Mastering the Cinnamon Caramel Apple Cake: Your Go-To Fall Dessert Guide

As Labor Day weekend fades into memory, a new season emerges, bringing with it a longing for comforting flavors and cozy evenings. For many, this marks the official start of fall dessert season! If you’re like me, however, your kitchen transforms into a haven of autumn aromas the moment September arrives. I kicked off my fall baking adventure last week with my decadent Oreo Pumpkin Cake, a recipe you can find right here on my blog. But today, we’re diving headfirst into a classic combination that truly defines autumn: apples and caramel, elevated with a hint of cinnamon.

This particular cake has been on my mind for a long time, and I’m thrilled to finally share it with you. There’s something undeniably magical about the pairing of caramel and apple. Their rich, sweet, and tangy notes complement each other perfectly. And what’s nearly as good as caramel with apple? Cinnamon sugar with apple! Since I simply couldn’t choose between these two incredible duos, I decided to incorporate both into one magnificent creation. Get ready to fall in love with my ultimate Caramel Apple Cake, a true celebration of autumn’s bounty.

Unveiling the Layers of Flavor: What Makes This Cake Special

This Cinnamon Caramel Apple Cake is a symphony of textures and tastes, meticulously crafted to deliver an unforgettable dessert experience. Each component plays a crucial role:

• Moist Apple Cake Layers: Infused with real apple goodness and a delightful cinnamon sugar swirl, these layers are the heart of the cake, offering a tender crumb and rich flavor.
• Homemade Apple Butter Filling: A luscious and easy-to-make filling that adds an extra burst of concentrated apple flavor and creamy texture.
• Caramel and Cinnamon Ganache: A decadent drizzle that combines the deep richness of caramel with the warm spice of cinnamon, providing a beautiful visual and flavor contrast.
• Velvety Caramel Buttercream: The crowning glory, this smooth and airy buttercream ties all the elements together with its sweet, buttery, and caramel notes.

Essential Tips for Baking Perfect Cake Layers

Achieving perfectly baked, moist, and even cake layers is the foundation of any stunning cake. Here are some of my tried-and-true tips to ensure your apple cake layers turn out flawlessly every time:

• Use Room Temperature Ingredients: This is arguably one of the most critical steps in baking. Room temperature butter, eggs, and dairy products emulsify much better, creating a smooth, homogenous batter that traps more air. This trapped air leads to a lighter, fluffier cake texture and a more consistent rise. If your butter is too cold, it won’t cream properly; if too warm, it can make the cake greasy.
• Cream Your Butter, Oil, and Sugar Thoroughly: Don’t rush this step! Creaming these ingredients together on a higher speed for at least 5 minutes (or until light and fluffy) is vital. This process incorporates air into the mixture, which is what gives your cake its structure, rise, and delicate texture. The sugar crystals cut into the fat, creating tiny air pockets. A properly creamed mixture will be noticeably lighter in color and significantly increased in volume.
• Weigh Your Cake Batter for Even Layers: For professional-looking, perfectly level cake layers, a kitchen scale is your best friend. After preparing your batter, weigh the total amount and divide it by the number of pans you’re using. This ensures each cake pan receives an identical amount of batter, resulting in uniform layers that stack beautifully without excessive leveling.
• Heat Your Caramel Safely and Effectively: While not directly for cake layers, preparing caramel often involves heating it. When adding heated cream to your sugar mixture, gently warm the cream first. This reduces the temperature shock and minimizes dangerous splattering, preventing crystallization and potential burns.

