Apple Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

By Maria Lichty

Updated August 30, 2024

View RecipePin Recipe4.6962

I love baking with apples: apple crumble, apple cobbler, apple crisp, and apple muffins are a few of my “must makes” during the fall months, and now I have a new favorite. This Apple Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is absolute perfection!

I love making bundt cakes because they are easy, feed a crowd, and you don’t have to do any fancy decorating. This apple bundt cake is thick, dense, moist, perfectly spiced, and filled with lots of fresh apple chunks. It also has a brown sugar cinnamon filling in the middle of the cake that gets gooey after baking and really enhances the fall flavors.

When the cake is cooled, I spoon rich cream cheese frosting over the top. Apple cake and cream cheese frosting? A match made in heaven, trust me!

This cake is the perfect dessert for fall, or eat a piece for breakfast. Hey, an apple a day keeps the doctor a day:)

Cake Ingredients

If your pantry is well stocked, you should have almost everything you need to make this cake.

• Flour– I use unbleached all-purpose flour.
• Baking soda– to help the cake rise, make sure it’s fresh!
• Spices– cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves! The best fall flavors!
• Salt– to bring out the flavors in the cake!
• Oil– you can use vegetable oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil.
• Sour cream– Sour cream makes the cake super moist. You can also use plain Greek yogurt.
• Brown sugar– always pack your brown sugar! The brown sugar gives the cake a caramel flavor and keeps it moist. I also mix brown sugar with cinnamon for a sweet filling in the cake.
• Granulated sugar– you need regular white sugar too!
• Eggs– use large eggs and make sure they are at room temperature.
• Vanilla extract– you need one tablespoon! Yes, tablespoon:)
• Apples– I like to use Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples. Braeburn, Fuji, and Golden Delicious are also good options. I always peel the apples before chopping them. I like a lot of apple chunks, so I use 3 cups of apples, but if you want to use a little less, go with 2 ½ cups.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Let’s take a minute to talk about the smooth, creamy, and rich cream cheese frosting. It really is the icing on the cake!

You will need:

• Cream cheese– don’t use low fat, go all out!
• Butter– to make the frosting extra creamy and delicious!
• Confectioners’ sugar– sift before you get started so your frosting is nice and fluffy!
• Vanilla extract– just a splash!
• Heavy cream or milk– start with 2 tablespoons. If you want a thinner frosting, you can always add more.
• Pinch of salt– just a pinch!

How to Make Apple Bundt Cake

Ok, let’s get this cake party started!

• First, preheat your oven and generously grease a 12-cup bundt cake pan. Make sure you use a 12-cup pan so the cake doesn’t spill over.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the oil, sour cream or yogurt, sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined. Don’t over mix. Gently fold in the apple chunks. The batter will be thick and that is ok!
• In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading with a spatula to make sure it’s even. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the batter. Top with remaining batter.
• Place the pan in the oven and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Check early and if the cake is getting too brown, but not done, you can loosely cover it with aluminum foil. It is a dense, moist cake and does take a long time to bake. Mine always takes the full 75 minutes.
• Remove the cake from the oven and let cool on a wire cooling rack in the pan for 30 minutes. Carefully invert cake onto a cake stand or serving platter.
• While the cake is cooling, make the cream cheese frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, cream or milk, and pinch of salt. Beat at medium speed until creamy and smooth. If you want the frosting a little thinner, you can add a little more cream or milk and mix again.
• Use a spoon to generously drizzle the frosting over the cooled cake. Cut into slices and serve.

How to Store Apple Bundt Cake

• Because this cake has a cream cheese frosting, I recommend storing it in the refrigerator. The cake is very moist so it won’t dry out in the fridge. Make sure it is well covered with plastic wrap or you can put it into an airtight container. It will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
• The cake can be removed from the fridge an hour before serving to let it come back to room temperature. I think it is good cold too:)
• You can also freeze the cake for up to 3 months. I like to freeze individual slices. Wrap cooled cake pieces in plastic wrap and place flat in a freezer bag. Lay flat in the freezer. Thaw before eating! The slices come in handy when you NEED a sweet treat, especially late at night, ha!

More Bundt Cake Recipes

• Chocolate Bundt Cake
• Cream Cheese Pound Cake
• Banana Bundt Cake
• Pumpkin Bundt Cake
• Gingerbread Bundt Cake
• Chocolate Peppermint Bundt Cake

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Cake

Apple Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This simple bundt cake is filled with juicy apples, fall spices, a brown sugar cinnamon filling, and finished with a rich and luxurious cream cheese frosting. It is everyone's favorite fall cake!

4.69 from 45 votes

PrintSave RecipeReview

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cuisine American

Servings 14

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

  

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For the cake:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil or canola oil
• 1/2 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, at room temperature
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 medium apples, peeled and chopped (2 ½ to 3 cups)

For the cinnamon sugar filling:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream or milk, depending on how thick you want it
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Generously grease and lightly flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the oil, sour cream or yogurt, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined. Don’t over mix. Gently fold in the apple chunks. The batter will be thick.
• In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon.
• Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading with a spatula to make sure it’s even.
• Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the batter. Top with remaining batter.
• Place the pan in the oven and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Check early and if the cake is getting too brown but not done, you can loosely cover it with aluminum foil. It is a dense, moist cake and does take a long time to bake.
• Remove the cake from the oven and let cool on a wire cooling rack in the pan for 30 minutes. Carefully invert cake onto a cake stand or serving platter.
• While the cake is cooling, make the cream cheese frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar, vanilla, cream or milk, and pinch of salt. Beat at medium speed until creamy and smooth. If you want a thinner frosting, you can add a little more cream or milk. I like the frosting on the thicker side.
• Use a spoon to generously drizzle the frosting over the cooled cake. Cut into slices and serve.

Notes

I use Granny Smith or Honeycrisp Apples. I like a lot of apple chunks in the cake so I use 3 cups. If you want a little less, go with 2 ½ cups, but no less. You want the apples to keep the cake moist and it is an apple cake:) 

Nutrition

Calories: 550kcal, Carbohydrates: 74g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 28g, Saturated Fat: 18g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 55mg, Sodium: 272mg, Potassium: 144mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 46g, Vitamin A: 315IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 56mg, Iron: 2mg

Keywords apple

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