Apple Dapple Cake
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This old-fashioned apple dapple cake recipe is the darling of fall baking. Every moist bite is positively infused with chunks of juicy apple, toasted pecans, and an amazingly sweet and buttery brown sugar glaze.
Mama has been making this old-fashioned apple dapple cake for as long as I can remember. It’s always signaled the arrival of apple season for us! So this apple season, pick some fresh apples and bake this easy apple cake recipe. All you need is typical baking ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, sugar, oil, vanilla, eggs, milk, and butter), plus some chopped pecans for extra crunch.
The wonderful thing about Mama’s vintage apple dapple cake recipe (and I do mean WONDERFUL) is that the resulting flavor is a perfect blend of fresh apples and buttery brown sugar. With the special caramel-like brown sugar soaking sauce poured over the cake and allowed to soak in before removing the cake from the pan, it is by far the moistest and densest cake I’ve ever baked.
As if the flavor (and smell) were not enough, the slices are gorgeous too. Thick slices showcase bits of apple and the slightly granular texture around the edges of the tender crust is brought on by the brown sugar. Don’t you just love the taste of brown sugar? I mean, all on its own, I just love brown sugar. Whenever I am baking with it, I can’t help but get a pinch out for myself. Lucky is the day when I find a few precious lumps within the bag!
If you’ve ever wanted to win someone over through their stomach, THIS cake is a home run. All of our cake recipes are to die for so make sure you check out some of them like Apple Crumble Cake, Chocolate Sundae Cake, Coca-Cola Cake, Red Velvet Bundt Cake, and Sams Club Strawberry Cake (Homemade Recipe).
Recipe Ingredients
- Apples
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Granulated sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
- Pecans
- Brown sugar
- Milk
- Unsalted butter
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make Apple Dapple Cake
In your mixing bowl, place oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until blended.
You can do this by hand or using an electric mixer. Go with your mood.
In a separate mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add this to your wet ingredients and mix until blended again.
Like this.
It’s a nice thick dough at this point.
Peel and chop apples into little chunks.
Add chopped apples and pecans to the cake batter.
Stir those together until they are fully incorporated.
Prepare your pan either by greasing with shortening and flouring or by using one of those handy, dandy cooking sprays.
Spoon your apple dapple cake batter into your pan.
My mother uses a tube pan but whenever I bake this I just use a bundt pan. Either one is fine.
Bake this in the oven at 350 for one hour.
Making the Brown Sugar Sauce
About 10 minutes before your cake is done, you need to make this AMAZING sauce to pour over the cake while it is still hot in the pan.
Place milk, butter, and brown sugar in a saucepot.
Stir this together on the stove eye at medium to medium-high heat, bringing to a gentle boil.
Once it starts boiling gently, keep stirring and cook for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Remove hot delicious cake from the oven.
Look at that beauty!
While the apple dapple cake is still piping hot in the pan, pour the sauce over it and let it all sit until it soaks it up.
OH MERCY!
I mean, LOOK AT THAT CAKE!
The sauce will soak up, just be patient.
Leave the cake in the pan until it has cooled completely.
Have you ever seen a more beautiful apple cake?
I hope you get to make it soon!
Might oughta make two 😉.
Storage
- Store leftover cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- You can also freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Double wrap them in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil to avoid freezer burn and thaw in the fridge or at room temperature before serving.
Recipe Notes
- For extra flavor, add 2 teaspoons of your favorite seasoning. That might be 1.5 teaspoons of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of nutmeg, apple pie spice, or pumpkin pie spice. All work well with this apple cake recipe.
- If you want to add more texture, some apple dapple cake recipes include 1 cup of flaked coconut and 1 cup of raisins as well. Fold them in when you add the chopped apple and pecans.
- Speaking of, feel free to substitute the chopped pecans for chopped walnuts instead. If you like, toast them for about 5 minutes in the oven beforehand for extra crunch and texture.
- Another substitution you can make is to swap the milk in the glaze for heavy cream.
Recipe FAQs
What kind of apples should I use?
