16 Best Apple Cake Recipes To Make This Fall

Grab a cup of coffee and get to baking one of these apple cake recipes.

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake
Photo:

Greg DuPree

Pumpkin isn’t the only fall flavor you can bake with this fall. Apple trees also bear their produce this season — produce that perfectly compliments cinnamon and other spices. We believe the best way to enjoy fresh apples is in dessert form.

Whether you prefer an easy apple cake that just requires a little bit of stirring or want to challenge yourself with a time-intensive stack cake, there's sure to be an apple cake recipe on our list that you'll enjoy baking (and your family will love eating). After a couple of bites, you won’t question why autumn is many Southerners’ favorite season.

01 of 16

Buttery Apple-Almond Cake

Buttery Apple-Almond Cake
Photographer: Greg DuPree, Food Stylist: Emily Neighbors Hall Prop Stylist: Audrey Davis

The design on top of this attractive recipe is thanks to honeycrisp apples, which remain firm after baking. Despite its impressive appearance, this recipe is surprisingly easy to make. 

02 of 16

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

Greg DuPree

This apple bundt cake is swirled with sweet cream cheese filling and homemade praline frosting. It's superbly moist and full of juicy Gala apples. Garnish the frosting with extra toasted pecans for an extra toasty fall-forward flourish.

03 of 16

Apple Fritters

Southern Living Apple Fritters on a platter to serve with extra cinnamon sugar.

Morgan Hunt Glaze, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Shell Royster

Okay, so it's not exactly an apple cake, but the batter for these fresh Granny Smith apple fritters fries up into an individual cakey fritter that's full of warm fall flavors. Moist, sweet, and tangy, these fritters feel like a cross between a a fresh apple cake and an apple donut, which is arguably fall's most treasured treat.

04 of 16

Apple Bread

Apple Bread
Micah A. Leal

Dotted with tart Granny Smith apples and sweetened with sugar and honey, this sliceable loaf is the perfect fall companion to a hot cup of coffee.

05 of 16

Old-Fashioned Apple Dapple Cake

Southern Living Apple Dapple Cake on a cake plate to serve with cups of coffee

Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer

Apple Dapple cake is thought to have its roots in Southern baking — a theory made more plausible by the abundance of crunchy pecans in this recipe.

06 of 16

Apple-Pecan Carrot Cake Recipe

Southern Living Apple-Pecan Carrot Cake

Jen Causey; Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf; Prop Stylist: Josh Hoggle

This recipe proves that carrot cake can be enjoyed year-round. The impressive cake features a mascarpone frosting and requires just 30 minutes of hands-on time.

07 of 16

Caramel Apple Dump Cake

Southern Living Caramel Apple Dump Cake in the pan with a serving scooped out

Morgan Hunt Glaze, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless

True to its name, this dump cake is as easy as dumping all the ingredients together in a 13- x 9-inch baking pan.

08 of 16

Apple Spice Cake

Southern Living Apple Spice Cake cut into 9 pieces to serve

Greg DuPree, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Christine Keely 

This recipe's standout quality is its texture — ultra-moist and tender with a sprinkling of crunchy pecans.

09 of 16

Caramel Apple Cake

Caramel Apple Cake
Hector Manuel Sanchez

A beautiful cake like this one can serve as both a centerpiece and dessert. As a bonus, it only requires 20 minutes of your hands-on attention.

10 of 16

Caramel Apple Coffee Cake

Caramel Apple Coffee Cake
Photo: Jennifer Davick

Enjoy dessert from breakfast to after dinner with this apple coffee cake.

11 of 16

Fresh Apple Cake

Fresh Apple Cake
Hannah Zimmerman/Southern Living

This simple cake recipe has been delighting readers since it was first published in 2001.

12 of 16

Apple Stack Cake

Apple Stack Cake
Photo: Victor Protasi; Prop Styling: Cindy Barr; Food Styling: Torie Cox

You'll make use of a whole pound of apples in this stack cake. We recommend letting it cure for two to three days before serving, so be sure to keep that in mind if you're making it for company.

13 of 16

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake
Greg Dupree

A cream cheese filling, apple cake batter, and praline frosting are the ideal trio in this decadent Bundt cake recipe.

14 of 16

Applesauce Cake

Southern Living Applesauce Cake cut and ready to serve

Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox

This recipe has applesauce in the cake and reduced apple juice in the frosting, making it perfect for those who just can't get enough apple flavor.

15 of 16

Apple Pie Cake

Apple Pie Cake
Photography: Caitlin Bensel, Food Styling: Rishon Hanners

You'll never believe that this dessert, which combines the best aspects of cake and pie, starts with a boxed mix.

16 of 16

Apple Butter Pound Cake with Caramel Frosting

Apple Butter Pound Cake with Caramel Frosting
Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Mary Clayton Carl Jones; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall

As if apple butter pound cake wasn't delicious enough on its own, we added a drizzle of decadent caramel frosting.

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