Cinnamon Apple Cake is the recipe that Lucia makes every fall and every apple harvest season and every Thanksgiving gathering when she wants to create the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely warm individual celebration cake that captures the most beloved and the most deeply nostalgic individual aromas of the most freshly baked apple pie and the most warmly fragrant individual cinnamon roll in the most beautifully convenient and the most effortlessly impressive two-layer individual celebration cake format.
Because the most brilliantly simple technique of grating fresh apples directly into the batter — rather than dicing or folding in chunks — distributes the most essential individual apple moisture and the most vibrant individual fresh apple flavor the most completely throughout every individual crumb for the most extraordinarily moist and the most naturally apple-infused individual cake texture that needs no additional individual oil or buttermilk to achieve the most beautifully tender individual result. She grates the most perfectly firm individual apples, spices the batter with the most warmly generous cinnamon and nutmeg, and frosts with the most beautifully tangy cream cheese frosting.
Cinnamon Apple Cake is the most easy and deeply extraordinary 1-hour fall celebration cake made by whisking flour brown sugar baking powder soda salt cinnamon and nutmeg combining with eggs oil vanilla sour cream and grated fresh apples baking at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes and frosting with cream cheese frosting. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful cake recipes and easy fall favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe
This Cinnamon Apple Cake recipe is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely warm fall celebration cake that delivers the most naturally apple-infused and the most beautifully moist individual crumb through the most brilliantly clever grated apple technique — grating rather than dicing fresh apples distributes the most essential individual apple moisture and fresh flavor the most completely throughout every individual crumb without creating any the most undesirable individual apple chunk texture that some bakers find the most problematic.
The brown sugar is the most completely transformative individual sweetener choice for this fall apple cake — the most deep molasses notes in brown sugar harmonize the most beautifully with the most natural apple sweetness and the most warmly fragrant cinnamon and nutmeg for the most deeply caramelized and the most authentically autumnal individual cake character that granulated white sugar alone can never produce. Our Apple Buttercream makes a beautifully equally apple-warm and equally fall-celebration companion for a complete and wonderful fall apple baking collection.
Ingredients Needed for This Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe
For the Cinnamon Apple Cake Layers:
- 2½ cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1½ cups Packed Brown Sugar
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Ground Nutmeg
- ¼ tsp Ground Allspice (optional)
- 3 large Eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Sour Cream, room temperature
- 3 cups Grated Fresh Apple (approximately 3 to 4 medium apples, skin on or off)
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 16 oz Full-Fat Brick-Style Cream Cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 4 to 5 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
- Pinch of Salt
How to Make This Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and line two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and optional allspice until the most evenly distributed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and sour cream until the most completely smooth. Add the grated fresh apple and stir until the most evenly combined, cara mia.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring gently until just combined. The batter will be the most beautifully thick and the most properly dense from the grated apple — this is the most correct and the most expected individual batter consistency.
Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The grated apple produces the most naturally moist individual crumb — allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pans then transfer to wire racks to cool the most completely.
For the cream cheese frosting, beat the room-temperature cream cheese and butter until the most silky smooth. Gradually add the sifted powdered sugar with the vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Beat until the most fluffy and the most properly spreadable.
Assemble the layers with a generous individual cream cheese frosting layer between and frost the exterior.
How to Serve This Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe
Serve at room temperature for the most beautifully softened and the most properly creamy individual cinnamon cream cheese frosting texture. Garnish most gorgeously with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar over the frosted individual exterior and optional thinly sliced apple fan arranged on top for the most beautifully autumnal and the most naturally fresh individual fall apple cake presentation.
Alongside a warm cup of apple cider or spiced tea, this cake creates the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely cozy fall afternoon individual dessert pairing. Our Apple Buttercream makes a beautifully equally apple-warm and equally fall-spiced companion for a complete and wonderful fall apple baking collection.
How to Store This Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe
Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to one week due to the cream cheese frosting — the apple in the cake actually keeps the individual crumb the most beautifully moist and the most naturally fresh throughout the entire storage period. Allow to come fully to room temperature before serving. Freeze individual unfrosted layers wrapped tightly for up to 3 months.
Tips to Make This Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe
Grate the apples on the largest individual holes of a box grater for the most perfectly sized individual apple shreds that distribute the most evenly through every crumb. Smaller individual grating holes produce the most finely grated individual apple that releases too much excess moisture into the surrounding batter.
Do not squeeze excess moisture from the grated apples before adding to the batter — the most natural individual apple moisture is the most essential contribution that makes this cake so extraordinarily moist. Squeezing removes the most essential individual moistening element that makes grated apple so brilliantly effective in this recipe.
Helpful Notes for This Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe
Firm individual apple varieties — Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Fuji — are the most ideal for this recipe. The most firm individual apple holds the most defined individual shred structure during baking rather than collapsing into the most soft and the most mushy individual apple texture that overly ripe individual apples produce. Granny Smith provides the most beautifully tart apple contrast to the most sweet brown sugar batter.
