Caramel Apple Dapple Cake – NeighborFood

Apple Dapple Cake features a moist spiced cake batter loaded with chopped apples and pecans and finished with a rich salty caramel sauce. This apple sheet cake is easy to make and absolutely divine served with a scoop of ice cream.

If you love caramel apple flavors, you’ve also got to try our Caramel Apple Cider Floats and Salted Maple Caramel Apple Tart!

Easy Apple Dapple Cake

I recently discovered a recipe for apple dapple cake in three different cookbooks on my shelves. The recipes were all a bit different but shared the same general vision: a warmly spiced, not too sweet cake batter holding together a deluge of apples and, in 2 out of 3 cases, pecans or walnuts.

All of the recipes included a caramely glaze or frosting, perfect for soaking into the craggly, browned top of the cake.

Needless to say, I was intrigued. The cookbooks in question included Midwest Made (one of my favorites!), Mennonite Country Style Recipes, and a local church cookbook, which begged the question: How had I, a woman with Mennonite roots who has lived her entire life in the Midwest, never heard of Apple Dapple Cake before?

We’ll never know how I missed out on this clearly formative aspect of my Midwestern education, but the great news is, you’re never too old to fall in love with a new dessert.

Why You’ll Love this Apple Dapple Cake

After trying the recipe myself, I can see why the cake is so beloved. It’s positively PACKED with fresh apples in a very moist cake batter, and it gets even better the next day!

Like other Midwestern favorites (ie: Chocolate Crazy Cake, Cherry Delight), it’s easy to make and bakes in a 9 x 13 pan, perfect for feeding a crowd. Even my kids, who are picky about “stuff” in their desserts, gobbled this up.

If you’ve got extra apples on hand and would like your house to smell like a crisp fall morning, this easy apple cake recipe is for you!

Key Ingredients

• Baking staples, including baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour. I love using a microplane to grate whole nutmeg into this recipe. It’s so good! But if you don’t have whole nutmeg on hand, ground nutmeg will work just fine.
• Butter– One of the recipes I consulted called for vegetable oil, one a combination of oil and butter, and the other just for butter. I decided to keep things simple and use butter, and I did not regret it! This cake is super moist and has a lovely flavor.
• Sugar– A combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar gives the cake a molasses-y richness.
• Eggs- I always use large eggs for baking.
• Pecans– You can omit the nuts altogether or swap pecans for walnuts if you prefer.
• Apples– Because the cake itself has plenty of sweetness, I recommend using an apple that’s on the more tart end of the spectrum. Sweet Tango, Pink Lady, and Granny Smith apples all work well. You can also use a few types of apples.

How to Make Apple Dapple Cake

Step 1: Prep. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.

Step 2: Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Step 3: Cream the butter and sugars. In an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Step 4: Add eggs and vanilla, beating well after each addition.

Step 5: Stir in the flour, followed by the apples and pecans.

Step 6: Bake. Bake the cake for 35 minutes, then check the top. If it’s already quite brown, place a piece of foil over top of the cake, and continue to cook another 10-15 minutes, or until set.

Quick Caramel Sauce for Apple Dapple Cake

The warm cake is finished with a drizzle of caramel sauce that soaks into all the nooks and crannies created by the apples and pecans. Here’s how to make it!

Step 1: Combine butter, brown sugar, and half and half in a saucepan.

Step 2: Boil. Bring to a boil and whisk continuously for 2-3 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Step 3: Remove from heat and add vanilla and salt, to taste.

Step 4: Pour the warm caramel sauce over the warm cake.

Helpful Tips

• I recommend peeling the apples for the best texture.
• The apples can be in a smaller dice or a larger chop. I like the chunks to be slightly bigger, about 1/2 inch cubes.
• The cake tends to brown before it is all the way baked. I check on it around the 30-35 minute mark and cover it with foil for the remainder of the baking time.
• Use this caramel sauce recipe as a topping for ice cream, or serve with apple pancakes!

More Apple Desserts to Love

For the cake:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup pecans (chopped)
• 3 cups peeled and chopped tart apples (such as Granny Smith or Pink Lady)

For the caramel sauce:

• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• Splash vanilla extract
• ¼-½ teaspoon fine sea salt (to taste)

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray or butter.

• In a medium bowl, whisk together baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour. Set aside.

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until fluffy and lighter in color, about 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.

• Beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla.

• Add the flour mixture to the bowl, and beat on low speed until just combined. Stir in the apples and pecans.

• Spread the batter over the pan evenly, then bake for 35 minutes. If the top is already browned, cover the dish with foil and bake another 10-12 minutes or until set.

• When the cake is almost finished, make the caramel sauce. Combine the brown sugar, unsalted butter, and half and half in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and continue to boil, whisking continuously for 2-3 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

• Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and salt, to taste.

• While the cake and sauce are still warm, pour the caramel over top, spreading it to the edges.

This cake keeps very well and gets even better the second day!. To store, allow to cool completely, then cover with saran wrap. Store at room temperature for up to 2 days. If you’d like to keep it longer than that, store in the fridge.

Keyword apple dapple cake, easy apple cake

Calories: 387kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 357mg | Potassium: 115mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 521IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 1mg