Fall Apple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Salted Caramel
/Inspired by my mom's famous apple bundt and Yotam Ottolenghi's apple and olive oil cake, this simple fall apple cake is the perfect September recipe. A dense, apple-studded cake, filled with warming spices, topped with a classic cream cheese frosting and swirled with salted caramel.
RECIPE AND PHOTOS UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2021
I have a lot of very strong opinions about fall desserts. I love pulling on my boots, walking through crunchy leaves, and spices that warm you from the inside out, but —and I know that this might not be a popular opinion— pumpkin desserts are way overhyped. During the month of August, I drove past a local bakery marquee proudly proclaiming “Pumpkin is here!” In the month of August. In Florida. In 90 degree weather. Now, I am not a monster and I think pumpkins have their place in the fall dessert world, but I think that we miss a lot of wonderful seasonal produce in our mad-rush for everything pumpkin.
Late August and early September give us some of the year’s best tomatoes, end of season berries are begging to be stuffed into buttery little pie crusts, and it is prime apple season. This cake is here to help you take advantage of the apple bounty and ease you into fall at a leisurely pace. It was inspired by a spiced apple cake that my mom has been making for as long as I can remember and a really lovely apple olive oil cake created by Yotam Ottelenghi. Using olive oil gives the cake a moist, tender crumb while the egg whites provide a little extra structure and height. A slice of this is with a cup of coffee is a perfect start to your semi-fall morning and I promise, there will still be plenty of time for all that pumpkin.
how to make homemade salted caramel
A batch of homemade salted caramel in your fridge is the secret weapon of fall baking that you didn’t know you needed. It’s perfect for swirling into cream cheese frosting on this cake, drizzling over ice cream or dolloping into brownies and it’s actually quite simple to make.
Making homemade caramel can be a bit daunting the first few times you do it though, so I created a helpful little video to provide some guidance on your journey. For this recipe, we used the dry caramel process which simply means that there is no water added to the sugar when cooking. We cook the sugar in a skillet with a larger surface area and let it caramelize on its own, agitating it as little as possible to help prevent that pesky crystallization. Then, we whisk in heavy cream, cook it a bit more until it reaches that deep amber color we all know and love, and then whisk in butter and salt. It’s truly as simple as that and it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
a few tips for making perfect caramel
Because caramel cooks so quickly, I like to get all of my tools and equipment ready beforehand. For this recipe, you'll need: a large skillet, a wooden spoon, a whisk, a cork or hotpad, bowls for your butter, sugar, and cream, and a clean bowl for your caramel to cool in.
When cooking sugar, remember that agitation = crystallization, which is what we are trying to prevent. Stirring your sugar as little as possible before it has dissolved is key to smooth caramel.
Out of fear of burning the caramel, many people don't cook their caramels long enough. I had a professor in pastry school who likened the process to adding cream to your coffee. When cooking the sugar, remember that you'll be adding cream which will lighten the color a bit. Cook your sugar until it is just one shade darker than you want your final product and then add the cream. I like my finished caramel to be a deep amber color (which you can see in the photos above).
Cleaning all of your sticky, sugar-laden dishes can be a pain! For easy clean up, fill your skillet with water and plop your sticky tools inside. Bring the water to a boil and then pour it out and wash your dishes. All of the caramel should come right off with the hot water.
Fall Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200g) olive oil
- 4-5 medium apples, peeled and cubed (about 600 g or 5 cups)
- 1 3/4 cup (350g) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 2 1/2 cups (300 g) all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (75 g) spelt flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground all spice
- 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cups (150g) chopped walnuts, toasted
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 4 oz butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2-2 cups (170g-227g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 1/2 tbsp (65 g) butter
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp (160 g) sugar
- 7 tbsp (100g) heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees grease a 9x13 baking pan and line with parchment paper.
- Sift together flour, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, cloves, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add chopped apples and toss to coat with flour, set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat whole eggs, sugar, vanilla, and olive oil on medium speed for about 7 minutes, until the mixture is light in color and has almost doubled in size. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Use a rubber spatula to gradually fold in dry ingredients and apples, followed by the toasted walnuts, until combined and no flour remains. The mixture will be very thick, but that’s okay because it will bake up beautifully with apples in every bite.
- Place the egg whites in a separate, clean bowl and whip until soft peaks form when you lift the whisk from the bowl. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean and the edges of the cake start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Depending on how consistent your oven heats, baking time may very. Start checking your cake at 45 minutes and check every 5 minutes after until done.
- Cool cake completely before frosting.
- In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese.
- Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until smooth and fluffy.
- Set a large skillet over medium heat. Add half of the sugar in a single layer on the bottom of the skillet. Cook, without stirring, until the sugar begins to brown and liquify in the center of the pan. At this point, you can use a wooden spoon to gently scoot some of the sugar from the outer edges towards the center.
- When about 50% of sugar has liquified, you can add the remaining half of the granulated sugar, again in an even layer over the skillet.
- Continue cooking, stirring as little as possible, until all of the sugar has dissolved and the caramel is a deep amber color.
- Remove the caramel from the heat and carefully whisk in the heavy cream. This will bubble angrily, but that's okay! Return the skillet to the heat and cook for one more minute, until the caramel is smooth and has a deep brown color.
- Remove the caramel from the heat again and whisk in the butter, a few cubes at a time. When all of the butter is added, sprinkle in a big pinch of flaky salt and let cool. Store in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to two weeks.
- Remove cooled cake from pan and place on a work surface.
- Use an offset spatula to smooth frosting over the top of the cake. (The best part of making your own cake is that you can use as little or as much frosting as you want!)
- To feather the caramel: place some of the caramel in to a piping bag and cut a small hole at the tip. Make horizontal lines across the cake, dragging your caramel drizzle all the way off the side of the cake before coming back across the other way. Continue your horizontal lines, evenly spaced, all the way down the length of the cake. Use the tip of a small paring knife, to drag vertical lines, alternating up and down, over the cake.
- To swirl it into the frosting: dollop caramel over the top of your frosting and use an offset spatula or the back of a spoon to swirl it into the frosted in a tie-dye fashion.
Notes:
- My mom's original apple cake is baked in a bundt pan, but unfortunately, I don't have one! If you'd like to make this in bundt pan, it should work just fine--just be aware that baking times may differ. Start checking for doneness around the 40 minute mark, just to be safe.
- When choosing what kind of apple to use, go with what you like. Everyone always says that you're supposed to bake with Granny Smiths but I don't like them so I don't. A mix of different types of apples would work really well in this recipe too!
- If you don't have spelt flour, you can use a full 375 g of all purpose flour or you can substitute whole wheat flour or rye flour in its place.
