Salted Caramel Apple Cake
This cake. Oh. My. Gosh.
I have had the page doggy-eared in Baked Explorations ever since I bought the book, which was something like four or five years ago. One of the downfalls of having a huge stash of cookbooks is that a lot of really great recipes can fall between the cracks. This was one of those unfortunate incidents, and am I ever glad that I dragged that book back out a couple of weeks ago. My fall cake eating will never be the same again. This is a very good thing.
Even though I adore baking, I don’t make layer cakes all that often just due to the time factor. They’re usually a little fussy and time-consuming, so I put this off for awhile, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised at how NOT very fussy or time-consuming it was. It certainly helps that you use the same thing to both fill and frost the cake!
This cake is incredibly dense and moist, thanks to the abundance of applesauce that is used as the “wet” ingredient. The cake itself is wonderfully spiced, then filled and frosted with an old-fashioned-style cooked buttercream that is spiked with my favorite salted caramel sauce. The frosting reminded me of the filling for one of my all-time favorite desserts – Ho-Ho Cake. Which is to say, it’s utterly fantastic. Since I believe that all caramel apples should be rolled in chopped peanuts, I sprinkled the top of the cake with peanuts. I love the extra salty kick it gave the cake.
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Everyone who got to sample this cake was pretty much rendered speechless. My father-in-law already requested it for his birthday in February. My husband said it’s one of the five best cakes I have made… EVER.
So basically, you have to make this cake. There’s no way around it!
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Salted Caramel Apple Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 4 cups (482 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1½ cups (340 g) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, at room temperature
- 2½ cups (496 g) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups (904 ml) unsweetened applesauce
For the Salted Caramel Buttercream:
- 1½ cups (298 g) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (40 g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups (340 ml) whole milk
- ⅓ cup (76 ml) heavy cream
- 1½ cups (340 g) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into small pieces
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup (109 ml) salted caramel sauce
To Garnish:
- Salted caramel sauce
- Chopped peanuts
Instructions
- Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with a round of parchment paper, grease the parchment, then flour the pans, tapping out any excess.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice and cloves.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter until creamy, about 4 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and beat until combined.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture to the mixer bowl in three parts, alternating with the applesauce, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix on low for an additional 30 seconds to combine.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and cool for 20 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto the rack, remove the parchment, and allow to cool completely.
- Make the Salted Caramel Buttercream: In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the sugar and flour together. Add the milk and cream and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixtures comes to a boil and has thickened, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until cool, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter and vanilla; mix until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. (It might seem like it won’t get to the fluffy point, but stick with it, it’ll get there!) Add the salted caramel sauce and continue mixing until combined and fluffy. (If the frosting is too soft, put the bowl in the refrigerator to chill slightly, then beat again until it reaches a fluffy consistency.)
- Assemble the Cake: If any of the cake layers have domed on top, trim the top off to create flat surfaces. Place one cake layer on a serving platter. Spread 1¼ cups of the frosting on top. Add the next layer and top with 1¼ cups of the frosting. Add the third layer on top and spread a very thin layer of frosting over the sides and top of the cake. Refrigerate for 15 minutes, until firm. Frost the sides and top of the cake with the remaining frosting. Drizzle some additional salted caramel sauce on top and sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Return to the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes prior to serving.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
I’m super new to baking and I thought I’d take on this recipe. It was lots of fun to make and *just* challenging enough for a newbie 😊
I almost lost faith in the frosting but if yo keep working it it will thicken, haha.
Good reviews from my taste testers all around! Thanks for the recipe!
I divided the recipe into thirds and made one dozen regular size cupcakes to pretty much test before the holidays. I did cheat a little as I didn’t want to buy clove and allspice just for this so purchased an Apple Poe spice blend. Absolutely delicious! Will definitely be a hit at Thanksgiving. Baking time for me was about 27 minutes. My sauce came out a little over done but everything is still fantastic.
The cake was delicious BUT it had absolutely no apple flavor. It was more like a spice cake.
Can you substitute the applesauce for apple cider?
Hi Natalie, I don’t know that the substitution will work because of the difference in texture.
Do you think this recipe would work well for cupcakes?
Hi Heather, I’ve never tried it, so I can’t say for sure!
I have made this cake several times and my family and friends loves it. My question is will this cake freeze very well?
Hi Linda, So happy to hear you’ve enjoyed this. Yes, it should freeze just fine!
I made this cake and it was moist and delicious! The salted caramel sauce is completely amazing. I make it often and put it on everything. It is so very good.
Hi Michelle! I’ve made this cake once before and it was great, but my icing was a little off in texture and appearance, I think because I don’t have a standing mixer (did the best I could with my hand held one). Do you think this cake would still taste good if I made a cream cheese frosting and added in a little salted caramel? My hand mixer does well with cream cheese frostings :)
Oh yes, a cream cheese frosting would be heavenly on this cake! Enjoy! :)
I made this for thanksgiving and everyone freaked out! I made the applesauce from scratch from mostly macintosh apples. I also spiked the caramel with cognac.
