Apple Bundt Cake

Prep Time: 45 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour | Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes | Serves: 10-12

Hold on to your pants, because this Apple Bundt Cake is going to blow you away! It is filled with apple to the core… (I know, silly joke, but I couldn’t pass up).  This cake is rich with freshly grated apple, apple butter, AND… a secret ingredient… an apple cider reduction. Read further for this absolutely, ridiculously amazing dessert.  If you’re an apple person, read on because this Apple Bundt Cake is for you!

I love making Bundt cakes.  I think it’s partly nostalgia and partly the fun of inverting a warm-from-the-oven cake to view this beautifully formed dessert. If you don’t own a Bundt pan, you can find them in a wide range of prices and basic to ornate designs. You can find the right size and cost for you by looking online or even at your local gently used consignment stores.

Let’s talk reduction… if you can get your hands on a quart of really good apple cider… you know, the kind you see in the fall time? Try to purchase the apple cider (non-alcoholic) with “sediment” in the bottom. All that unfiltered goodness just adds flavor, and that’s what we’re after.  See Notes below the recipe to make this wonderful addition to my Apple Bundt Cake.  Let me point out, if you notice “Prep Time” is 45 minutes for this cake,  it is because it does take some time to reduce 3 cups of apple cider.  Your timing may be a little less or a little more, depending on your stovetop.  

Feel free to double the frosting recipe if you LOVE cream cheese frosting!  It’s so delicious!

This cake is delicious on its own, but I have added a cream cheese frosting to top the cake if you’d like.  Either way, it’s a win!

I absolutely love browsing my local grocers for locally-made products. I have found treasures! Pictured is the jar I purchased from a brand that is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, found in my Publix here in Cookeville. Honestly, it was delicious just eaten from the jar! Perfectly sweet and FULL of the decadent apple flavor I was looking for. Tennessee’s Best produces more than just awesome apple butter, but also Chow-Chow (that’s super-good in beans), Relish and Pickles, to name a few.

Apple Bundt Cake

Taking the time to make the apple cider reduction is well worth it! It truly adds flavor and moisture to this Apple Bundt Cake.
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12
Calories 470 kcal

Equipment

  • 10 cup Bundt pan

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup neutral oil avocado, vegetable, canola, etc.
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup apple butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup reduced apple cider, see Notes
  • 2 cups apples, peeled, cored, and grated

Frosting:

  • 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 - 3 tablespoons heavy cream (or milk or half and half

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt with a whisk. Set aside.
  • Add oil, vanilla, and sugar to a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Combine on medium speed for 2 minutes, or until all the ingredients are combined. (Alternatively, this can be made with a hand mixer.)
  • Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
  • Turn the mixer to low and add the apple butter and reduced apple cider. Turn the speed up a notch and combine well.
  • Turn the mixer back to low and add the dry ingredients and shredded apple. Combine on low until no more flour is seen. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Using a silicone spatula, stir the batter from the bottom of the bowl gently to makes sure all the ingredients are combined well.
  • Scrape the batter into the greased Bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Begin checking with a toothpick test as early as 45 minutes. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs.
  • Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes at room temperature.
  • While the cake is cooling, combine all the frosting ingredients in a medium bowl with a wire whisk until the frosting is smooth. Set aside until ready to use. (If not using the day of, cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using.)
  • Invert the cake onto a flat platter or cake stand and let it cool if you are frosting right away. You can serve the cake still warm with a dusting of powdered sugar.
  • Once cool, frost with the cream cheese frosting.
  • Keep leftovers in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days for best quality.

Notes

Apple cider reduction: Bring 3 cups of non-alcoholic apple cider to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Allow the apple cider to reduce to 1/2 cup. It becomes this delicious, appley, sweet and a little tart syrup. This is the apple cider you usually find in jugs around fall time. Sometimes you can find a specific apple cider, such as Honeycrisp Cider. Lift up the jug and look at the bottom. You want to see some "sediment" in the bottom. It should not look clear like apple juice.
** If you choose to not add the reduced cider, you will need to add more sugar with the oil and vanilla, since this reduction is part of what sweetens this cake.
You can use any kind of apple for shredding.  But I would use a good-tasting apple.  If it’s bland to eat by hand, it won’t offer much to your cake.  Blah, who wants that?
If you do not want to use the cream cheese frosting, a dusting of powdered sugar would do nicely, dusted just before serving.
The nutrition chart is only AN ESTIMATE. Brands will differ in nutrition. Amounts will differ. I can guarantee my sugar content is not 100% accurate because I would need to contact a scientist to help me figure out the sugar content for the reduced apple cider.  Sugars are concentrated with this method and there is no real estimate out there, at least that I found. 
Nutrition Facts
Apple Bundt Cake
Amount per Serving
Calories
470
% Daily Value*
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Keyword apple, Bundt, apple butter, grated apple, cake, moist cake
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

3 Comments

  1. Raye

    5 stars
    This cake was super-moist and I loved all the different apple additions!

    Reply
    • Lauren Dault

      Me, too! I’m glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  2. CLD

    5 stars
    Very good and easy enough to make again and again.

    Reply
5 from 2 votes

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