This ain’t your average caramel apple cake boos. This baby is legit the one you’ve been waiting for. This caramel apple pound cake starts with a rich, buttery sour cream pound cake batter that’s studded with spiced apple pieces that’s baked to perfection. Then we top it with more tender sweet apples and a buttery crisp crumble before drizzle on a decadent caramel icing. This caramel apple cake recipe is just pure heaven.
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This is for all my huge apple fans. Whenever I serve this baby, it is the ultimate crowd-pleaser. I love to make it as soon as the weather turns crisp bringing in that fall air.
The Lowdown of This Caramel Apple Cake
Cuisine Inspiration: Southern American
Primary Cooking Method: Baking
Dietary Info: Sweet, Sticky and Indulgent; Can be made gluten-free with some ingredient swaps
Key Flavor: Sweet and spiced apple with buttery caramel bliss
Skill Level: Intermediate
Flavors on Flavors, Textures on Textures
You get all the rich, tender, melt-in-your-mouth notes in a pound cake package with spiced apple pieces tucked inside and on top with a buttery caramel topping that blow you away.
Fall Vibes On Lock
If you are a fan of caramel apples during the fall, this will give you all the cozy vibes in a delish irresistible cake recipe. And here’s the best part. If you wanna make this cake outside of Autumn, you can because apples are available year-round!
Ain’t that hard boos!
While there are quite a few steps involved in this recipe, it ain’t hard y’all. We use simple ingredients, nothing super fancy, to make this bomb cake.
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Caramel Apple Pound Cake
- Apples: We use Honeycrisp or Granny Smith for that perfect balance of sweet and tart.
- Sugars: This recipe uses granulated in the cake batter and light brown sugar for the apple filling and streusel and caramel glaze giving that rich molasses flavor.
- Apple Pie Spice: This warm blend gives us all the cozy fall notes throughout the caramel apple pound cake.
- Cornstarch: This helps thicken up our apple filling so it has the perfect consistency.
- Butter: Now y’all know butter makes everything better with its richness and undeniable flavor. No caramel apple bundt cake is complete without it.
- Flours: All-purpose is perfect for the crisp streusel. I use cake flour for the cake batter so it turns out super tender and velvety.
- Eggs: These add richness and structure setting up our cake foundation.
- Salt: This enhances and balances the sweetness.
- Baking Soda: Just a little helps the cake rise just right.
- Sour Cream: Ain’t nothing like sour cream in a pound cake. It gives so much moisture and rich tangy flavor.
- Milk: We add enough to our cake batter to keep it moist and also some to our caramel to create a perfect smooth pourable consistency.
- Vanilla: This adds aromatic warmth to all of the separate ingredients.
How to Make Caramel Apple Cake
How to Serve Apple Caramel Cake
- With Ice Cream: Warm a slice then add a scoop of vanilla ice cream right on the side. Or go crazy for apples and serve this apple pie ice cream too!
- Dollop it Up: Add a nice dollop of fresh whipped cream on a slice.
- Fall Coffee Break: Forget the coffee boos. Serve a slice with spiced apple cider, wassail, hot buttered rum, or French hot chocolate.
- Holiday Feast: Serve up some honey glazed ham, along with sweet potato casserole, Southern green beans, and fresh sweet dinner rolls.
Recipe Substitutions
- Cake Flour: If you don’t have any lying around, you can easily learn how to make cake flour with just some all-purpose flour and cornstarch.
- Apples: If you aren’t a fan of Honeycrisp or Granny Smith, grab Fuji, gala or pink ladies for a little more sweetness.
- Apple Spice: You can use cinnamon and nutmeg instead. Even pumpkin pie spice is a nice swap.
- Sour Cream: You can use greek yogurt instead in this caramel apple bundt cake. Make sure it’s plain.
Recipe Variations and Additions for Caramel Apple Bundt Cake
- Gluten-Free: Swap in your fave 1:1 ratio gluten-free baking flour to use instead. The texture might change slightly but it will still be delish.
- Get Nutty: Add some chopped walnuts or pecans into the streusel or even fold some into the cake batter.
- Swap the Fruit: Pears are an awesome substitution to use for a different fall remix.
- Booze It Up: Adding a little bourbon to the caramel sauce will pair perfectly with those apples for a nice adult twist.
Expert Tips and Tricks for the Best Caramel Apple Pound Cake Recipe
- Room Temp: Make sure the eggs and butter are room temp when making your cake batter so it blends perfectly.
- Don’t Overmix: Once the flour is added, make sure you just blend everything together until it’s just combined. At this point the gluten starts activating and will make a tough cake if it’s mixed for too long.
- Be sure to grease and flour your baking pan. Bundt pans have lots of cracks and crannies and you don’t want the cake to stick. If you use a baking spray, use one specifically designed for baking that contains flour. You can also use my cake release.
- Cool the cake in the pan first before inverting it to finish cooling. The cake will continue to cook a bit, settle and slightly firm up as it sits making it less likely to crack or break.
- Go Cold for the Streusel: Make sure the butter is super cold so you get delish crisp crumbs in your crumble.
- Push Streusel into the Caramel: When assembling the cake at the end, push the streusel into the caramel topping to help it stick to the cake even more.
How to Store Caramel Apple Pound Cake
After assembling the cake, the cake will keep at room temperature for up to 24 hours. After that, caramel apple cake will need to be stored in the fridge because of the cooked apples.
