Our 15 Best Apple Cake Recipes

We get it—as soon as you return from apple picking, you’ll be tempted to turn your haul into gorgeous apple pies and cinnamon-spiked applesauce. But we’d also like to turn your attention to apple cakes, which are equally delicious and come in several enticing varieties. There’s an apple cider cake that’s perfect for cider doughnut fans; Lara Atkins’ apple cake with toffee crust is wonderfully indulgent, served with caramelized apples, toffee sauce, and vanilla ice cream. Read on for those recipes and more apple cakes we’ll be making this season.

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Apple-Raisin Crumb Cake

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

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Babette Friedman’s Apple Cake 

Roland Bello

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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.

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Apple Cake with Toffee Crust

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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.

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Maple-Apple Upside-Down Cake

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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.

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Apple Cake with Cranberries

John Kernick

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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.

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Apple Crumble Cakes with Chestnuts

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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.

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Warm Apple Cider Cake with Pumpkin Seed Brittle

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

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Spiced Upside-Down Apple Bundt Cake

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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.

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Apple Tea Cake

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

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Apple Upside-Down Cake

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

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Apple-Rose Cake

Kristin Teig

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?”

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Apple and Olive Oil Bundt Cake

Christopher Testani

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.

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Apple Dump Cake

Abby Hocking / Food & Wine

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.

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Apple Cider Cake

Abby Hocking / Food & Wine

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

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Apple Crumb Coffee Cakes

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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.

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Our 15 Best Apple Cake Recipes

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Apple-Raisin Crumb Cake

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Babette Friedman’s Apple Cake

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Apple Cake with Toffee Crust

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Maple-Apple Upside-Down Cake

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Apple Cake with Cranberries

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Apple Crumble Cakes with Chestnuts

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Warm Apple Cider Cake with Pumpkin Seed Brittle

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Spiced Upside-Down Apple Bundt Cake

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Apple Tea Cake

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Apple Upside-Down Cake

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Apple-Rose Cake

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Apple and Olive Oil Bundt Cake

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Apple Dump Cake

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Apple Cider Cake

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Apple Crumb Coffee Cakes

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Babette Friedman’s Apple Cake 