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This old fashioned apple cake is the one I start making the second the air turns cool. It’s loaded with fresh chopped apples, made with oil and buttermilk so the crumb stays soft for days, and finished with a hot apple cider butter glaze that soaks right into the top while the cake is still warm. A little cardamom in the batter is my one small twist. It’s also the thing everyone asks me about.
Fall baking is my favorite. If you come home from apple picking with more than you know what to do with, make my homemade apple pie, easy apple crisp, and caramel apple crumble bars too.
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“This is the moistest cake I ever had. It is delicious. It helps a lot if you have an apple peeler-slicer-corer device to speed up the dicing of the apples. Also, the cake is hard to toothpick test—cook until the center reaches 210 degrees.”— Dave
Table of Contents
- What Makes This Old Fashioned Apple Cake So Moist
- Old Fashioned Apple Cake Ingredients
- How to Make Old Fashioned Apple Cake
- How to Make the Apple Cider Butter Glaze
- Eden’s Apple Cake Tips
- How to Serve Old Fashioned Apple Cake
- How to Store Old Fashioned Apple Cake
- Old Fashioned Apple Cake FAQs
- More Homemade Cake Recipes
- Old Fashioned Apple Cake Recipe
What Makes This Old Fashioned Apple Cake So Moist
Oil instead of butter in the batter. Oil stays soft at room temperature, so the cake is just as tender on day three as it is on day one.
Buttermilk. It adds a little tang to balance all that sugar, and the acid gives the baking soda something to react with.
The hot glaze trick. You pour the apple cider butter glaze over the cake the minute it comes out of the oven. It sinks straight in instead of sitting on top.
A full tablespoon of cinnamon plus cardamom. The cardamom is the secret. It’s warm and a little floral, and it makes people stop and ask what’s in it.
No mixer required. Two bowls, a whisk and a spatula. That’s it.
Old Fashioned Apple Cake Ingredients
Granulated Sugar – Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender crumb. Regular granulated, not powdered.
All-Purpose Flour – Spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off. Scooping straight from the bag packs in too much and gives you a dry cake.
Baking Soda – Your leavening. It needs the buttermilk to activate, so don’t swap in regular milk without a substitute.
Ground Cinnamon and Cardamom – A full tablespoon of cinnamon sounds like a lot. It isn’t. The cardamom is what makes this cake taste like more than the usual.
Eggs – Room temperature blends in more evenly.
Vegetable Oil – This is what keeps the cake moist for days. Canola works too.
Buttermilk – Adds moisture and a little tang. No buttermilk? Here’s how to make your own buttermilk with milk and lemon juice.
Vanilla Extract – A full tablespoon, which is more than most cakes call for. Use real, pure vanilla.
Apples – The star. You need 2 1/2 cups peeled and finely chopped, which is about 3 medium apples or a generous pound.
Apple Cider – For the glaze. Real cider, not apple juice. Juice is too thin and too sweet.
Unsalted Butter – One full stick, for a rich glaze that seeps down into the cake.
Best Apples for Old Fashioned Apple Cake
Use a mix. That’s the whole trick.
- Granny Smith plus Honeycrisp is my favorite combination. Tart and sweet, and both hold their shape.
- Pink Lady, Braeburn and Fuji are all excellent too.
- Skip Red Delicious and McIntosh. They go mushy and disappear into the batter.
Chop them small, about a half inch. Big chunks release too much water in one spot and leave you with a soggy pocket. And yes, peel them. The skins turn chewy, and you lose that soft bite that makes an old fashioned apple cake what it is.
How to Make Old Fashioned Apple Cake
Prep the pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9×13 pan or a 12-cup bundt pan.
Whisk the dry ingredients. Sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamom in a large bowl.
Whisk the wet ingredients. Eggs, vanilla, oil and buttermilk in a large measuring glass.
Combine. Pour the wet into the dry and stir until just combined. The batter will be thick. That’s correct.
Fold in the apples. They’ll loosen the batter as you stir. Keep going until they’re evenly distributed.
Bake. 60 to 75 minutes for a 9×13, or 70 to 80 minutes for a bundt. Start checking at 60 minutes.
Check the temperature, not the toothpick. This cake is so moist that a toothpick can lie to you. The center should read 205°F to 210°F on an instant-read thermometer. This one tip will save your cake.
How to Make the Apple Cider Butter Glaze
Make the glaze while the cake bakes so it’s hot and ready the moment the cake comes out.
Add the apple cider, butter, sugar and baking soda to a small saucepan and simmer, stirring, until everything is melted and smooth. The baking soda makes it foam up a little. Don’t panic, that’s what gives it that light caramel color.
Pour the hot glaze over the hot cake. All of it. It looks like way too much liquid and it will pool on top. Give it an hour and it disappears straight into the crumb.
If you’d rather go the caramel route, swap the glaze for a drizzle of my homemade caramel sauce instead.
Eden’s Apple Cake Tips
Don’t skip the hour of resting. The glaze needs that time to soak in. Cutting early gives you a wet top and a plain cake underneath.
