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
I made this cake this morning, left out the nuts due allergies in the family and added cinnamon.
it turned beautiful and delicious.
I am so glad to hear you liked it!!!
How much cinnamon did u put in?
If you make this without cinnamon, I think you’ll be surprised at how cinnamon-y it tastes already 🙂 Apple Dapple magic.
quick question, when this cake has cooled to you turn it upside down like an upside down cake?
If you make it in a bundt pan, yes, you will turn it out upside down.
In the photo the cake is plated with the glaze on the top. So this means that I must turn it out onto a plate and then invert it again so the glaze is on the top? Your instructions don’t specify and I can’t imagine that it is served with the glaze on the bottom. Help!
I was wondering the exact same thing 🙂
This was a wonderfully moist easy cake to make. I will try using spices in the cake batter next time and serve it without the sauce. The sauce was a little to oily for my taste, maybe I’ll try it with less butter. Fresh whipped cream is amazing on this cake. This will be one of my go to cakes for take a long dinner, especially in a 9×13 pan. Thank you for this wonderful receipt.
I am so glad you enjoyed it Loretta!!
I have just made this cake and am awaiting it to come out of the oven but it is currently bubbling over and spilling out of the bundt pan I cooked it in and getting all over the bottom of my oven. I cannot imagine why this is happening as I followed the recipe exactly. The only possible thing I can think of is maybe it needs a larger pan but I am using a standard size bundt pan. Have you every had any report of this happening?
I would put a baking sheet on the rack under it really quick if you can. I’ve not heard of this happening to anyone else but it sounds like the pan was either too small or you might have accidentally used self rising flour instead of all purpose. I hate it that this is happening to you and hope you can pull the flowers out of the weeds despite it.
Can you not use selfvrising flour and just leave out salt and baking powder??
You can certainly experiment with doing that but this recipe calls for 3 cups all purpose flour and only 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Substituting self rising flour will be adding in 4.5 teaspoons baking powder and 1.5 teaspoons salt. You could easily end up with an overflow issue.
can you use walnuts instead of pecans ??
sure thing! I use whatever I have on hand. Often, I leave the nuts out to cut costs.
So you have to alter the ingredients if you omit the nuts, we have a nut allergy in our home
No, just leave them out.
Made this cake today. Very disappointed. Followed all directions as stated, cake would not come out of the bunt pan. I had to cut in pieces to remove. Too moist and heavy for my taste
I’m sorry you weren’t happy with the results, but hope you will take the time to comment on recipes that turn out great as well! I use a heavy bundt pan and have never had a problem with this cake sticking at all. Of course, with the thick batter, all those apples, and then the sauce being poured over it, the cake being heavy and moist is to be expected and one of the best points for many people. Here is hoping things get better from here for ya!
In the printable version of the recipe, the directions don’t mention greasing and flouring the pan. I almost made the same mistake, but scrolled back up through the blog post to make sure it was ok not to do that. I’m glad I did!
I think it’s best to always make sure if you’re going to be making bundy cakes to invest in the heavy cast iron bundt pans. I’ve never had a cake stick in mine!
Kimberly, I too have a heavy cast iron bundt pan and always use, “Baker’s Joy” to spray the pan. For those of you who had difficulty with this cake sticking to your pan, be certain to spray the the entire inside of the pan really well. It is found with the cooking sprays and is a mixture of oil and flour. I have never had a problem with heavy cakes sticking. Also, I don’t use a mixer. Instead, I use a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients. My grandmother made this cake at Christmas and she added chopped candied cherries to the batter and also used them to decorate the top after removing it from the pan. It certainly looks pretty and it brings me joy to carry on her Southern tradition. Of course, I always make this cake at Christmas too! For those of you who have had a problem, please don’t give up on this recipe. Perhaps a few adjustments it will bring you joy as well!
Love it! Tks for sharing!
I think a small can of pineapple added would fix it.
I’ve never had a cake stick either. It has to be a sturdy bundt pan, and spray liberally with Pam. OR you could line it with parchment. OR, bake this in two loaves.
I would grease the pan with Crisco and flour it and shake out excess flour and get in all the nick and curve parts or use a 9X13..grease that too.
It was a hit at our house!!! All my friends love it too!
Hi, I will not have light brown sugar, will this work? Should the cake be stored in the refrigerator due to the milk?
We’ve never had the cake last more than two or three days. If you plan on keeping it beyond that you can certainly store it in the fridge to keep it fresher longer. I’m afraid your first sentence wasn’t complete so I’m not sure how to answer. Maybe you can clarify?