Apple Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting with real apple chunks, a smooth and creamy frosting and all of your favorite fall flavors wrapped into one. This easy cake is one of our favorites!
If you haven’t noticed, I love APPLE CAKES. I’ve shared a few of my favoites on the blog already, including this delicious Caramel Apple Bundt Cake and my Grandma’s Fresh Apple Cake — both of which are total winners. But one of the things this Apple Spice Cake has that those recipes do not is a fantastic frosting!
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting that pairs perfectly with the fall flavors in this cake.
I LOVE serving delicious, seasonal cakes like this all throughout the fall and holiday seasons. This Apple Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting is the perfect cake for a party, baby shower/bridal shower, or just for dinner with friends.
Or, if you love to bake as much as I do, make this on a whim and send it with your husband to work 🙂 .
I love to send my leftover baked goods to people. I get joy from baking them and then I’m not tempted by them sitting on my kitchen counter begging me to eat the entire pan.
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Apple Spice Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoon butter , divided and softened
- 2 cups Granny Smith apples , peeled and chopped (about 2 apples)
- 3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoon light brown sugar , divided
- 1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice , divided
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
For the Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese , room temperature
- ¼ cup butter , softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13? baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a small skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat until the butter starts to bubble.
- Add the peeled and chopped apples, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and cook, tossing occasionally, until the apples start to soften and the sugar mixture thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add the remaining 1 cup of butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and granulated sugar, and beat until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes), scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as you go.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
- In another mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
- Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the creamed butter/sugar mixture and stir until incorporated.
- Add half of the buttermilk and stir. Repeat with another addition of flour, the rest of the buttermilk, and ending with the final addition of flour.
- Add the cooked apple mixture to the batter and fold-in gently. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 35-43 minutes or until the cake is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
For the Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting:
- While the cake is cooling, make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add butter and cream together until smooth. Add the brown sugar and beat for about 5 minutes, or until very light and fluffy.
- Mix in vanilla. Spread frosting evenly over cooled cake. Refrigerate leftovers.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Sam says
Awesome recipe! Looks delicious. I’m going to make this and send it with my WIFE to work. Men can bake, and women can work.
Kelly says
This cake was delicious! I made it for my son’s quaran-“teen” birthday and he loved it. Thanks for the great recipe!