Our 15 Best Apple Cake Recipes

Caramelized apples and pecan-laced streusel make Andrew Zimmern's lightly spiced crumb cake totally irresistible.

Le Coucou chef Daniel Rose stirs apples into the batter of this pound cake-like dessert, then tops it with more of the Calvados-spiked fruit.

When pastry chef Lara Atkins was little, her mother made this cake for her bridge club; Atkins remembers how she and her brothers would have to wait (and wait and wait) for their slices until all the ladies of the club had served themselves. Atkins now makes the cake for her son, who never has to wait for his piece.

This is one of the best upside-down cakes ever--the maple syrup infuses both the apples and the cake, making the dessert taste like a stack of apple pancakes.

For his moist and buttery upside-down cake, Food & Wine's Justin Chapple layers apples with cranberries and brown sugar, then tops them with a fantastic sour cream batter.

This recipe is based on an American-style streusel-topped coffee cake. Han Feng gives this homey dessert a Chinese twist by adding roasted chestnuts. She bakes the cakes in oversize teacups, but ramekins are perfect substitutes.

This decadent apple cider cake is best served warm, and the pumpkin seed brittle adds a nice crunch.

Author David Guas tops his apple Bundt cake with a nicely salty streusel of pecans and toasted rolled oats. He bakes the streusel on its own to make it extraordinarily crisp, then pats it over the warm cake right out of the oven.

Serve this apple cake with a good healthy dollop of creme fraiche; it helps offset the sweetness of the fruit.

This apple upside-down cake makes for a delicious fall inspired dessert.

Cortney Burns, who is best known for her time at Bar Tartine in San Francisco, has moved to North Adams, Massachusetts, to work on her latest project, Loom. She aims to explore the tapestry of cuisines and cultures that have created North Adams. With this cake, she wonders “What if the Italians asked to borrow sugar from the neighbor and they got rose water instead?”

At Coyle’s Bakeshop in Seattle, chef-owner Rachael Coyle always keeps a Bundt cake or two in the case. This autumnal version, an adaptation of an Italian apple cake, is moist and light, fragrant with freshly ground spices and studded with chunks of fruit. In the spring, substitute fresh rhubarb for the apples.

Dump cake, an accurate but unglamorous name, is usually a box of cake mix dumped over canned pie filling and dotted with butter. The melting butter and bubbling filling moisten the dry ingredients as the cake bakes. The result is more cake-y crumble than true cake. Here, we elevate the concept with a quick DIY “cake mix” and sprinkle it over buttery, caramelized apples.

Love apple cider donuts? Then this tender, moist cake is for you.

Spike Gjerde’s apple crumb coffee cakes can be made one day ahead and kept in an airtight container—just remember to warm them up again before you serve.