For the most dramatic and the most beautifully defined individual apple flavor, use a combination of two different apple varieties in the same most grated quantity — one sweet and one tart — for the most complex and the most genuinely extraordinary individual apple character.
Variation of This Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe
Maria made a version adding half a cup of chopped toasted walnuts folded through the batter for the most completely extraordinary and the most deeply nutty individual apple walnut cinnamon cake. Teresa tried a maple cream cheese frosting by substituting two tablespoons of pure maple syrup for the same quantity of powdered sugar for the most completely extraordinary and the most warmly autumnal individual maple apple cream cheese frosted cake.
For a caramel apple version, drizzle warm caramel sauce most generously between the individual cake layers before the cream cheese frosting and over the finished frosted exterior for the most completely extraordinary and the most deeply indulgent individual caramel apple cinnamon celebration cake. Our Pumpkin Icebox Cake makes a beautifully equally warmly spiced and equally fall companion for a complete and wonderful fall dessert collection.
FAQs About This Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe
Why grate the apples instead of dicing them?
Grating fresh apples rather than dicing distributes the most essential individual apple moisture and fresh apple flavor the most completely and the most evenly throughout every individual crumb of the entire cake without creating any undesirably large individual apple chunk pockets that some bakers find the most texturally distracting. The most finely grated individual apple also produces the most naturally moisturizing and the most fresh-flavored individual cake that is the most naturally extraordinary without any additional oil or buttermilk beyond the sour cream.
Can I make this as a single-layer sheet cake?
Yes. Pour the entire batter into a greased and lined 9 by 13-inch baking dish and bake at 350°F for approximately 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The individual sheet cake format produces the most conveniently crowd-feeding and the most effortlessly served individual result with the same most beautifully moist apple-infused crumb.
What apples work best for this cake?
Firm apples are the most ideal — Granny Smith for the most tart and the most beautifully contrasting individual flavor, Honeycrisp for the most naturally sweet and the most crunchy individual texture, or Fuji for the most densely sweet and the most properly firm individual grating result. Overly ripe or soft apples release too much individual excess moisture and produce the most improperly wet and the most unevenly baked individual crumb.
Conclusion
This Cinnamon Apple Cake is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely warm fall celebration cake that makes every autumn gathering and every Thanksgiving feel genuinely and completely magnificent through the most naturally moist grated apple crumb and the most warmly spiced cinnamon and the most silky cinnamon cream cheese frosting in every single perfectly layered and completely irresistible cinnamon apple cake slice.
We hope it brings the same deeply joyful fall apple cake warmth and the same completely delighted table to your kitchen that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa
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Cinnamon Apple Cake The Most Easy Moist Brown Sugar Cinnamon Fresh Apple Sour Cream Cream Cheese Frosting Fall Celebration Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes including cooling
- Yield: 12 to 14 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most extraordinary moist Cinnamon Apple Cake made by preheating oven to 350°F greasing and lining two 9-inch pans whisking 2 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg and optional 1/4 tsp allspice whisking 3 room temperature eggs 1 cup oil 2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 cup room temperature sour cream until smooth adding 3 cups grated fresh apple stirring combined folding wet into dry just combined batter will be thick dividing between pans baking 30 to 35 minutes until toothpick clean cooling 10 minutes then on racks completely then beating 16 oz room temperature cream cheese and 1/2 cup room temperature butter smooth adding 4 to 5 cups sifted powdered sugar vanilla 1/2 tsp cinnamon and salt beating fluffy assembling with frosting between and over layers. A completely perfect grated apple brown sugar cinnamon cream cheese frosting fall cake recipe.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups Packed Brown Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Ground Allspice optional
3 large Eggs room temperature
1 cup Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Sour Cream room temperature
3 cups Grated Fresh Apple approximately 3 to 4 medium apples
16 oz Full-Fat Brick-Style Cream Cheese room temperature
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter room temperature
4 to 5 cups Powdered Sugar sifted
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for frosting
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon for frosting
Pinch of Salt
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F 175°C. Grease and line two 9-inch pans.
2. Whisk flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and optional allspice in large bowl.
3. Whisk eggs, oil, vanilla, and sour cream until smooth. Add grated apple. Stir combined.
4. Fold wet into dry gently just until combined. Batter will be thick.
5. Divide evenly between pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes until toothpick clean.
6. Cool 10 minutes in pans. Transfer to wire racks. Cool completely.
7. Beat room temperature cream cheese and butter until silky smooth.
8. Add sifted powdered sugar gradually with vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Beat fluffy and spreadable.
9. Assemble layers with generous frosting between. Frost exterior.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cake, Fall, Thanksgiving
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 560
- Sugar: 58g
- Sodium: 300mg
- Fat: 30g
- Saturated Fat: 13g
- Unsaturated Fat: 15g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 70g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 6g
- Cholesterol: 80mg
Keywords: cinnamon apple cake, easy moist cinnamon apple cake recipe brown sugar fresh apple sour cream cream cheese frosting, best fall apple layer cake grated fresh apple, moist grated apple brown sugar cinnamon celebration cake fall
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