Apple Bundt Cake Recipe with Spiced Honey Glaze

Dress up your holiday table with this apple bundt cake and spiced honey glaze recipe!

This apple bundt cake recipe is a traditional Rosh Hashanah dessert!

It’s that time of year again- the weather’s getting a little cooler, school routines are back in action, and Rosh Hashanah- the Jewish new year, is coming up!

Traditionally we eat lots (and lots) of food at family get togethers, and dip apples in honey for a sweet new year ahead. So I went ahead and stuck both flavors into this dessert!

I really wanted the apple flavor to stand out so I used applesauce and diced apples in this recipe. The fun thing about baking with applesauce is that you can use it to substitute some or even all of the oil in a recipe to make it healthier.

I decided to try it both ways, because why not! Here’s the verdict:

• The cake with no oil and only applesauce was super moist, but a little dense. Not enough for me to be upset about it-it was still great, but just want that noted.
• The cake with oil and applesauce had a more tender crumb (lol why do I feel like that’s out of a romance novel or something LOL) and I preferred it to the other one, but that’s just me!

How to make this apple bundt cake recipe:

Start off by mixing the eggs, oil, (if using), applesauce, and sugars. Next measure out the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately and dice up the apples and add some cinnamon. Switch off adding in the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and lastly add in the apple cinnamon mixture.

Make sure you dust the diced apples with a little bit of flour so that they don’t sink to the bottom of your cake! Pour and bake but don’t make the glaze until the cake is cooled off and you are ready to glaze. If you make it ahead it will harden and you wont be able to use it.

How to substitute oil for applesauce:

Super easy, it’s like 1:1 ratio! Either use 1 whole cup of applesauce and no oil. Or use 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce. I also added in some sour cream so that the cake is a little fluffier- if you are making this dairy free, I tried it with the Tofutti brand fake sour cream and it was still delicious!

BTW- you dont just have to make this in a bundt cake pan.

You can also make this cake in a 9×13 inch pan to make it into a snack cake, or you can bake it into 2 9″ rounds. I would adjust the baking time to about 28-30 minutes though.

Freezing this bundt cake:

YEP you can do it. Don’t glaze it though until you are ready to serve.

Also make sure you wrap it really well in plastic wrap and then tin foil. It should stay fresh for up to 2 months!

To store:

Keep this cake in an airtight cake dome or wrapped in plastic wrap before you glaze it. Again don’t glaze this until you are ready to serve because if you do and then wrap it up, well that’s not gonna look so pretty. Keep it up to 5 days.

Let’s talk about that glaze!

There is no honey in the cake so I used it instead to make a sweet glaze. Glazes are SO SO EASY to make and most of the time I don’t even measure out the ingredients to make one.

How to make a glaze without a recipe:

Ok so the base of glazes are confectioners sugar. And all you need to do to make a glaze is to add a liquid to the sugar. BUT a little goes a long way. So for about 1 cup of confectioners sugar you probably only need 2 teaspoons to make a pourable glaze depending on how thick or thin you need it.

That’s the beauty of making a glaze too- if it is too thick, just add a tiny bit more liquid to it and stir. If it is too thin- add more confectioners sugar and mix until you get the consistency you want.

Seriously it’s fool proof, just go slowly and you’ll get it right! You can add any kind of liquid too- juices, water, milk, coffee. Seriously anything, it’s so versatile!

So for this, I added honey and cinnamon to the confectioners sugar, and a tiny bit of rice milk to get the consistency I wanted. The result was a sweet and cinnamon flavored glaze that was just the perfect topping to an already festive and delicious dessert.

Hope you make this cake and enjoy it, and if you are celebrating the Jewish new year, Shana Tovah!

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For more fall inspired desserts try these:

• Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chunks
• Apple Cider Layer Cake
• Cookie Butter Biscotti
• Cookie Butter Babka

Apple Bundt Cake Recipe with Spiced Honey Glaze

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

This apple bundt cake recipe is a traditional Rosh Hashanah dessert that can be made with no oil, substituting applesauce instead. Delicious either way!

• Author: Sam Adler
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Total Time: 50 minutes
• Yield: 12–15 servings 1x
• Category: dessert
• Method: creaming
• Cuisine: jewish

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

For the cake:

• Baking spray
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1/2 cup applesauce or 1 4 oz Motts applesauce cup
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup rice milk, soy milk, or reg milk
• 1/2 cup non dairy sour cream (you can also use dairy)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large apple, peeled, cored, diced small
• 1 teaspoon all purpose flour

For the glaze:

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4–1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon depending how you like it
• 1 teaspoon water or milk

 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F and spray a bundt pan REALLY WELL with baking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl or in a mixer bowl combine the eggs, applesauce, oil (if using), granulated sugar, and brown sugar, and mix well to combine. If using a kitchenaid, mix on low- medium speed until light and frothy. 
3. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a large mixing cup add the milk (or milk substitute), sour cream (or substitute) and vanilla extract and set aside as well. 
4. In another small bowl add the cinnamon to the apples and then dust with flour- yep put those aside too. Now its time to put it all together.
5. Start off by adding in 1/3rd of the flour mixture into the batter. Mix well, then add in 1/2 of the milk mixture and mix. Next another 1/3rd of the flour followed by the last of the milk, then the last of the flour, making sure to mix well in between each addition. 
6. When the batter is evenly mixed add in the apple and mix lightly. 
7. Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake for 35-45 minutes. The cake is done with the top is firm and no longer jiggly, or when a skewer inserted comes out clean.
8. Make the glaze before serving- combine all glaze ingredients in a small bowl, mix and add in anything necessary to get the consistency you like (see post). Pour over cooled cake and enjoy!

Notes

You can substitute all of the oil with another 1/2 cup applesauce.

This recipe can be made dairy or dairy free.

Don’t glaze until ready to serve! If the glaze is too thick add a little bit more water (1 teaspoon). If the glaze is too thin add a little bit more confectioners sugar- start with 1/3rd cup. 

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1
• Calories: 285
• Sugar: 32g
• Sodium: 188mg
• Fat: 10g
• Saturated Fat: 3g
• Unsaturated Fat: 7g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 46g
• Fiber: 1g
• Protein: 3g
• Cholesterol: 37mg

Keywords: how to substitute oil in a cake, how to use applesauce instead of oil in a cake, traditional rosh hashana desserts