Supremely moist and fluffy cake loaded with tender cinnamon-spiced apples and swirls of buttery brown sugar filling, topped with delicious maple icing!
There’s really nothing quite like the scent of freshly-picked apples. What I love about this time of year is that there are so many wonderful smells that remind me of my childhood. The smell of a fresh batch of kettle corn being made. The smell of homemade apple cider. And my favorite, the simple smell of a crisp fall day. Although a part of me is sad to see summer end, another part of me is ecstatic about all of the delicious fall flavors I get to play with!
So this week, I decided it was apple’s turn to have the spotlight.
This Apple Cinnamon Roll Cake has fall written ALL over it! With brown sugary, buttery cinnamon swirls, perfectly tender apples, and a deliciously creamy blanket of maple icing, this cake is loaded with so many cozy fall flavors. It’s perfect for breakfast, brunch, dessert, or really any time of the day! Basically, if an apple fritter and a cinnamon roll had a baby, this would be it.
What’s wonderful about this cake is that it’s incredibly easy to throw together! It starts with the cinnamon-brown sugar filling, which is just a simple mixture of brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon. This is exactly the same filling you find in the always hypnotic cinnamon roll spirals. And yes, it’s just as ooey gooey after it bakes in the oven.
Next up is the delicious cinnamon-spiced apples! I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of finicky when it comes to fruit that’s baked into desserts, especially when it involves firm fruits like apples or pears. It’s always a disappointment when you bite into a slice of apple pie and the apples are hard or under-cooked. So to prevent that unappealing texture in this cake, I decided pre-cooking was my best bet. Cooking the apples prior to folding them into the batter is absolutely KEY to achieving that perfectly tender texture.
I ended up cooking the apples in some butter, brown sugar, water, and a few spices–cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. You basically want to cook them until they’re softened, yet still a little firm. There should be a little give when you press on them with a wooden spoon. Try not to overcook them, or else you’ll end up with applesauce.
Now we move onto the cake batter! You’ll start by incorporating all of the dry ingredients first–flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Then you’ll add the wet ingredients–milk, eggs, vanilla, melted butter and sour cream. The sour cream is what gives this cake the perfect fluff factor and a deliciously moist crumb. It’s one of my go-to ingredients to ensure that my cakes don’t end up dry or crumbly.
Now that you’ve got your cinnamon-brown sugar filling, your spiced apples, and your cake batter, it’s time to do some layering! First, spread about half of the cake batter into a greased 8-inch square baking dish. Top the batter with half of the cinnamon-brown sugar filling by using a spoon to dollop it evenly over the batter. Spoon half of the spiced apples over the batter. Then repeat these steps once more. Using a knife or skewer, give it a few figure-eight swirls, then pop it in the oven to bake.
While the cake is baking in the oven, you can make the super simple maple icing. Just whisk some melted butter and powdered sugar together. Stir in a little milk/cream and maple syrup, and that’s it!
Once the cake is baked and out of the oven, I usually allow it to cool about 10 minutes before pouring the icing on top. As the icing is spread over the warm cake, it almost immediately seeps into every single delicious brown sugary swirl crevice….mmmm…my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Seriously, can you get any more comforting than a warm vanilla cake, swirled with delicious pockets of buttery brown sugar filling and cinnamon-spiced apples? And of course, we can’t forget about the heavenly cloak of maple icing that melts into every little nook and cranny of the cake.
Is your mouth watering yet?
Apple Cinnamon Roll Cake
Ingredients
Spiced Apples:
- 8 ounces peeled and diced apples
- 3 Tablespoons water
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Filling:
- 6 Tablespoons salted butter softened
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Cake:
- 1 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Maple Icing:
- 2 Tablespoons salted butter melted
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon milk or heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF, and spray an 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Prepare the Spiced Apples: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook the apples, water, brown sugar, butter and spices together until apples have softened, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from stove and set aside to cool slightly.
Make the Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Filling:
- In a medium bowl combine the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until smooth; set aside.
Make the Cake:
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together until combined. Add the sour cream, milk, eggs, and vanilla, mixing until batter is almost combined. Pour in the melted butter and continue mixing until smooth.
- Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Drop spoonfuls of half of the cinnamon-brown sugar filling over the batter. Drop spoonfuls of half of the spiced apples over the batter. Pour the remaining batter on top, followed by spoonfuls of the remaining cinnamon-brown sugar filling and spiced apples. Using a skewer or knife, swirl the mixture into the batter.
- Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with few crumbs attached. Allow to cool slightly while you make the icing.
Make the Maple Icing:
- In medium bowl, whisk the butter and about half of the powdered sugar together until combined. Whisk in milk/heavy cream, followed by the rest of the powdered sugar. Stir in the maple syrup.
- Spread icing on top of cake. Cut into squares and serve!