Chop the apples first. Once the batter is mixed you want to move fast, and dicing three apples takes longer than you think.
Going bundt? Grease it thoroughly, every ridge, and give it about ten extra minutes. Let it cool ten minutes before inverting.
Add nuts if you love them. A cup of chopped walnuts or pecans folded in with the apples is very traditional.
Other toppings work beautifully. Try buttercream frosting or maple syrup frosting if you want something a little dressier.
Cranberry version. Fold in a half cup of fresh or dried cranberries for a tart twist. Very pretty at Thanksgiving.
How to Serve Old Fashioned Apple Cake
This cake is my favorite kind of dessert to host with, because it’s better made ahead and it doesn’t need one single thing done to it at the last minute.
- Serve it warm in the pan with vanilla ice cream and let people help themselves. That’s the whole plan.
- Make it the day before. It’s genuinely better on day two once the glaze has fully settled in.
- Pair it with a drink. An apple cider spritz is my go-to, and my fall sangria or a bowl of harvest punch both work if you’re feeding a crowd. More ideas in my fall cocktails roundup.
- For a fall gathering, put it out on a wooden board with a stack of small plates, a pitcher of cream and a few little apples scattered around. Done. Here’s my full fall harvest party if you want to go bigger.
- For Thanksgiving, it’s a lovely alternative to pie and it frees up your oven the day of. See my other easy Thanksgiving desserts.
- For a Halloween party, cut it into small squares so people can eat it standing up with a drink in the other hand.
How to Store Old Fashioned Apple Cake
Room temperature. Cover and keep at room temp for up to 5 days. Store extra glaze in the fridge and warm it gently before using.
Freezer. Freeze the cake unglazed for the best texture. Cool completely, wrap in plastic wrap and then foil, and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, bring to room temperature, then make a fresh batch of glaze and pour it over.
Old Fashioned Apple Cake FAQs
No pre-cooking. They bake beautifully right in the batter. But do peel them. The skins turn chewy and you lose that soft, tender bite.
Almost always underbaking, because the toothpick test isn’t reliable on this cake. Bake until the center reads 205°F to 210°F. The other culprit is apples chopped too large, which release water in pockets.
Yes, and it’s gorgeous. Use a 12-cup Bundt pan, grease and flour it well, and add about ten minutes to the baking time. Bundt cakes are my trick for making dessert look fancy without the extra work, same as my pistachio bundt cake.
Please do. It’s better on day two. Bake and glaze it, cover once it’s fully cooled, and leave it at room temperature.
Yes. Swap in a 1-to-1 gluten-free baking flour. I’ve tested it and it works beautifully.
Absolutely. Fold in a cup of chopped walnuts or pecans along with the apples.
Use a teaspoon of nutmeg or allspice instead. You’ll lose my favorite part, but the cake is still delicious.
More Homemade Cake Recipes
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Orange Ricotta Cake Recipe
If you make this old fashioned apple cake, please come back and leave a 5-star rating and a comment below! It really does help other readers find the recipe, and I love hearing how it turned out.
And if you’re on a fall baking streak, my moist pumpkin bread and pumpkin cornbread are next on the list. More ideas in my fall dessert recipes.
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Old Fashioned Apple Cake
Ingredients
Apple Cake
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups apples, peeled and finely chopped
Apple Glaze
- 1/2 cups apple cider
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
Apple Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a 9×13 cake pan or a 12-cup bundt pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamom.
- In a large measuring glass, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, vegetable oil and buttermilk.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. The batter will be thick.
- Fold in the chopped apples until evenly distributed.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 60 to 75 minutes for a 9×13, or 70 to 80 minutes for a bundt. The cake is done when the center reads 205°F to 210°F on an instant-read thermometer. A toothpick test is unreliable on this cake because it is so moist.
Apple Cider Butter Glaze
- While the cake bakes, add the apple cider, butter, granulated sugar and baking soda to a small saucepan. Simmer, stirring, until melted and smooth. It will foam slightly.
- As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, pour all of the hot glaze over the hot cake. Let it sit for 1 hour to absorb.
- If using a bundt pan, cool 10 minutes before inverting onto a plate. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- The type of apple and how small you chop it
- The size and material of your pan
- Your oven’s actual temperature
- Your elevation
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is the moistest cake I ever had. It is delicious. It helps alot if you have a apple peeler-slice-corer device to speedup the dicing of the apple. Also the cake is is hard to tooth pick test. Cook til temperature is 210 DEGREES in the center of the cake.
Love to hear that and thank you for the tips too!
Just baked it, poured the glaze over it and waiting for it to cool so we can eat it!! Easy bake and looks delicious!!!
oh my goodness! this is an amazing tasting cake and I cant wait to make it again in the fall
Moist & delicious!! Love the chunks of apple in each bite! It has the perfect apple flavor!
OMG I loooooove this cake! It’s so moist with the BEST flavor…..tastes like home.