Apple Bundt Cake Recipe with Spiced Honey Glaze
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This apple bundt cake is so super moist! It has fresh chopped apples baked inside and is topped with a cinnamon spiced honey glaze. It is the perfect cake to make for Thanksgiving or anytime you need a treat.
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!
Why you should make this recipe
Well if you celebrate Rosh Hashanah, this is the absolute perfect cake to make. And if you don’t well it’s still perfect to make for fall!
How to make this recipe
Make sure to check out my post on how to bake and get a bundt cake out of the pan perfectly.
You can make this using a hand or stand mixer with a paddle attachment or make it in a medium sized bowl with a good sturdy spatula. Sometimes I like to make this recipe without any mixer help and just enjoy the process.
Step one: Make the cake batter
Start off by mixing the eggs, oil, (if using- see note below), applesauce, and sugars. Next measure out the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately. Then dice up the apples and add the cinnamon.
Switch off adding in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients mixing the batter in between.
Step 2: Add the apples
Dust the apple cinnamon mixture with 1 teaspoon of flour. This ensures that they don’t sink to the bottom of the cake. Add them into the cake batter and mix lightly.
Step 3: Bake and glaze!
Pour the batted into a greases bundt pan and bake for about 50 minutes. Don’t make the glaze until the cake is cooled off and you are ready to frost it. If you make it ahead, it will harden and you wont be able to use it.
How to make this cake healthier
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 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
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.
How to make a glaze without a recipe:
Ok so the base of glazes are confectioners sugar. 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!
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
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 apple, large, peeled, cored, diced small
- 1 teaspoon all purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F and spray a bundt pan REALLY WELL with baking spray and set aside.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- When the batter is evenly mixed add in the apple and mix lightly.
- Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. The cake is done with the top is firm and no longer jiggly, or when a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Make the honey glaze when the cake is cool and drizzle all over.
This looks so beautiful, and perfect recipe for fall. Love the spiced honey glaze!
Thank you so much Molly!!
Generously greased pan as directed. Cake stuck and came out in pieces. Let rest in pan 20”. Please include resting/turnout time ! Thanks
Oh man thats so frustrating. What did you use to grease the pan? I always use bakers joy baking spray and never have any issues with cake release. Waiting until the cake is completely cool is also the best thing to do! Hope you try this again!
I will forever call this my Corona Apple Cake because I made it for Easter during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. I chose this recipe because I (mostly) had all of the ingredients, including a lonely little lunch size cup of apple sauce in my fridge! I used the milk and dairy sour cream listed as substitutes. I did not have any baking spray, so I skipped the bundt pan (not gonna grease that bundt pan by hand) and used two loaf pans instead. I also skipped the frosting because I did not have powdered sugar. The technique of mixing the apples with cinnamon first, then tossing with the flour, really made a difference in keeping the apples chunks distributed throughout the cake. Anyho, the bundt cake with frosting would have been beautiful, but the unfrosted apple loaves were delicious and versatile! I froze half of a loaf for later, and we’ve been eating slices for breakfast and snacks. And when you are tired of constantly fixing meals and snacks (becasue pandemics make people hangry and everyone here has a different online work/class schedule), it’s nice to have this apple cake at the ready for your family.
Hi Amy!! Thank you SO much for your meaningful comment! These times are so crazy, thank you so much for making and enjoying this recipe, I am so happy that it brought something good during this crazy time. Sending so much love! Thanks again!!!! <3
I made 2 of cakes this afternoon. It slid right out of the Bundt pan.
This cake is delicious! I will definitely make it again.
If you add the dry ingredients slowly you don’t need so many bowls.
Hi Ronit!! I am so happy you loved the cakes, thank you so much for leaving a rating and comment!! Shana Tova!!! <3