Apple Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Apple butter cake is a luscious and rich spice cake cooked with apple butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and other ingredients that is then topped with cream cheese frosting.
When this cake is baking, it smells amazing. It infuses the atmosphere with a soothing aroma of apple and cinnamon. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite autumn desserts.
Hello there! Before you browse, there’s a lot of vital information in this article!includes the FAQ section, which may help you with any queries you have regarding this recipe. Enjoy!
This simple apple butter cake recipe has just the right amount of sweetness and spices. The apple butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg add so much autumn flavor, and the cream cheese buttercream on top adds a lovely tang that complements the apple taste well.
This cake is really quite simple to create, since it does not need any fancy or unique ingredients, and the mixing procedure is fast and uncomplicated.
Contents
Ingredient notes:
Let’s go through some of the components in this apple butter spice cake. (The printable ingredient list is included in the recipe card below.)
Butter: Butter cakes are tasty and full of flavor. You’ll use unsalted butter in this cake, and I believe it makes for a more delicious cake than merely oil.
Light brown sugar: Although this recipe asks for both kinds of sugar, it is the light brown sugar that offers the most flavor depth.
The standout component is apple butter. However, there is no need to produce homemade apple butter. The type in the jar is ideal.
All-purpose flour: There is no need to purchase any particular flour for this cake since all-purpose flour will suffice.
Cinnamon and nutmeg: The use of spices enhances the apple taste and makes this the ideal autumn cake.
The cream cheese buttercream frosting’s major components are butter, cream cheese, and confectioners sugar. You don’t need to create a frosting for this cake since it’s delicious on its own, but I like the tanginess of the cream cheese frosting with the apple taste of the cake.
(For inquiries about ingredients and substitutions, see the FAQ section at the bottom of this page.)
How to make this cake:
Let’s get started on making this simple apple butter cake. (Printable directions are included in the recipe card below.)
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 325°F and coat a 139-inch baking pan with nonstick spray.
Step 2:
Next, add the melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, milk, apple butter, and vanilla in a large mixing basin. Set aside after thoroughly mixing with an electric mixer on medium speed.
Step 3:
In a separate basin, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk thoroughly.
Step 4:
After that, blend the dry ingredients with the liquid components using an electric mixer on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated. Take extreme caution not to over-mix here. Simply blend until everything is fully integrated.
Step 5:
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes at 325 degrees F. The top of the cake will bake rather flat.
Step 6:
Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a cooling rack to cool fully before applying the frosting.
Step 7:
Make the frosting next. Mix the room-temperature butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high speed until smooth.
Then stir in the salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract, confectioners’ sugar, and milk. Mix on medium until well mixed.
Step 8:
Add the frosting to the cooled cake.
Tips & FAQs:
Unsalted is usually preferable since you can predict how much salt to apply, and salted has a different water content than unsalted.
If you can’t find unsalted butter, you may use salted in the cake and buttercream, but leave out the extra salt that each recipe asks for.
Apple butter is similar to thickened apple sauce that has been spiced. It’s not exactly the same as apple sauce, but that’s how I’d characterize it.
Apple butter may be found at most grocery shops among the jelly and jam.
Musselmans Apple Butter worked great for me.
Maybe. However, I have not tested this recipe with homemade apple butter. Unless the apple butter is too thin, it should work perfectly.
or thick.Fill the measuring cup halfway with flour and level it off. If you scoop the flour using a measuring cup, you will end up with too much flour in the mixture, which will leave the cake dry and crumbly.
Be cautious not to over-mix the batter. Scratch cakes should not be combined for more than a few minutes at a time since they will become thick. When all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined, stop mixing.
When a toothpick put into the middle of each layer comes out with a few moist crumbs or clean, but no raw batter, the cake is done.
If desired, this cake may be prepared ahead of time and frozen. Allow the cooked cake to cool fully before wrapping it in plastic wrap and foil and freezing it for up to two months.
Place the covered cake on the counter at room temperature to defrost thoroughly before removing the wrapper. Add the icing after the cake has been defrosted.
Because this cake is covered with cream cheese icing, it should be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
This recipe has not been tried in layer cake pans or a bundt pan, but it should work great.
Bake at 325 degrees F in two oiled and floured 8-inch round cake pans or a greased and floured bundt pan. Check for doneness after approximately 40 minutes, but a bundt cake may need more time.
This cake tastes best when served at room temperature. This cake is a butter cake, and since it must be kept in the refrigerator (due to the icing), it will grow stiff, so warm up pieces in the microwave for about 15 seconds or so before serving, or just lay the cake out for about 20 minutes before serving.
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Supplies used:
- 139 inch glass baking pan
- Mixing bowls
- Whisks
- Silicone spatula
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- Cooling racks
***I write recipes in volume (cup) measures since that is what people in the United States are accustomed to seeing and using. Click the metric button beneath the ingredients in the recipe card to get weight in metric measures. The weights are converted by a software, not by me, and the results are an educated approximation. Please keep in mind that while I prepare recipes in cups, I cannot guarantee that weighing the components will provide the same results.
Recipe:
Apple Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
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Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 stick cupunsalted butter, melted but not hot
- 1cuppacked light brown sugar
- cupgranulated sugar
- 3large eggs
- cupmilk
- 1 cup canned homemade apple butter (I used Musselmans Apple Butter)
- 1teaspoonvanilla extract
- 2 cupsall-purpose flour
- 1teaspoonbaking powder
- 1teaspoonbaking soda
- teaspoonsalt
- 2teaspoonsground cinnamon
- teaspoonground nutmeg
For the frosting:
- cupunsalted butter, room temperature(1 stick)
- 1 (8-ounce) box room-temperature cream cheese (1 block)
- 1pinchsalt
- teaspoonground cinnamon
- 1teaspoonvanilla extract
- 4cupsconfectioners sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk or cream (add more if necessary to get the appropriate consistency)
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Coat a 139-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Combine the melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, milk, apple butter, and vanilla in a large mixing basin. Set aside after thoroughly mixing with an electric mixer on medium speed.
- In a separate basin, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk thoroughly.
- Add the dry ingredients to the liquid components and mix on medium speed with an electric mixer until thoroughly blended. Take care not to overwork the mixture. Don’t mix for more than 40 seconds. Scrape down the edges of the basin, then mix for another 10-15 seconds.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes at 325 degrees F. The top of the cake will bake rather flat. When a toothpick put into the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs or clean, but no raw batter, the cake is done.
- Remove the cooked cake from the oven and cool thoroughly on a cooling rack before adding the frosting.
For the frosting:
- Mix the room-temperature butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high speed until smooth.
- Combine the salt, cinnamon, vanilla, confectioners’ sugar, and milk in a mixing bowl. Mix on medium until well mixed.
- Examine the consistency. If the mixture is too thick, add a teaspoon of milk and stir again.
- Add to cooled cake.
Notes
Nutrition
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