Crafting Silky Smooth Homemade Caramel

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive on Instagram is about making caramel. Many bakers find it intimidating, but I promise you, it’s actually one of the easiest and most rewarding things to master. With a few key considerations, you’ll be making perfect caramel sauce every time. Here are my essential tips for flawless homemade caramel:

1. The “No Stir” Rule for Sugar Mixture: When you combine the granulated sugar, water, and corn syrup in a saucepan, this is the *only* time you should stir the mixture. Once it’s on the heat, resist the urge to stir! Stirring while it’s heating can cause the sugar crystals to cling to the sides of the pan and fall back into the syrup, leading to crystallization and a grainy caramel instead of a smooth one. Let the mixture cook undisturbed until it reaches that beautiful golden brown color.
2. Pre-heat Your Cream for Safety and Smoothness: This tip comes from personal experience, and it’s a game-changer! Always heat your heavy cream in the microwave or a separate saucepan before adding it to the hot sugar mixture. The contrast in temperature between cold cream and super-hot sugar can cause a violent reaction, creating a lot of steam and potentially causing severe burns. Heating the cream significantly reduces this steam and helps the mixture combine more smoothly, preventing clumps and making it easier to stir into a uniform, silky caramel.
3. Watch for the Color Change: Caramelizing sugar happens quickly. Once the edges start to turn golden, the entire mixture will rapidly change color. Stay vigilant, as overcooking can result in burnt, bitter caramel. A rich amber color is what you’re aiming for.

The Irresistible Apple Butter Filling

Beyond the caramel, one of my absolute favorite components of this cake is the incredibly simple yet amazingly delicious apple butter filling. It adds a wonderful depth of apple flavor that perfectly complements the cinnamon and caramel. The best part? It’s incredibly easy to make! You simply take a portion of the caramel buttercream you’re already preparing for the cake and mix it with some high-quality apple butter. The result is a creamy, spiced apple filling that will have everyone asking for your secret.

Sourcing Key Ingredients: Apple Butter and Cinnamon Chips

For this recipe, you’ll notice it calls for both apple butter and cinnamon chips. While you can certainly make homemade apple butter, both of these ingredients are readily available at most grocery stores, making this recipe even more accessible. For a delicious store-bought option, I recommend this brand of apple butter, and for the cinnamon chips, Hershey’s cinnamon baking chips work perfectly for the ganache.

My Go-To Baking Tools for Cake Perfection

Having the right tools can make all the difference in your baking experience, especially when assembling a layered cake. Over the years, I’ve experimented with countless cake tools, and these are some of my absolute favorites that I can wholeheartedly recommend. They truly are among the best!

• Turntable: An indispensable tool for smooth frosting. My turntable from Amazon makes decorating so much easier.
• Cake Boards: Essential for transporting and presenting your cakes, providing stability and support.
• Offset Icing Spatula: Perfect for spreading frosting smoothly and easily between layers and on the sides.
• Straight Icing Spatula: Ideal for achieving perfectly straight sides and a clean finish on your cake.
• Straight Scraper: Your secret weapon for sharp edges and a flawless crumb coat.
• Acrylic Disks: A game-changer for achieving super sharp, professional-looking edges on your frosted cakes.
• Piping Bag: Crucial for piping frosting borders and for easily distributing fillings.
• Squeeze Bottle: Great for controlled drizzling of caramel and ganache.
• Kitchen Scale: As mentioned, essential for accurate measurements and perfectly even cake layers.

Recipe

Cinnamon Caramel Apple Cake

Molly Murphy

Apple cake layers with a cinnamon swirl, apple butter filling with a caramel and cinnamon ganache, frosted in caramel buttercream

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Prep Time

20 minutes
mins

Cook Time

30 minutes
mins

1 hour
hr

Total Time

1 hour
hr
50 minutes
mins

Course
Dessert

Cuisine
Cake

Servings

20
people

Ingredients

for the apple cinnamon cake

• ¾
  cup
  brown sugar
  packed
• 1
  Tablespoon
  cinnamon
• 1
  cup
  unsalted butter
  softened
• 1 ¾
  cups
  granulated sugar
• ½
  cup
  vegetable oil
• 4
  large eggs
  room temperature
• 2
  teaspoons
  vanilla extract
• 3
  cups
  all-purpose flour
• 1
  teaspoon
  baking soda
• 2
  teaspoon
  baking powder
• ½
  teaspoon
  nutmeg
• 1
  Tablespoon
  cinnamon
• ¾
  teaspoon
  salt
• 2
  cups
  unsweetened applesauce

For the apple filling

• 1 ½
  cups
  buttercream
  recipe below
• ¼
  cup
  apple butter
  homemade or from the jar