The frosting was kind of a broken disaster visually, but still tasted good. It was covered by cake and caramel sauce so no one really saw it.
It’s an unusual frosting formula – somewhere between traditional and Italian buttercream? I may tinker with it next time.
Can the layer cakes and/or the frosting be made a few days ahead and then assembled the night before? I am planning to make this amazing cake for Thanksgiving NF I work the days leading up to it. Should I bake the layers, cool completely, and wrap in Saran Wrap or foil to keep fresh until assembly? Thanks Michelle!
Hi Bennett, Yes, you can definitely bake the cake layers, wrap in plastic wrap until ready to assemble. I haven’t tried to make the frosting in advance, but if you do, you’ll want to store it in the refrigerator and then re-whip if it’s too firm when ready to assemble.
Hi!
Can I get away without having a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment? Can I use an electric hand mixer?
Thanks!
Hi Jessica, I think for the cake, yes definitely. However, the frosting may be trickier. I think it’s worth trying with a hand mixer though if that’s all you have.
First off, I love your recipes and blog! Many of yours have become favorites of mine. I would like to use this cake under fondant for my daughter ‘s birthday, but I am concerned if the cooked buttercream will be firm enough to hold up under fondant. Is it very soft? Do you thinkl I could add the caramel sauce to an American buttercream?
Hi Jessica, It might be a little soft for under fondant; using caramel in American buttercream does soften it up, so if you go that route, you might need to add more powdered sugar to get the right consistency.
Oh. My. God. I just made this cake and everything came out beautifully. The cake itself was rich, moist, and dense and perfectly spiced. I was a newbie at making caramel sauce and I aced it :) The buttercream icing is a show stopper. For those that ended up with a runny icing, please try it again. Make sure your base of milk, sugar, and four thickens enough on the stove. And here’s a tip my daughter gave me — place your stand mixer bowl in the refrigerator for an hour before placing this mixture in it. After beating it for 10 mins. in the cold bowl it had definitely cooled down enough to complete the rest of the icing. Also, make sure your butter is not completely room temp. As stated in the recipe, it should be soft, but still cool to the touch. I could seriously just eat a bowl of this icing!! Everyone loved, loved, loved this cake and I will be making it again. Oh — and here’s another decorating idea from my daughter — I candied some apple slices and made a crescent shape along one side of the top of the cake with the apple slices cascading down the side. They looked like glass — so pretty!!!
Hello! This cake looks and and sounds delicious, I hope to bake it for my sisters birthday this weekend. Only issue that it seems as though the supermarkets local to me in the UK seem to stock only sweetened applesauce, would you be able say how much sugar I could/should decrease if I do use the sweetened version? Or would you suggest I make my own batch of unsweetened applesauce?
Also how long does this cake keep for, whether or not I I end up having to make fresh applesauce or not?
Thanks in advance :)
Parbi
Hi Parbina, I don’t know exactly how much you should decrease the sugar; a homemade applesauce is always an option but probably not 100% necessary if you cut back on the sugar a bit. Enjoy the cake!
Hello! In general with 3-layer cake recipes – is the amount of batter more than a 2-layer cake, or are the layers simply shorter? I’d like to make a 2-layer cake with a 3-layer recipe I found, but I don’t know if I need to decrease the cake recipe by 1/3 or leave it alone.
Hi Amanda, All of the three layer cakes I make have more batter than a traditional 2-layer cake since the layers are thick and substantial, not thin.
Thank you!
The cake itself is amazing! Fluffy and light and flavorful. The Carmel sauce is also beautiful. I found the instructions for both of these very straightforward and both turned out lovely.
The buttercream icing however is a fail. I ended up with 3 beautiful cake layers and a soupy, runny mess of an icing. So sad to put in all this effort to have it all fall apart with the icing …
Hi Alex, I’m sorry that the frosting gave you a hard time. I’ve never had an issue making it myself, but someone did share a link to a different technique for mixing that you might want to try next time!
Made this as a birthday cake and it was wonderful! It was fairly easy to make and the taste was exquisite!
I do enjoy cooking from time to time, but my no means an expert and this was the first time I made a cake from scratch! With just a little bit of extra effort, this was way better than pre-made cake mix! I leaned you can use two 9″ cake pans in lieu of three 8″ pans if you need and works great. This configuration easily makes 10-15 slices.
The only thing I would add is that the term ‘fluffy’ when mixing the frosting is a little misleading. I think of something cotton-like and I mixed for over 20 minutes to get it to that consistency and it never got there. This amount of time in the mixer created a frosting that VERY easily melts at room temperature and did not hold its shape. Mixing for about 5 minutes is all you need and would result in a much more stable material.
Can’t go wrong with this recipe – will definitely make again!
Did you use salted or unsalted peanuts on the top? Thank you!
Hi Carolyn, I used salted, but either would work!
