect fall dessert. This cake is simple to make, but is so yummy! I love cake recipes that don’t have traditional cake frosting, and this is one that is just perfect without it.
APPLE FRITTER CAKE
The cake is made with simple ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, etc.) before adding chopped apples on top of the batter. The crumb topping for the cake is made with butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon and pairs perfectly with the cake. Once the cake is baked, you can drizzle the whole cake with a simple glaze that adds a little extra sweetness to the dessert. The whole cake tastes similar to an apple fritter – no frying necessary!
INGREDIENTS IN APPLE FRITTER CAKE
CAKE BATTER
Flour: All purpose flour works best. A gluten-free flour can be swapped in if needed.
Salt: Just a little bit of salt helps all of the other flavors to stand out!
Sugar: Can’t make a cake without sugar! You can replace the sugar with a sugar substitute or you could even reduce it a little bit if you want to decrease the sweetness.
Baking powder: This acts as the leavening agent in the cake, so make sure your baking powder isn’t old or expired.
Milk: Any type of milk will work, even non-dairy alternatives. If you want a richer cake, you can use buttermilk as a substitute.
Eggs: Two eggs will help bind everything together.
Vanilla extract: The higher the quality of the vanilla, the better.
Butter: Add 1/2 cup of melted butter to provide the necessary fat for the cake. You can use oil as a replacement if you prefer, but the consistency of the cake will be a bit different.
Apples: Don’t leave these out! You will need to core, peel and dice 6 small apples to sprinkle on top of the cake batter. For best results, you want to make sure to use crisp, tart apples like Honeycrisp, Fuji or Granny Smith.
CINNAMON CRUMB TOPPING
Butter: Make sure to use softened butter for the crumb topping. For best results, use real butter.
Brown sugar: For best results, make sure your brown sugar is fresh and soft.
Flour: Just 2 tablespoons of flour will help to thicken up the crumb topping and provide that delicious crumbly texture.
Cinnamon: Cinnamon pairs so perfectly with apples, so don’t skimp! Yep, go ahead and add a whole tablespoon of ground cinnamon to the topping.
SIMPLE GLAZE
Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar provides sweetness and the smooth texture you need for the glaze.
Milk: Feel free to add a little less or a little more milk to get the glaze to the right consistency. Any type of milk will work just fine!
Vanilla: Again, the higher the quality of the vanilla, the better. This adds the perfect amount of flavor to the glaze.
HOW TO MAKE APPLE FRITTER CAKE
Preheat oven to 350°.
MAKE THE BATTER
Mix the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder together in a large bowl. Add the milk, eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined. Carefully pour in the melted butter and slowly stir just until combined. Pour the batter into a greased 9X13 pan and then evenly sprinkle the diced apples on top of the batter.
ADD THE TOPPING
In a separate bowl, mix the topping ingredients together. Drop scoops of topping evenly over the apples. Take a knife and drag it through the topping in a swirly motion to evenly distribute the topping throughout the apples and batter.
BAKE THE CAKE
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Depending on how many apples you put in and how juicy they were, you may need to increase your time. If the top is getting too brown you can always tent it with foil for the last few minutes of baking.
ADD THE GLAZE
Once baked let sit for 20 minutes before pouring the glaze on top. To make the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk in a bowl and then drizzle over the partially cooled cake.
APPLE FRITTER CAKE
Ingredients
CAKE BATTER
- 3 cups of flour
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 cup of sugar
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 ½ cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- ½ cup butter melted
- 6 small apples cored peeled and diced (Honeycrisp, Fuji or Granny Smith)
CINNAMON CRUMB TOPPING
- 1 cup of butter softened
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
SIMPLE GLAZE
- 2 cups of powdered sugar
- 5 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
MAKE THE BATTER
- Mix the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder together in a large bowl. Add the milk, eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined. Carefully pour in the melted butter and slowly stir just until combined. Pour the batter into a greased 9X13 pan and then evenly sprinkle the diced apples on top of the batter.
ADD THE TOPPING
- In a separate bowl, mix the topping together. Drop scoops of topping evenly over the apples. Take a knife and drag it through the topping in a swirly motion to evenly distribute the topping throughout the apples and batter.
BAKE THE CAKE
- Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Depending on how many apples you put in and how juicy they were, you may need to increase your time. If the top is getting too brown you can always tent it with foil for the last few minutes of baking.
ADD THE GLAZE
- Once baked let sit for 20 minutes before pouring the glaze on top. To make the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk in a bowl and then drizzle over the partially cooled cake.
Nutrition
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HOW DO YOU PEEL & CORE APPLES?
Many recipes for apples require that you core and peel them. There are a variety of ways to do this, and they’re all simple!
If you’re just peeling & coring a few apples at a time: I like to use a basic vegetable peeler, plus an apple slicer that cuts apples into 16 pieces. These smaller slices are better for baking as the apple cooks faster since they’re smaller slices. That way the crust/cake or whatever you’re baking apples into isn’t too dark before the apples are done cooking!
If you’ve got a large batch of apples to cook: If you use a lot of apples, you probably should consider getting one of these handy peeler corer slicers. You can peel, core & slice half a bushel in about 15 minutes with this tool!
WHAT KIND OF APPLES WORK BEST IN CAKE?
You can use any apples, but apples that are firm and tart like Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Fuji, or Pink Lady, will work the best. They will add a nice tang flavor to offset the sweetness of everything else and taste incredible!
LOVE APPLES? HERE ARE OUR FAVORITE APPLE RECIPES:
- Air Fryer Apple Fritters
- Apple Zucchini Bread
- Dutch Apple Bread
- Cake Mix Apple Pie Bars
- Apple Cinnamon Scones
- Sour Cream Apple Pie Bars
- Caramel Apple Snickerdoodles
- Apple Bundt Cake
- Apple Hand Pies
- Brown Sugar Fried Apples
- Caramel Apple Nachos
- Apple Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Apple Pie Cookies
- Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies
Apple Fritter Cake tastes like your favorite apple donut in cake form! Delicious apple cake recipe made completely from scratch with a delicious cinnamon crumb topping and sweet glaze on top.
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