For the caramel

• 1
  cup
  granulated sugar
• ¼
  cup
  water
• 3
  Tablespoons
  light corn syrup
• ¾
  cup
  heavy whipping cream
• 2
  teaspoons
  pure vanilla extract
• 1
  teaspoon
  sea salt
• 3
  Tablespoons
  unsalted butter

For the caramel buttercream

• 2
  cups
  unsalted butter
  room temperature
• 7
  cups
  powdered sugar
  sifted
• 1
  teaspoon
  vanilla extract
• ½
  teaspoon
  salt
• 2
  Tablespoons
  heavy whipping cream
• Half of the homemade caramel

For the cinnamon drip

• 1
  cup
  Hershey’s cinnamon baking chips
• ¼
  cup
  heavy whipping cream

Instructions

For the cake

• Preheat your oven to 325. With cooking spray, spray 3 8 inch or 4 6 inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, spray again. Set aside.
• In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar and the cinnamon. Set aside
• In a medium size bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
• In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, oil and sugar on high until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Beat each egg one at a time and scrape down the sides after each addition.
• Turn the mixer off and add half the flour mixture and half of the applesauce and mix just until incorporated. Add the rest of flour and the apple sauce. Mix on low until incorporated. Don’t over mix.
• Pour about 10 oz. of the batter in each 8-inch pan or 8 ounces in each 6-inch pans. Divide the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture between the cake batter, I did 3 spoonfuls in each one. sprinkling evenly over the batter. Top with the remaining batter (about 10 oz. more per 8-inch pan or 8 oz in each 6-inch pan). I used a small offset spatula to help me evenly distribute the batter on the top.
• Bake for 30-33 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few to no crumbs. After they are done baking, let them cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes, and then transfer them to a wire wrack and let them come to room temperature. Once at room temperature, wrap them in saran wrap and freeze, or place in the fridge until ready to use. They will store in the fridge for up to 4 days, and in the freezer for up to 6 months.

For the caramel

• Heat the cream in the microwave for 1 minute in a microwave safe bowl.
• Mix sugar, water and corn syrup in a small saucepan on medium heat. This is the part when you do not want to stir. Let it cook until the mixture becomes caramelized and looks golden brown. This takes a few minutes (anywhere from 4-7), but once it starts turning color, it happens fast, so keep an eye on it.
• Turn off the heat on the sugar mixture and add the cream, being careful that it doesn’t burn you. Mix the caramel mixture until evenly combined.
• Pour mixture into a heat proof bowl. Add the vanilla, salt, and butter and let it sit until the butter melts, then stir.
• Let it cool down to room temp.

For the caramel buttercream

• In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-high speed for about two minutes.
• With the mixer on the lowest speed, add the powdered sugar, cream and salt. Once combined, beat on high for 2 minutes. With a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides and beat for 2 more minutes.
• Set aside 1 ½ cups for the filling.
• Add the caramel and beat on high for one more minute. With a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, beat out the air pockets.
• For the cinnamon chip ganache
• In a microwave safe bowl or over the stove, heat the cream until simmering. Pour the cream over the cinnamon chips and stir until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth and silky.
• Let the mixture cool slightly before using. It will thicken up during this time.

Assembly

• Level the cakes if needed, place a small dollop of frosting on a cake board, and place one cake layer top side up in the middle of the cake board.
• With a piping bag, pipe a small ring around the edges of the cake. Level the cakes if needed. Place a small dollop of frosting on a cake board, and place one cake layer top side up in the middle of the cake board.
• With a piping bag, pipe a small ring around the edges of the cake.
• Place about ⅓ cup of apple butter filling on the cake, followed by a drizzle of caramel, and cinnamon ganache.
• Place another one of the cake layers top side down and repeat step two by adding a rim of buttercream and then the apple butter filling.
• Add the last layer of cake, top side down.
• Apply a thin layer (crumb coat) of the caramel buttercream around the cake, and freeze for 15 minutes.
• Finish frosting the rest of the cake with the left over buttercream, I topped mine with caramel and the ganache. Serve at room temperature.

Tried this recipe?

Let us know how it was!