I have made many recipes from your site and love it. I tried the apple caramel cake. I don’t know what happened to the buttercream. It was runny!!!
In a hail mary, I tore one cake layer into pieces, added gelatin to the runny buttercream and made the middle layer. I just used whipped cream for the frosting.
what did i do wrong with the buttercream?
ps love the coconut cake with the meringue buttercream
Hi Janet, Did you try the trick of putting it in the refrigerator to chill for a bit and then beat it again? If so and it was still too runny, a couple of things may have been the culprit – the sugar/flour mixture wasn’t allowed to thicken enough on the stove and was taken off the heat too early. OR the salted caramel sauce was too warm when added to the frosting and caused it to melt a bit.
Hi! what size is the cake?
There are three 8-inch layer.
Made this cake and it is sssoooo good. Only problem was my frosting was runny. So I added 1 tablespoon meringue powder and it worked like a charm! Will make this again, but will wait for the cooked flour milk mixture to cool to room temp before adding in butter. Thank you for sharing!
I don’t like caramel very much. Would I be able to make the frosting and omit the caramel or replace it with milk if it is too thick? Or do you have another frosting recipe suggestion. Thank you!!
Hi Becca, I think you could omit it and add more milk or cream if it needs to be thinned out.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! The cake looks amazing and sounds so yummy…
I would love to make it for my daughter’s second birthday. But do you think I could bake the cake all in one pan and then cut it into 3 discs? Or do you think that the cake will break into pieces…? I am not sure about the texture and do not want to destroy it ;-)
Also, I was wondering which layer cake is your all time favorite? I want to do a second cake and I can’t decide which one as they all look fantastic!
Hi Aline, I think there would be way too much batter to put it all in one pan – it would overflow. As for my very favorite layer cake – definitely the peanut butter cup overload cake!
https://www.browneyedbaker.com/peanut-butter-cup-overload-cake/
I made this for christmas dinner tonight & it was AH-MAZING! I was worried about the frosting but it came together wonderfully & was so creamy & caramelly I could have eaten it straight. Everyone loved it& my 1 year old nephew couldn’t get enough of it!
Hey there! I only have 9″ round pans, how long should I bake the cake for? I was thinking maybe check it after 25mins?
Hi Kelly, That would be a good point to start checking, it will definitely take less time. Enjoy!!
I used 9″ pans and the cooking time was only about 5-10 minutes longer than stated in recipe. Use the stick method to determine if it is done on the inside and you con’t go wrong!
This is a very good cake, worthy of special family gatherings and events! I made it exactly as written. The cake is just a good, sturdy apple cake, that I think tastes a bit better the next day, as is the way of spice cakes. I did make the frosting as written, however, for those of you who were having a devil of time getting it to come together, you may want to try a different technique. Because so many people were having trouble with this frosting, I researched flour-based buttercream and came across an excellent tutorial by another food blogger, The Tough Cookie. She explained why mixing the flour pudding into the butter, rather than vice versa, achieves better results …. and it worked! Here’s the link to her tutorial:
http://thetoughcookie.com/2015/06/07/how-to-make-flour-buttercream-or-ermine-buttercream-the-battle-of-the-buttercreams-2-0/
Instead of adding the butter to the cooked flour/cream/sugar mixture, I whipped the butter and vanilla, then slowly added the cooled flour ‘pudding’ in parts to the butter. I then added the salted caramel sauce. The frosting came together beautifully and it sure didn’t take 20-30 minutes of whipping!
Great cake! Looks so impressive that the oohs and aahs begin before you even cut into it!
I am making this cake for Thanksgiving and need to transport it and then store it for a few days. I baked the cakes already (they smell amazing!) and froze the layers. Do you think this frosting will keep OK if I make it in advance and store it well chilled for a few days before frosting the cake? I’ve done this with regular buttercreams but I’ve never cooked one before.
Hi Sarah, Yes, this should keep fine in the refrigerator for a few days. Just let it come to room temperature before filling and spreading.
Hi Michelle! I want to make this cake for my sister-in-law’s baby shower. Do you think the frosting would pipe well? I have made a flour based frosting before but can’t remember how sturdy it was!
Hi Monica, I’m not sure what type of decorations you’re planning to pipe, but it is a softer frosting. I would probably make a separate small batch of decorator icing for whatever decorations you want to do, just to be safe.
Wow, these are so amazing, thanks for sharing this.
Will definitely gonna try them, my kids will love them :)
I’m working on this cake now. The cakes came out beautifully! I’m not a huge fan of cloves so I only used 1/2 teaspoon of cloves and allspice and I thought that balance was perfect for me. The frosting is scary for me. I’ve never done a flour based frosting and I’m worried it won’t set up but every time I’m patient and wait a few minutes and check it in the mixer it’s thicker. It really does take patience, it was pure soup when I started and now looks like slightly loose frosting. This did take a good 20 minutes at least but it’s coming together!
Oh my goodness it was worth everything! This is probably the best frosting I’ve ever made or had! It took like 30 minutes but it happened, worth it!