How long does caramel apple cake last in the refrigerator?
It should last for up to 5 days.
Can I freeze this caramel apple bundt cake?
Yep for sure boos! You can freeze the pound cake without the apples and caramel icing. Once those are added the cake doesn’t freeze as well.
The best way to know when it’s done is to insert a toothpick into the cake. When it comes out mostly clean with just a few crumbs, the cake is ready.
You can prepare the cake ahead of time and store at room temp up to a day before serving.
You can easily thin it out with a little more liquid. If it’s too thin, then keep on cooking it so it thickens up some.
When you try this caramel apple cake, you will lose your mind with how delish it was. The apples in the tender cake, the buttery crumb streusel, the spiced tender apple topping and the rich homemade caramel sauce are enough to impress any dang body that has a slice. Get at it boos!
More Fruit Pound Cake Recipes
If you want even more pound cake then you’re going to adore Big Mama’s Sour Cream Cake, Hot Milk Cake, Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Sock It To Me Cake, or my Kentucky Butter Cake.
Caramel Apple Pound Cake
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Equipment
Ingredients
For the Apple Filling
- 3 cups sliced apples such as Honeycrisp or Granny Smith. peeled and chopped into smaller pieces
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 1/2 tsp apple pie spice
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp salted butter melted
For the Streusel
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 tsp apple pie spice
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter cold and cut into cubes
For the Pound Cake
- 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups sifted cake flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup sour cream room temperature
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
For the Caramel Glaze
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
For the Apple Filling
- Add chopped apples, brown sugar, apple pie spice to a medium, 2 quart pot over medium heat.
- Stir together cornstarch and butter until a paste forms then add to the apple filling mixture and stir until combined. It will quickly start to thicken once added to the apple filling. Remove from heat and set aside.
For the Streusel
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Mix together the flour, brown sugar and apple pie spice in a small bowl until combined. Using a pastry cutter, add in the butter and cut into the mixture until crumbs develop then set aside.
- Add the crumbs to a parchment lined sheet pan and bake for about 9-10 minutes or until golden. Remove and let cool in the fridge.
For the Cake
- Drop the temperature to 325 F then liberally spray a 12 cup bundt pan with non-stick baking spray that has flour.
- In your stand mixer bowl, add butter and sugar and begin creaming on high speed until smooth, light and fluffy, which takes about 5-7 minutes.
- Next add eggs, one at a time, combining well after each addition and scraping down the sides of your bowl as needed.
- Turn your mixer down to its lowest speed, and slowly add flour into batter in two increments then add salt and baking soda. Be careful not to overbeat.
- Lastly add in sour cream, milk and vanilla extract, scrape down sides and mix until just combined and turn off the mixer.
- Fold in 2/3s of the apple mixture that was set aside until mixed through.
To Bake
- Take out the streusel, break it apart and reserve ⅔ cup for the garnish. Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan then add the remaining streusel on top. Next carefully dollop the remaining cake batter on top of the streusel.
- Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Check that a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. If it doesn’t let it cook another 5-10 minutes then check it again with a toothpick for doneness.
- Cool in the bundt pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes then invert the cake on a serving plate for about an hour or until the cake is cooler to touch. The bundt pan should easily slide off.
For the Caramel Glaze
- Melt butter in a medium, 2 quart, saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Toss in your brown sugar and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute (the butter and sugar should be completely combined).
- Bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue cooking, consistently stirring, for about 2 minutes.
- Whisk in milk, vanilla and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue cooking, stirring, for 3 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let cool. It will continue to thicken.
- o assemble, arrange remaining apple filling on top of the cake then drizzle with caramel and sprinkle with remaining streusel. Slice and serve it up.
Notes
How to Store Caramel Apple Pound Cake
After assembling the cake, the cake will keep at room temperature for up to 24 hours. After that, caramel apple cake will need to be stored in the fridge because of the cooked apples.How long does caramel apple cake last in the refrigerator?
It should last for up to 5 days.Can I freeze this caramel apple bundt cake?
Yep for sure boos! You can freeze the pound cake without the apples and caramel icing. Once those are added the cake doesn’t freeze as well.Nutrition
This post was originally published October 2012. It has been updated for content and images.
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How long do you cook the apple filling? Does it come to a boil? Thank you
I made this last night, its amazing!! Just like all your OTher recipes!! Thank you!!
Thank you Crystal for making my recipes!!
I made this today and it is unbelievable. My caramel sauce was a bit too thick but still yummy. Definitely worth the effort!!
Hi Jocelyn, Quick question. May I use spiced rum in the caramel sauce? I am not a rum drinker but found a random tiny bottle of Morgan’s spiced rum in the cupboard. Use or leave out altogether.? I am making this for my husband who loves apples and your pound cake. Thanks!!
Delicious and Beautiful Displayed Cake. I converted Your Apple Cakelette recipe to a full-size cake a few years back! Everyone loved it.
From the fluffy cake to the creamy delicious glaze, this seasonal recipe is a new favorite in our house!
Wow! This pound cake was delicious! The caramel was so rich! My guests loved it!
Huge fan of granny smith apples-always have them in my refrigerator. I knew when I saw this recipe that it was for me. Amazing!
I made this pound cake for dessert last night and it was out of this world delicious! Definitely making it again for Christmas!
This cake is so delicious, turned out so moist. Loved the recipe.