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–+ servings
overhead shot of caramel apple cake with two slices on white plates

Caramel Apple Layer Cake with Caramel Frosting

4.63 from 8 votes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Author: Traci Crossland
The ultimate Caramel Apple Layer Cake! This cake is moist, perfectly sweet, and absolutely delicious. Every bite is genuinely like eating a caramel apple! SO. GOOD.

Ingredients

Apple Cake

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 ¾ cups brown sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 ½ cups applesauce
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla
  • 3 cups grated apple

Caramel Sauce

Caramel Buttercream

  • 2 ¼ cups salted butter, softened
  • 6 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • ⅛ cup caramel sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Apple Cake

  • Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Spray 3 eight inch cake pans with baking spray. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, mix together apples, applesauce, vegetable oil, buttermilk, eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla.
  • Pour over dry ingredients.
  • Mix well.
  • Fold in apples.
  • Divide evenly into prepared pans.
  • Bake for 25 minutes, or until cake tests done.

Caramel Sauce

  • In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar, cream, corn syrup, butter, and boiled cider.
  • Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar melts.
  • Continue cooking until mixture reaches 235 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
  • Remove from heat.
  • Stir in cinnamon.

Caramel Buttercream

  • Beat butter with an electric mixer until creamy.
  • Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each.
  • Beat until fluffy and smooth.
  • Mix in caramel sauce.
  • Stir in cream in small amounts until desired spreading consistency.

Putting It Together

  • Place one cake layer on cake plate.
  • Spread with a layer of frosting.
  • Repeat with second layer.
  • Add third layer.
  • Spread remaining icing over entire cake.
  • Top with remaining caramel sauce.
  • Decorate as desired.

Notes

  • Be sure to read the recipe all the way through before starting.
  • The cake is very dense and moist after baking.
  • Trimming the cake is a little difficult due to the grated apple in the cake. Be careful!
  • Do not over cook the caramel! Once the thermometer reaches 235 degrees, remove it from the heat.
  • Make sure the thermometer doesn't touch the bottom of the pot.
  • We used about 5 large Honeycrisp Apples for this recipe.
  • The frosting may need more than 2 Tablespoons of heavy cream.
  • If you don't want to make caramel, you can use a store-bought sauce.

Nutrition

Serving: 1sliceCalories: 1203kcalCarbohydrates: 151gProtein: 7gFat: 66gSaturated Fat: 32gPolyunsaturated Fat: 13gMonounsaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 208mgSodium: 792mgPotassium: 223mgFiber: 2gSugar: 122gVitamin A: 1624IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 160mgIron: 2mg

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.