As pictured, I always use Granny Smith apples due to how the tart flavor combines well with the sweetness of this dish. You can also use Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Jonathan, Jonagold, or even Golden Delicious works.
Where does apple dapple cake originate?
The origin of apple dapple cake is unknown, as Amish, Southern, and Jewish cultures all make their own version that are very similar to this recipe.
You might also enjoy these appetizing apple recipes:
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups fresh apples, peeled and finely chopped
Sauce
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3/4 cup butter (1.5 sticks)
Instructions
- Spray a bundt cake pan or a tube pan liberally with cooking spray and set aside.
- Mix together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl.1 cup vegetable oil, 2 cups granulated sugar, 3 eggs, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, and baking soda. Then add this to the wet ingredients before folding in the pecans and diced apples.3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup chopped pecans, 3 cups fresh apples, peeled and finely chopped
- Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
- Place sauce ingredients into a small saucepot over medium-high heat. Stir constantly and bring it to a gentle boil. After it begins gently boiling, continue to stir and allow to cook for about 3 minutes.1 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 cup milk, 3/4 cup butter
- Pour the sauce over the hot cake while it's still in the pan. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan.
Nutrition
Could you possibly add all spice to the glaze or cake?
I dearly love allspice and love the idea of adding it to one or both!
Just made cake. Consistency is thick unlike your pictures. Also took a bit longer to bake.
It’s a very thick consistency, I thought it looked like that in the photos but I guess it’s how you view them. I hope you enjoy the cake! It’s so good!
Mine was SOO thick it stop my beaters from turning & made my mixer make noise!! Had to stir the rest by hand (and not very well at that). We’ll see… in oven now. (Seems like it needs a little liquid of some sort in there) Will let you know the outcome 🙁
In the initial battle there is a cup of oil and three eggs that act as liquids. This is the first I have ever heard of the batter straining a mixer so I hope there wasn’t an accident and it turned out alright!
Yes, Christy, turned out great!! But next time, I think I’ll add a little liquid to it, like OJ. Tasted WONDERFUL !! Thanks for the recipe! (Did have to buy another hand mixer though- LOL)
Glad to hear all the cakes are turning out ok, as my batter too, was very thick. But I am in Colorado so I wasn’t sure if it was an altitude thing or not. I added a tablespoon of water to help. Can’t wait to taste it!!
White Lily flour has a lower protein count than what we typically use in the northern part of the US (ie: Gold Medal, King Arthur, etc.). That will lead to greater liquid absorption by the flour and creates a stickier/thicker batter.
PHI Christy, I’ve made this delicious cake three times now and each time, the batter strains my mixer, so the comments people are leaving should be taken seriously. I decided that you must be using extra large or jumbo eggs and now use 4 instead of 3. I also add a tad bit more oil than 1 liquid cup. That helps get the batter to cake like consistency. I also use a wooden BBQ skewer to make about 20 holes in the cake before pouring the sauce. This allows the sauce to soak into the cake that would normally be very dry due to the dry/wet ratio imbalance this recipe has. Barbie
Thank you for your tips, I’m sure they will be helpful to those having this problem.
I only use large eggs and sometimes the eggs from my hens are more medium but this is just not a problem I’ve had personally.
Now I’ve just got to figure out what PHI means. A search turned up options of the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet and “Protected Health Information” but I’m pretty sure you didn’t mean either of those. I may be better off not knowing 🙂
PHI=Hi without my glasses or checking before sending. 🙂
Oh!!! Well I can certainly relate to that one!!!!
I’ve made this numerous times! One of my FAV cakes. The batter is think, I was surprised the first time but never had it jam my mixer. Perhaps it’s the mixer. I have a kitchen aid. Hope that helps
Just made this cake and it’s delicious. But the sauce disn’t soak into the cake as I expected. Is the sauce a little grainy? I wonder if I should have cooked it more.
Funny thing: I also used a bundt pan, but my cake was quite high and i wasnt that careful when I poured the sauce because some sent down the hole in the center. You’d better believe I ate that right up once it cooled. Lol.
Loved this, but wonder if the sauce us grainy / sugary..
I just made this using pears instead of apples because we have so many pear trees and I froze them last summer. I also added a teaspoon of cinnamon. This cake is amazing. My husband is the critic and he loves it. For those that mentioned it was so thick, I’m wondering if they sifted the flour. My mom taught me years ago to always sift the four to incorporate air, not to filter impurities, even if you purchase presifted flour.
this variation sounds great! I’ll try that next.
Looks delicious. Have you ever made this as cupcakes or 9×13? Did it work and taste the same?
Yes. I just serve from the pan when it’s a 9×13. Less fuss 🙂
I also bake in a 13x9x2 pan and I poke holes all over the cake with a wooden spoon before pouring on the sauce. The sauce soaks in that way and is less gooey to serve.
How long did you bake it when using a 9×13-inch pan?
Hi ,
Novice baker here…. How many apples must I buy to yield 3 cups peeled and chopped?
Thanks,
Carol
Carol,
I just made this cake tonight and had this same question. I bought abrosia apples because they were nice and suggested for baking. Just looking at them in the store, I thought it would take more than one for a cup and I purchased 8 just to make sure I had plenty with some to spare. I have 5 apples left! I used a potato peeler to peel them so there was no apple wasted! I actually have a little more than 3 cups in my cake. Waiting for it to finish cooking now. Can’t wait to taste!
I hope you liked it as much as we do Ginger!
That really all depends on the size of the apple. Generally I would say 4-5 to make sure you have plenty. If they are large apples you will need less, if they are small apples you will need more. Hope that helps.
This cake is in my oven baking. The batter was very thick. It would not “pour”. I’m hoping in 30 minutes it will look ok.
Your recipe doesn’t say to add the sugar to the sifted flour & soda, but I am assuming you would sifted the dry ingredients together?
The recipe says “Mix oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, salt, soda. Add to first mixture.”
Hope that helps!
Being a senior I dont stock flour, sugar, etc. as I would never use it all
Can I make this with a cake mix?
If so, what adjustments would I need to make?
This looks scrumptious…
Thanks so much
I’m sure you could but I’m afraid it is such a deviation from the recipe that I am not comfortable telling you exactly how to do it without having the time to test it myself. I’m afraid it will be some degree of trial and error but once successful would definitely pay off!
I use a Duncan Hines spice cake mix and follow the directions on the side of the box for old fashioned apple spice cake. Then I make the wonderful topping and pour it over the cake as instructed. Delicious!
Hi ! I had the pleasure of tasting this cake at my friends house and she shared the recipe. I’m new to baking. But I noticed that my dough was very sticky. It was a bit hard to get the bad boy from the mixer to the bundt pan. Yours looks like a much more wet constituency. I’m baking it now so I will see how it will taste. But did I do something wrong ?
Mine was too, similar to cookie dough waiting for it to come out of the oven now so we’ll see how it turns out
I added two more egg sand a tsp. of cinnamon and it seemed to be a better consistency. It was delicious.
I make this cake and use walnuts instead of pecans sometimes….delish…..my family’s favorite cake for Thanksgiving and Christmas ! This is really good in the mornings with a cup of coffee ! Really good any time of the day !
Hello, I to had the same problem with the dough being to thick. I chalked it up to the gluten free flour I was using, any how I added 2 extra eggs and it came out delicious
I noticed in the picture she used White Lily flour. This is a southern all purpose flour and has a lower protein content than something like gold medal all purpose flour or King Arthur AP flour. Using flour with a higher protein count will affect the consistency of the batter which likely explains why yours may have been more sticky.
Where do you purchase white Lilly Flour ??.. I Live in michigan.. I suppose I would have too order off a Webb sight perhaps ??
It is available nationwide in many stores so I’d check in your area first but I think you may be able to order it on Amazon. If not, just find a good self rising flour that is local and economical 🙂
I have seen White Lily Flour at Meijers.
Can I use cake flour for this recipe?
I don’t recommend it and I’ve never done it myself. Having said that, I’m all about experimenting so report back if you do!